Suppose you found yourself as the head of a hospital that had 61,000 employees, 13,000 nurses and 10,000 physicians and you had a name like North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital—oh wow, you would go to a branding consultant like Monigle and say “for god’s sake, give me a better name already” and be ready to pay $25,000 to $100,000 for it.
For me, “branding” is still a newish concept that emerged after my active days working for the big corporations. (I have been fired from some of the best corporations in America.)
Of course, they did not need “branding” (whatever that is) but a nice simple name and they got it—Northwell Health.
The North picks up the beginning of their old name “North Shore.” And the “well” is what they supposedly want to keep you so you don’t need a stay in their hospital.
Northwell (oh it is so much easier than North Shore LIJ) has historically not been very good at names. They named the old “St. Vincent’s over bite” building on 13th and 7th that they got from Rudin (who swapped it for a couple of more luxury condo floors) the Healthplex—only to discover in a letter from a lawyer that it was the name of a dental group practice. They made me sign away four full page ads and they had to take down the signs, throw out all the stationary, and rename it Lenox (oh wow, I forgot the new name) but I do know it is it is Lenox “something” now.
Maybe Northwell should call J. Walter Thompson and suggest an ad in WestView to publicize the new Northwell name and the name for that funny building over on 7th Avenue—what is it again? —George Capsis
