Regenerative Medicine Institute Campaign at Cedars-Sinai
Reducing the gap between
dreaming and curing.
The greater the complexity of a challenge, the greater the need for a succinct solution.
The stakes are high, and the potential is real: Scientists at Cedars-Sinai are accelerating discoveries with the power to stop even the deadliest diseases. Researchers at Cedar’s Regenerative Medicine Institute (RMI) can take adult cells from a person’s body back in time to a stem cell state creating any of the 250 types of cells in the human body—key agents in helping the body heal itself. The challenge for DISTINC_ was finding a way to make the complex technical work of the RMI comprehensible and compelling to a general audience. By crafting a campaign that focuses on reducing the gap between dreaming and curing, we gave the subject an emotional anchor that made it instantly relatable to potential donors.
Challenging context.
Cedars-Sinai has been successfully leading groundbreaking medical research for decades, but sometimes that work can get politicized, which happened with stem cell research. Further, the idea that a skin cell could be removed and regrown into a cell for the pancreas or the eye wasn’t widely understood. Fundraising around this research would be high-touch, meaning materials would need to be focused and compelling for high-capacity individuals. Finally, the turnaround time for the campaign collaterals was very tight.
Flexible solution.
As the concept for the campaign took shape, we realized that the topic of stem cells provided a unique opportunity to unite people from all walks of life. As the RE theme demonstrates, stem cell research touches almost every major area of medicine, so almost any person can see a unique connection to this pivotal work. The resulting system was highly flexible, allowing Cedars-Sinai’s Board of Governors to tailor customized appeals tuned to prospective donors’ individual stories.
Paving the way for enduring success.
Cedars-Sinai met their $30 million goal rapidly, creating immediate funding opportunities for key research at the Regenerative Medicine Institute (RMI). RMI has continued to grow and elevate regenerative research, and the institute now boasts eight distinct programs: Blood, Brain, Eye, Gut, Heart, Liver and Kidney, Lung, and Skeletal. The success of this campaign paved the way for tens of millions of dollars in research grants awarded to RMI over the subsequent years.
“There is a particular communications output in which a complex biomedical initiative is distilled into succinct messaging that is conceptually elegant and functionally persuasive. Getting there is an artform. Jean-Marc Durviaux and the team at DISTINC_ have mastered it.”
—Kenneth Ross, Executive Writer at Cedars-Sinai
Services
-
An immersive study investigates quantitative data and qualitative evidence from a variety of stakeholder groups. This audit helps identify how far your organization has come as well as understand what may stand in the way of progress.
-
Ideation workshops offer a variety of hands-on exercises tailored to your organization’s unique situation. The group experience is strategically designed to test readiness for change and to help envision how quickly your organization can pivot.
-
A strategy for change is not always easy to deploy as it often challenges old habits. Brand evolution permeates throughout your entire organization and we work together as a team to cultivate opportunities as well as navigate challenges.
-
A strategic brand positioning clearly declares what sets your organization apart vis-à-vis the audiences you target and the competitors you face. Building consensus helps build enthusiasm and trust in the future.
-
Your brand identity is much more than the sum of a logo, a set of typefaces, and hex codes pleasing to the eye. It can be a living, breathing, flexible system that is both open enough to communicate across your varied audiences and focused enough to cultivate a united brand experience, full of intent.
-
Every organization has a voice. And every brand voice has a purpose: to distill your collective personality and ethos into a coherent expression that is accessible across many audiences.
-
Compelling brands can only go so far without a proper deployment plan to put them to market. We architect strategic communication roadmaps across social, digital, print, experiential that achieve measurable results.
-
Brands are driven by people, and people are driven by principles. We coach individuals within your organization to speak their truths while simultaneously seeing themselves as brand advocates. This training builds up collective values unique to your brand, and empowers everyone to do their part in sustaining them.