gernBotschaft is creating a consistent public image and a comprehensive set of arguments for the Klinikverbund der Deutschen Rentenversicherung Ober- und Mittelfranken (Clinic Association of the German Pension Insurance of Upper and Middle Franconia). The project was awarded based on a comparison of concepts from several competing agencies. In addition to gernBotschaft, other communications specialists from the metropolitan region competed for the advertising budget.

Institutions such as Deutsche Rentenversicherung currently face a two-fold challenge today. On the one hand, the number of persons requiring rehabilitation treatment following surgery is increasing. On the other hand, like every other insurer, Deutsche Rentenversicherung must cope with the facts and trends of the healthcare industry: rising costs, mandatory savings measures, and the need to achieve a good balance between public and private insurees. This situation requires new ways of thinking, new synergies and the reinforcement of existing strengths – and these aspects must be visibly and perceptibly communicated both internally and externally.

“Bundling strengths” is the motto for Deutsche Rentenversicherung’s internal and external image. The Deutsche Rentenversicherung Ober- und Mittelfranken therefore decided to emphasize more strongly, both in appearance and in terms of content, the unity of the clinics consolidated under one umbrella – Höhenklinik Bischofsgrün, Klinik Herzoghöhe Bayreuth, Klinik Frankenwarte Bad Steben, Frankenland-Klinik Bad Windsheim and Rangauklinik Ansbach. The goal is to position the clinics clearly in the market and to develop them as a brand under the umbrella of the Association.

Following up on a market study conducted by the Ansbach Advanced Technical College, the Board of Directors of the Deutsche Rentenversicherung Ober- und Mittelfranken gave a green light for the creation of a new Association image. Four communications agencies were preselected from a larger pool and invited to a competitive presentation in Bayreuth on July 13, 2005. According to Renate Stalz, Director of the Clinic Management Center, clinic directors and managers unanimously approved gernBotschaft’s concept. “On the one hand, the approach contains a coherent strategy that helps us to appear in the market as a unified whole. On the other hand, gernBotschaft had already created clear and concrete advertising and communications measures. No other presenting company had done this.”

Säcko Kick, the member of gernBotschaft’s Managing Board responsible for the project, added: “We will completely implement the communications concept by the end of 2005 – both for the Clinic Association as a whole, and broken down to the level of the individual clinics. Both go hand-in-hand.” Following an on-site research phase, a wide variety of online and offline measures – ranging from brochure materials to the individual Internet sites and even the signage system – focused on communicating a strong and uniform image of the Clinic Association’s efficiency and expertise to physicians, patients and the public.