The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) branding campaign has received a “Profiles of Excellence Award” from the American Association of Medical Society Executives for outstanding achievement by medical societies.
The SVS won its award in the communications category, for “initiatives that disseminate an important message or promote a medical society’s mission through effective content and delivery methods.” The other categories are advocacy, education, leadership and membership.
The entry, “Translational branding: Applying a national brand strategy to improve your member’s local brand,” highlighted the Society’s ongoing branding campaign and Branding Toolkit to help vascular surgeons communicate their role in comprehensive vascular care to referral sources and patients, and to emphasize that “Surgery is only part of our story.”
The Society works with Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy to develop the campaign and the toolkit. The Branding Toolkit, introduced a year ago, includes fliers, posters and brochures that can be customized with member logos, addresses and photos. Additional tools to help SVS members engage with additional referral audiences, hospital leadership, patients and consumers will be added over time. “I’m proud of this award, as I am proud of the immense effort that has gone into making the campaign a reality,” said SVS Executive Director Kenneth M. Slaw, PhD.
“Members identified branding as a No. 1 initiative in 2018, and now the SVS and Springboard have given our members the tools they need to have effective conversations in their own local markets with referral sources,” noted Joseph Mills, MD, SVS vice president and former chair of the Public and Professional Outreach Committee, which worked to develop the campaign and toolkit. “Use them,” he added. “Make a difference for yourselves and our profession by getting this message out in different ways and as often as you can.”
Brand your practice and win
Meanwhile, members have the chance to tell their stories, promote their practices and spread the word about the vascular surgery specialty—and win prizes. They simply need to use the SVS Branding Toolkit and then share how they put it to use by entering the SVS Branding Contest by Nov. 1
The Branding Toolkit represents a commitment to the branding of the vascular surgery profession and serves as a huge opportunity to promote a vascular practice. Hundreds of SVS members have accessed the toolkit by downloading and/or customizing fliers, postcards, videos, social media ads and more. Now, the SVS wants to hear Branding Toolkit success stories. The contest includes two categories: both the most creative and most effective uses of the toolkit. Each winner will be able to choose between admission to the 2022 Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM) or a $250 social media ad campaign.
SVS also will conduct a drawing, with the winner, selected at random, receiving one free year of SVS membership dues for 2022. To enter, members can submit any number of customized pieces from the toolkit, with each piece serving as one entry into the drawing. Winners will be announced at the VEITHSymposium in Orlando later in November.
“The SVS has really demonstrated a commitment to every member with the branding effort,” said Benjamin J. Pearce, MD, chair of the SVS Public and Professional Outreach Committee. “The Branding Toolkit allows each member to create a bespoke set of patient-centered and practice-oriented materials to help get the word out about vascular surgery. I encourage all members to participate in the toolkit contest and drawing, not just for the prizes, but to get firsthand experience with this resource.”
For more information on the branding campaign and toolkit visit vsweb.org/Branding.
