Overview:
Pacific Dental Services is one of the fastest growing dental companies in American with over 300 affiliate offices in 10 states.
Pacific Dental Services (PDS) offers comprehensive dentistry at all of their offices, including orthodontics. They wanted to grow the program and felt they needed a partner to help create a memorable brand experience that would generate word-of-mouth referrals.
As part of our discovery process we surveyed parents to understand their motivators for choosing an orthodontist for their child. We learned that they had three motivations: Cost, quality and their child’s preference. PDS operationally had a very competitive cost structure and high quality staff and orthodontist. However, many of their offices are multi-use and not targeted towards kids and teenagers, while their competitors offered engaging environments and ortho programs made for teens. In addition, we also learned that loyalty is often to the orthodontist and not the office. The PDS model needed for families to be loyal to the office and not focused on the doctor to achieve their growth goals.
To better understand our opportunity for creating a memorable brand experience for parents and children, we conducted on-site interviews at 7 office locations. We interviewed beloved ortho assistants to understand their approach to building relationships with parents and kids. We interviewed parents and kids to understand their fears, emotional connections and motivators.
Some key insights:
1. Kids see their orthodontist and ortho assistant as a friend and role model
2. Parents want their kids to like their experience and be motivated by the ortho team to be compliant with the treatment
3. The office culture must take ownership of the brand experience and actively create emotional connections with their parents and patients
4. The commitment to giving back is a key differentiator for PDS and their relationship with Charity Water should be promoted to parents and patients
5. Kids are constantly on their phones and there is an opportunity to use these devices to enhance the brand experience
Our strategy:
We mapped the brand experience and developed a comprehensive program to engage the parent and child at every touchpoint. We supported the program with creative tactics (including in-store signage, social challenges, assessment videos, and start kits). We tested the creative with age appropriate focus groups to ensure we were relevant and remark-worthy. To be effective in the launch, we developed a comprehensive training program for each office with activation guides on how to use the marketing materials and create an effective brand experience.
Each tactic was engineered to help our staff make emotional connections with the patient. Monthly themes would feature apps that encouraged group play, instagram challenges and fashion tie books to help ortho assistants engage in conversations around their band colors for the month. We also took advantage of assessment appointments and created a video for kids to watch to get to know the office and the ortho experience, using a language they know all too well – texting.
The initial program was developed for a 7 office beta phase and soft launch. The offices who have embraced the program have seen a significant increase in ortho starts and patient volume. Due the success, the program is now being rolled out to each of the regions.
Role: Researcher, Strategist & Creative Director
Agency: DBA Worldwide