Arnold Palmer SportsHealth - How to appropriately employ a celebrity brand

  • Situation: How to best use the Arnold Palmer brand within a hospital's offerings
  • Services: Brand Strategy, Identity, Operations Implications
  • Results: Number of new hospital customers far exceeding plan and well ahead of budget

After undergoing a successful medical procedure at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Arnold Palmer agreed to lend his “brand” to the institution. Our challenge was to determine how to use one of the most notable sports “brands” in an environment where many parts of the institution were already named after important and generous donors. In working with the hospital executives, and also with the holding company leadership, it was clear that they were evolving to a comprehensive sports medicine and sports health offering. As a result, we recommended they create the Arnold Palmer SportsHealth Center at Union Memorial Hospital. Our design partner created an identity to represent the new brand. Since opening, there has been ever increasing traffic in visits and procedures performed by the hospital month after month. Thus, the brand is driving new, profitable business to the hospital in significant ways.