Nestled in the tony suburbs of New Haven, Connecticut, Turnbridge is one of America's leading addiction treatment programs for young adults. Today, Turnbridge serves young women and young men through gender-specific and gender-informed programs. From the exceptional experience and accreditation of its professional staff, to the fine art and furnishings that adorn the program's many residences and facilities, Turnbridge is a living representation of years of thoughtful planning and the relentless execution of an ideal.
Just one year ago, Turnbridge was known as Turning Point and served young men only. Psynchronous worked with Turning Point to translate more than a decade of treatment innovation and excellence into a new brand and a new language that better described the program's uniqueness and specialty. A new brand expression was developed including new verbiage to describe the center's philosophy, perspectives and offerings. And new logo, website, collateral materials, convention booth, and more were rolled out. During the process of honing the Turning Point Brand was understanding and explaining its mission of helping young men. Everything about the Turning Point patient community, program and approach was designed to make young men feel welcomed, open and able to change. This male-specific ethos could be felt in every aspect of the Turning Point brand.
Recently, Turning Point decided it was time to make two important changes. First, a new name was in order. A profusion of new treatment programs which popped up over the years - some of which took the name Turning Point - made it harder for parents to find them. Second, the Turning Point team had at long last completed its goal of adding gender-specific services for young women. Seldom are two more fundamental changes made than name and mission.
Our challenge was to help Turning Point for young men become Turnbridge for young men and women while seamlessly communicating the same quality and essential identity that had become a hallmark of the Turning Point brand. While much of the brand expansion work was mechanical in nature - changing logos on business cards, collateral pieces, show booths, literature, website, and more - the more significant work came in adjusting the language of the existing men's offering and positioning the new women's program.
When a healthcare brand is heavily invested in meeting the needs of one community of people, care must be taken when it extends treatment to a new population. Addiction treatment programs are communicating simultaneously with prospective patients and patient families as well as the many referring professionals who trust them with their patients. What Turnbridge wanted to make clear to all constituents was that their decision to treat young women was the culmination of years of planning and not an attempt to simply grow numbers.
Following extensive interviews with staff and a careful mapping of all rebranding needs, we devised an approach that would maintain the same tone, feel and core brand language. We also developed collateral materials and expanded the website seamlessly so that Turning Point alumni and the center's network of referring professionals would feel that nothing - other than the arrival of an excellent women's program - had changed. By ensuring that the new Turnbridge name represented the existing Turning Point brand, and that the new women's program felt like the extension of the center's heritage of men's excellence, the rollout went seamlessly and the center's reputation continues to grow.
A comprehensive website overhaul maintained the site's original design while using subtle navigational changes to direct visitors to men's or women's programs and maintain high usability. A new primary informational brochure maintained the previous design while adding separate men's and women's sections. Crucially, however, the renaming and women's center addition went essentially unnoticed by prospective patients, professionals, and alumni alike - exactly as planned. Today, Turnbridge continues to set the bar as one of America's most integrated and successful addiction treatment programs for young men and women.