Revolutionizing Senior Living: The Ovation Brand Story
When it comes to redefining something as traditional as senior living, it takes innovation and determination to make the impossible possible.
The Avamere Family of Companies presented AHM with an audacious challenge: craft an all-encompassing brand and a dynamic market strategy for their visionary senior living campuses. Not just ordinary senior living communities, these campuses offer a thoughtful blend of active living, assisted living and memory care within a single community.
Armed with insight from both Avamere stakeholders and potential residents, AHM meticulously sculpted a comprehensive strategy that captured the essence of purpose-driven, tailored services. The goal? To infuse the lives of senior guests with perpetual celebrations, engagement and inspiration in their newfound homes.
Out of this strategic concoction was born the Ovation brand, a name that resonates with the concept of sustained applause. The name itself carries a promise and a commitment to create an environment where seniors are celebrated for who they are. Ovation is where their stories and achievements are met with thunderous appreciation.
“Finding a good, original name that would fit with a lot of brand aspirations was really difficult,” says Brent MacCluer, AHM partner and account lead for the project. “I lost track of how many rounds of names we went through, but once we landed on ‘Ovation’ we all knew that was the right direction to go.”
With a well-defined identity, a laser-focused mission statement and a set of actionable core values in tow, AHM helped seamlessly weave the Ovation brand narrative into every touchpoint for consumers. From elegant signage to compelling sales materials and even the smallest details like napkins and parking passes, the Ovation brand was etched into every facet of the experience.
Recognizing that both short-term and long-term success lay in ensuring that every team member embraced the brand promise, AHM designed a unique two-week training program from scratch, allowing each new employee to understand their role in fulfilling the Ovation commitment. This wasn’t just training, but rather the ignition of a shared passion to deliver exceptional service.
“We worked closely with Ovation’s senior management to craft the right balance of practical and inspirational information for the training materials,” says Geoff Shipley, AHM’s lead content developer on the project. “Our best work fills a specific need or meets a specific goal and it was really rewarding to deliver that to the Ovation team.”
The Ovation journey, years in the making, came to fruition with the triumphant opening of Ovation Heartwood Preserve in Omaha, Nebraska, and Ovation Sienna Hills in St. George, Utah. These developments, totaling over $150 million in meticulous planning, mark the beginning of a new era in senior living.
The Ovation brand now stands on a firm foundation, equipped with a strategic roadmap designed for the years and decades to come. From initial training through each consumer touchpoint, Ovation doesn’t just create value, it crafts a legacy that will endure. By taking the familiar and infusing it with innovation, AHM helped transform senior living into an ongoing ovation that resonates with every guest.
