Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Reimagining the Emory Healthcare Brand and the Future of Marketing Leadership with Molly Biwer

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Reimagining the Emory Healthcare Brand and the Future of Marketing Leadership with Molly Biwer · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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The most important health care decisions don't happen
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Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
0:48
I'm Mackenzie Bean, associate vice president and managing
0:51
editor of Becker's Hospital Review.
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Today, I'm so thrilled to be joined by
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Molly Beewer, who's the chief marketing officer of
0:59
Emory Healthcare.
1:01
Molly, thank you so much for joining us
1:02
today. How are you doing? Good. Thank you.
1:05
Thank you for having me.
1:06
It's a pleasure to have you.
1:08
I was hoping we could start off our
1:10
conversation by having you share a little bit
1:12
more about yourself,
1:14
your career background, and then,
1:16
some more details about Emory Healthcare. And then
1:18
we're gonna dive into a lot of exciting
1:20
things going on at the system.
1:22
Absolutely.
1:23
Well well, thank you. So I am currently
1:25
the chief marketing officer for Emory Healthcare
1:28
and Woodworth Health Sciences.
1:31
My role really,
1:32
spans brand and marketing and communications,
1:36
the digital experience,
1:37
and then,
1:39
you know, media relations obviously, and then strategic
1:41
partnerships across Emory's hospitals,
1:44
our physicians, and our academic mission.
1:47
So really we're building
1:49
when I came on board about a year
1:50
ago, you know, what we had talked about,
1:53
Jun Lee, who's our CEO, and me,
1:56
is really about building a modern
1:58
patient centered brand
2:00
that honors not only the academic
2:03
medicine,
2:04
but also the evolving needs and the expectations
2:06
of today's
2:07
patients. So
2:09
we really are at the intersection of that
2:11
compassionate human care and being very patient centered,
2:15
but because we're,
2:17
an academic health system, Georgia's, you know, most
2:20
comprehensive,
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we also bring that academic
2:23
into play, so all of the innovation and
2:26
discovery. And so we believe that that's a
2:28
huge differentiator
2:29
for us.
2:30
So, you know, prior to Emory, I I
2:32
had spent
2:35
most of my career in communications marketing and
2:39
and brand, I was at Carlson, which is
2:41
a hospitality and travel company based in Minneapolis.
2:44
Then I moved to Hallmark,
2:46
in Kansas City. So I learned the whole,
2:48
you know, CPG business and the wholesale business,
2:51
streaming when it was just coming out.
2:53
And then I,
2:55
from Hallmark, I moved back to the Twin
2:57
Cities
2:58
and joined Mayo,
3:00
and I was leading
3:01
strategic partnerships brand,
3:03
and advertising
3:05
there.
3:06
And then
3:07
I got a call to join Emory and,
3:10
I really hadn't thought about making a move
3:12
again, but
3:13
after I had met with some of the
3:15
leadership team, it was just too wonderful of
3:18
an opportunity to pass up with all the
3:20
things coming that are going on here.
3:23
So so here I am one year later.
3:26
So here we are one year later and,
3:28
a lot of exciting things across Emery's
3:31
brand happening.
3:32
Yeah. Most recently, I know you all
3:35
unveiled the refreshed brand identity.
3:38
Talk to us more about that. What prompted
3:41
the decision to rejuvenate the brand right at
3:43
this moment, and what we're really hoping to
3:46
indicate about where the organization is going with
3:49
it? Sure. So we relaunched the brand,
3:52
January 21, so two weeks ago from today.
3:55
And, you know, when June joined,
3:57
the organization, there was a lot of things
3:59
that he wanted to,
4:01
work on first and, you know, really
4:04
strengthen the organization as a whole. And so
4:07
by the time I came on board, he
4:08
was like, we're ready to be able to
4:10
market. We're ready to tell people who we
4:12
are and where we're going. And so it
4:15
was the timing was very intentional,
4:18
Healthcare in general, but Emory Healthcare
4:20
is evolving rapidly
4:22
clinically and digitally and geographically.
4:25
And our brand really needs to reflect who
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we are today, but really where we're going
4:30
and who we are going to be in
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the future.
4:32
So it really I wanna make sure people
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understand it wasn't just about aesthetics.
4:38
You know, we were clarifying our role in
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the communities we serve
4:42
and signaling a strategic direction,
4:45
more access,
4:46
more integration,
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more innovation,
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and really a stronger, you know, connection between
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that academic and academic medicine and then the,
4:55
you know, the clinical practice. So the Refresh
4:58
brand, I have told people, reflects really a
5:00
system that's confident, compassionate,
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increasingly
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patient centered.
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But because we're part of a larger organization
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with Emory University, we really wanna make sure
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that we're honoring our past and our legacy,
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but we're actively building
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what health care must
5:17
become.
5:19
That makes so much sense, really.
5:21
How do you,
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show the full value that you can offer
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your communities both on the,
5:27
clinical medicine side and then also in terms
5:29
of academics and and research and and innovation
5:31
and more.
5:33
Let's talk about how this
5:35
Refresh brand was launched. I think it's so
5:38
interesting. You really leaned into the large scale
5:40
community experiences.
5:42
For those listeners who might not be familiar
5:44
with what those are, first, can you tell
5:46
us what you did? And then, love your
5:48
thinking behind
5:49
activating the brand in such a, like, public
5:51
experiential way. Yeah. So I'll tell you. So
5:54
on the internal side first, we, you know,
5:56
we really wanted to get our employees and,
5:57
you know, really on board because they're our
5:59
best brand ambassadors, right? So with our new
6:01
tagline, the front line of care and the
6:04
forefront of discovery, they're on the front line.
6:06
So we really that was a really
6:08
important stakeholder that we brought along. But externally,
6:13
we're known throughout Atlanta,
6:15
but we really wanted to let people know
6:17
that we are here to stay, that we
6:20
are taking a bold,
6:22
differentiated,
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declarative approach to who we are and who
6:26
we want to be. And so, you know,
6:28
we we were kinda exploring ideas. And when
6:31
we first started, you know, talking about, you
6:33
know, with the new green, because that's, you
6:35
know, innovative green is one of our new
6:37
brand colors, we wanted to light up all
6:40
of our buildings.
6:41
But then as people started, we started talking
6:43
to talking to community partners for various things
6:45
because we're very involved in the community.
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The
6:49
they decided that they wanted to help.
6:52
And so there was there were companies
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and organizations
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around Atlanta,
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40 of
6:59
them, that
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wanted to help us celebrate in solidarity
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with Emory. And, you know, being new to
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Atlanta, that was
7:08
very humbling and just very profound for me
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that, like, the Carter Center, they lit up
7:13
their their building in green and actually posted
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on LinkedIn. We had the Mercedes Stadium. We
7:18
had the State Farm Arena. We had and
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so it was it was very endearing to
7:24
me how much Emory meant to people
7:28
that these organizations
7:30
wanted to help us
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celebrate.
7:33
The other thing that we did, we have
7:34
we're we have a very distinctive,
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you know, I've been I've been saying it's
7:39
our Nike swoosh,
7:40
and it's called the Aurora.
7:42
And so what we did is so people
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could really start to understand, you know, who
7:47
Emory was, we installed
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these
7:50
may
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amazing and huge,
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Aurora portals,
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throughout Atlanta. So there's four of them,
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that are 10 feet by 15 feet,
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and they and there's a QR code so
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you can learn more about,
8:05
you can learn more about Emery. But we
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put those around the city, and then we're
8:09
gonna be moving them, you know, and so
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people can experience Emery and and learn more
8:14
about them. And it's been really
8:16
fun to watch because,
8:18
I was at one of the locations, and
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people were queuing up to take a picture,
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with the Aurora.
8:25
And, you know, we've had, a jogging club
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pass through one of the parks that it's
8:29
in, and they all took a picture for
8:31
it or with it. So we're gonna move
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those around into high traffic areas in Atlanta
8:35
just, again, for people to really understand who
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Emory is and who and where we're going.
8:41
So they'll find a permanent home
8:44
maybe in a year. Yeah.
8:47
How exciting. I mean, to hear how many
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organizations
8:50
wanted to participate and, you know, the green
8:53
light lit up across the city. It's like
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such a visual reminder of community.
8:57
It it really is amazing. And I think,
9:00
it it makes sense if you're thinking about
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not just having a bold brand and wanting
9:04
a bold rollout, but also thinking through health
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systems and their experiences,
9:07
you know, community engagement, building trust with their
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patients. It makes sense to launch the brand
9:12
in the community like you did as well.
9:14
Well and you know what? You touched on
9:15
a word that's really important. I mean, obviously,
9:18
that kind of visible solidarity is really powerful,
9:21
but it really does speak to the trust
9:23
that Emory has built together and the role
9:25
that we play really beyond
9:29
clinics, you know, as a neighbor and as
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a partner,
9:32
and really being in Atlanta a shared source
9:34
of of pride.
9:37
Mhmm. I think trust is more important than
9:39
ever right now in health care. Sure.
9:41
You mentioned earlier in our conversation, you know,
9:44
what makes Emery a differentiator.
9:47
Curious, how do you think about brand as
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a differentiator right now? You know, more on
9:51
the strategic side as you're operating in Atlanta,
9:54
very busy competitive health care market.
9:57
Yep.
9:58
You know,
9:59
today, I would say brand marketing and and
10:03
communications, it's not a communications layer. It's really
10:06
it's a strategic
10:08
lever or a driver,
10:10
returning ROI to the bottom line.
10:13
And so I look at it as absolutely
10:16
one of the, you know, the quivers in
10:18
our
10:19
in our pack.
10:20
You know, it certainly helps in competitive market.
10:23
I think brand shapes
10:25
patient choices.
10:27
Talent recruitment. You, you know, you kind of
10:29
want to go, you know, and where you
10:31
can, make a meaningful difference, but with a
10:33
company, you know, with an organization that is
10:35
trustworthy and, you know, and partnerships opportunities and
10:38
even really, you know, if done right, philanthropic
10:41
confidence that where where they are investing their
10:44
dollars, you know, we're gonna make the most
10:46
of. And so
10:47
I think brand
10:49
really clarifies
10:51
why you matter
10:53
and how you're different
10:55
and especially when clinical quality alone really is
10:59
no longer enough to differentiate. I mean, we're,
11:02
you know, we're talking about the patient experience
11:04
and we're, you know, how are how are
11:06
we bringing discovery,
11:08
you know, into practice, you
11:10
know, faster and better than everybody else. And
11:13
so, you know, Emory certainly has some differentiators
11:16
that quite honestly, I don't necessarily know that
11:18
we've leveraged as much as we have, and
11:21
we will now. We are going to now.
11:24
Mhmm.
11:26
Exciting things ahead, which is what I wanna
11:28
end on hearing from you. As you're looking
11:30
into 2026,
11:32
what are gonna be your biggest focus areas
11:34
when it comes to
11:35
marketing and brand leadership,
11:37
and how do you see the role of
11:39
marketing chiefs really continuing to evolve based on
11:42
these needs? You know, we talk about that
11:44
every day. I mean, it's it's really something
11:46
and, you know, I know that all health
11:48
care companies, frankly, all organizations
11:50
are really
11:52
talking about
11:53
market intelligence. What you know, in terms of
11:55
more information on the consumer and the patient
11:58
and, you know, how can we personalize the
12:00
service and what offerings can we make, you
12:02
know, that they're gonna that they're gonna start
12:04
engaging with this. So, I mean, I would
12:06
probably say, honestly, it's going to be integration
12:09
and the intelligence.
12:10
So after we get all this intelligence and,
12:12
you know, how AI is even playing in
12:14
it, you know, how how are we going
12:16
to make that integration? So what is that
12:18
digital front door and that end to end
12:20
patient experience look like? Right? I think think
12:23
a lot of people, you know, physicians both
12:25
at Mayo and I haven't really hear heard
12:27
it here at Emory, but they're like, well,
12:29
I have my patients,
12:30
you know, they have my mobile number. Of
12:32
course, it's a wonderful patient experience, but we
12:34
need to look at it more broadly, right,
12:36
end to end.
12:38
I would
12:39
say, you know, as we talk about personalization,
12:42
it absolutely
12:43
needs to be grounded in trust
12:45
and data stewardship. What are we doing with
12:47
their data? Are we making sure that it's
12:49
protected? Right?
12:51
More of an integrated experience. So what thinking
12:54
about that alignment across our hospitals and our
12:56
service lines and academic partners, we don't wanna
12:58
be a federation of of different, you know,
13:01
hospitals or clinics or whatever. We really want
13:03
that patient to feel a seamless experience.
13:07
And then,
13:09
you know, I guess if we do all
13:10
of that right, really brand as a platform,
13:14
not only to help the organization grow, we
13:17
get more strategic partnerships that, you know, with
13:19
alignment in terms of helping the community and
13:22
really the commute the impact to the community.
13:26
I'd say probably from a CMO broadly,
13:30
I would say innovation is going to be
13:32
required in experience design. And, again, this isn't
13:36
unique to health care. Right?
13:38
AI enabled personalization
13:40
and really enterprise leadership.
13:42
So we're not just storytellers anymore. I mean,
13:45
we're really we're really systems thinkers.
13:48
We're growth strategist.
13:51
You know? And I would say we're a
13:52
good connection point and that thread throughout the
13:55
organization.
13:56
Mhmm. Taking it even beyond storytelling into a
13:59
more Yes. A higher level strategy and then,
14:01
of course,
14:02
acknowledging the the rapid transformation technologies playing in
14:05
in all areas of health care including in
14:07
in brand and marketing.
14:08
Yeah. And you know what? And with all
14:10
of that, I would still say, you know,
14:12
as health care or any organization continues to
14:15
change,
14:16
we still and one of our differentiators that
14:18
we is now in our tagline even, it's
14:21
gotta stay deeply human
14:23
at the same time, right? So we're gonna
14:26
continue to raise the bar on innovation
14:28
and access and impact but it's still at
14:31
the basic level you know it's that one
14:34
to one connection and
14:36
you know we we believe that that's our
14:38
sacred sauce and that how you know we're
14:40
gonna we're gonna really lean into it in
14:42
the months and years ahead.
14:45
Mhmm. At the end of the day it's
14:47
all about the patient and that that connection
14:49
and community. On the boat. Well, Molly, this
14:51
has been such an interesting discussion. I appreciate
14:53
you taking the time to join us on
14:55
the podcast, share more about,
14:58
some of the the strategy behind the brand
14:59
rejuvenation.
15:01
So thank you so much for your time.
15:03
Well, thank you very much. We are very
15:04
proud of the work, and we are really
15:06
excited,
15:07
you know, to share the the new brand
15:09
with everyone. And like I keep telling my
15:11
team, we're just getting started.
15:14
So Well, we can't wait to see you
15:15
at what's coming down the pipeline as well.
15:17
Thanks again, Molly. Thank you so much.