Explaining the (NEW) gap between Indigo and Medical
By far the most controversial component of our re-brand
Photo by Chari Bercián on Unsplash
It’s funny how change comes about.
During our re-branding exercise we left no stone unturned. New logo, typeface, values, services, tone of voice… you name it, we changed it.
But there was one thing that split the company’s opinions in two — our moniker.
IndigoMedical (one word) was created by our founders in 2008 (Rak and Tina Patel, Medical Director and CEO, respectively) in order to differentiate us from the plethora of other Indigo-something named business. After all, we are unique.
Over time, the joining of the two words became a quirky little quality control game for Rak and Tina, as most slide decks would invariably auto-correct the words into two, lonely, separate entities. Woe betide the poor medical writer who submitted a report for internal review with the incorrect company name!
Fast forward to October 2017 and our internal re-brand round table meeting:
“OK, next on the agenda, our new logo. Oh, hang on, quick question: why is IndigoMedical one word?”
…silence…
“Um, should we separate the words out?”
Someone at the back of the room draws breath as if a this is the most insane statement to have ever been uttered in the history of human kind.
“Because Rak and Tina will kill us. And besides, that’s what everyone calls us”
Buoyed by a mysterious power to be contrary, I go for the jugular
“Well, everyone calls us Indigo. Our clients, our friends, even the coffee lady outside refers to us as Indigo”
The team pause for a moment and consider the absurdity that our coffee lady is currently dictating our corporate identity.
The meeting adjourns and the company name goes to a democratic vote among the staff still working at a quarter past 5 on a Tuesday evening; a 50:50 split results between IndigoMedical and the proposal of Indigo Medical.
Rak offers an ultimatum:
“IF you can justify the splitting of the words, then I’ll consider it. But it’ll need to be bloody good reason”.
And so the pro-separatist movement get their collective thinking caps on.
So, how did we eventually sway Rak and Tina to change the name of their beloved IndigoMedical?
What could possibly be so strong a reason that we (albeit subtly) changed our company name?
It’s probably THE only reason it could have worked.
The gap between the Indigo and Medical…
… should always be…
… and will always be…
You.
Our customer.
Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash
Existing or new, it is our customers that are integral in everything we do.
We internalise our customer goals as our own, and in doing so we only propose whats right for our customer, not what’s good for us.
So, remember, it’s Indigo (OUR CUSTOMERS) Medical from now on.