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Ascension Brand Refresh Focuses on 'Doing Things Better'

News  |  By HealthLeaders Media News  
   September 28, 2016

Along with restructuring its organization nationwide, Ascension has launched a rebranding campaign to unify its facilities under the Ascension name.

The rebranding campaign will start with Ascension's 24 hospitals in Wisconsin and 15 hospitals in Michigan.

As of last week, each of the hospitals were rebranded under the Ascension name; for example, Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan is now Ascension Borgess Hospital. Temporary signs have been installed at each hospital site.


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Ascension will also launch advertising campaigns in Wisconsin and Michigan—its largest markets—to promote its new identity to patients, staff, and the community, officials said.

"We've been on a journey now for two years to be one Ascension," Nick Ragone, chief marketing and communications officer for Ascension, told the St. Louis Business Journal. "Part of that journey is now having an integrated identity."

The campaign theme will center on "doing things better" and will run for three weeks. All in all, replacing the facilities' signage and other rebranding efforts will take about 12 months.

Ascension, one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the U.S., then plans to roll out the integrated brand to its 141 hospitals across 24 states. The health system is in the process of evaluating which markets will be next for the rebranding campaign, said Ascension's President and CEO Tony Tersigni.

"Years ago when we created Ascension, we made the decision that there was brand equity in the local names," he said.

"We still believe that, but over the past 16 years, we've developed a reputation nationally as Ascension. Now we want to bring those brands together and leverage both into one Ascension."

Ascension officials have been tight-lipped on what the rebranding effort will cost. The St. Louis Business Journal reported that Ragone declined to disclose how much Ascension is investing in the rebranding effort and ad campaign.

Bernie Sherry, Ascension's top Wisconsin executive, was equally vague.

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