The Challenge
In the highly competitive medical device marketing landscape, GE Healthcare faced a significant challenge. The diagnostic imaging equipment market had become saturated and increasingly complex for buyers. Global manufacturers offered hundreds of intricate features with complicated naming and numbering structures, making it nearly impossible for customers to differentiate between options when investing millions of dollars.
The industry was rapidly becoming commoditized, with technical specifications overshadowing actual customer needs. Buyers struggled to understand the meaningful differences between machines, both within GE Healthcare's portfolio and compared to competitors' offerings.
The Approach
While working at GE Healthcare, we recognized that customers needed a clear, intuitive way to differentiate between options without defaulting to a simplistic "Good, Better, Best" hierarchy. To address this challenge, we:
- Conducted extensive customer research on an accelerated timeline, examining:
- Specific purchasing occasions and underlying needs
- Critical features that aligned with different customer requirements
- How purchasing patterns correlated with customer segments
- Which messaging resonated most effectively with each segment
- Launched a global trademark search to develop a new brand architecture that would:
- Move away from technical specifications and numbers
- Create meaningful differentiation based on customer needs
- Establish memorable sub-brands with distinct positioning
The Solution
Based on our research, we developed and introduced three distinct sub-brands, each designed around specific customer needs and purchasing occasions:
- Discovery – Technology designed for cutting-edge research and the most advanced clinical applications, serving institutions at the forefront of medical innovation
- Optima – Powerful workhorse technology focused on efficiency, throughput, and maximizing patient care capacity for high-volume healthcare providers
- Brivo – Easy-to-use technology providing essential, "just-what-I-need" features for healthcare facilities seeking reliable core functionality
This new architecture replaced the previous focus on complex naming and numbering structures. Instead, any technology meeting specific criteria was positioned within one of these three sub-brands, creating an immediate understanding of its purpose and value.
Implementation
To support this transformation, we:
- Developed consultative sales materials enabling customers to self-identify which technology would best serve their unique needs
- Created comprehensive content focusing on the essence of each sub-brand, addressing specific customer pain points and healthcare realities
- Reimagined the purchasing experience to make every investment feel customized rather than transactional
The Launch
The new sub-brand architecture debuted at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) show in Chicago. We created an immersive "Innovation Destination" experience that:
- Provided clear demonstrations of each sub-brand's unique value proposition
- Allowed customers to engage with technology in context of their specific needs
- Educated customers on meaningful differences between options
- Shifted conversations from technical specifications to customer outcomes
Results
This brand architecture transformation helped GE Healthcare:
- Combat market commoditization by creating meaningful differentiation
- Simplify the complex purchasing process for medical professionals
- Align product offerings with genuine customer needs and usage scenarios
- Strengthen customer relationships through needs-based consultative selling
- Revitalize the GE Healthcare brand in a highly competitive marketplace
By focusing on customer needs rather than technical specifications, GE Healthcare successfully transformed how customers perceive and purchase multimillion-dollar medical devices.
