Bloom Senior Living Case Study

6. OUR METHODOLOGY

11. COMPANY
• “BSL’s commitment to family shines through everything we do.” “At BSL, we have made
company culture one our number one priorities.”
• “Our communities are family owned and operated, and they feel like it.”
• “At the same time, we’re owned by a larger financial structure which is looking to grow.
We’re also a business.”
BSL’s “one thing” is family-ness and we’re looking for a unique, ownable way to
communicate that and to scale it.
BRAND IDEA

12. BRAND IDEA
CATEGORY
• Fragmented and operationally driven.
• Identity crisis: The way in which assisted living communities brand themselves make it
impossible for consumers to tell them apart. They all sound like variations on “Glen
Oaks.” (Which by the way, could just as easily be a gated residential community. Or, for
that matter, a low-income housing project).
• Focused on selling the functional benefits.
• There is no aspirational power brand in this space.
There is a crushing sameness to the way in which assisted living communities show
up. It’s the same story told over and over again. The same stock photography. The
same tonality. “We love our residents.”

13. BRAND IDEA
COMPETITION
• You have different competitors in each market.
• From across the street, they all look alike.
• They don’t do too much to help anyone tell them apart.
We don’t see competition as a huge factor in the naming equation. It doesn’t appear
that anyone owns anything. It seems like everyone is trying to own the same thing –
perfectly happy senior citizens.

14. BRAND IDEA
CUSTOMER
• You have two different customer profiles: seniors and their adult children.
• We believe the seniors want more from a senior living community than safety, comfort
and convenience – which are antes…they get you into the game.
• We believe they want to continue learning, growing, changing. Many senior living
brands pay lip service to this idea – self actualization. However, we don’t believe that
any (senior living brands) own it.
• We believe this idea is not only pleasing/resonant with the adult child target, but we
believe they will find it highly aspirational and compelling.
You can win with your audiences by championing the concept of self-actualization.

15. BRAND IDEA
• In 1943, a psychologist named Abraham Maslow, set
forth a theory that to reach their full human potential,
people need to move through a pattern of growth, at the
top of which is “self actualization” – the process through
which people discover their true “inner purpose.”
• In common parlance (i.e. layman’s terms) self
actualization is used to refer to the process of becoming
the person you were destined to be.
• Self Actualization is generally considered a never- ending
process that is associated with lifelong learning, growth
and discovery.
TIME OUT – WHAT IS
“SELF ACTUALIZATION”?
Opportunity
Category

16. BRAND IDEA

17. Scaling
Family-ness

18. Scaling
Family-ness
Lacking
Aspiration

19. Scaling
Family-ness
Sea of
Sameness
Lacking
Aspiration

20. Scaling
Family-ness
Sea of
Sameness
Lacking
Aspiration
New Life
Chapter

21. Scaling
Family-ness
Sea of
Sameness
Lacking
Aspiration
Bloom
Discover Your
Best Self
New Life
Chapter

22. BRAND IDEA
BRANDCEPT
Great brand names are like fruit. The “plant” is an idea, or
brandcept from which the name is born.
We have an idea for your business.
Bloom.
Let’s create living environments where seniors can do more
than be safe/healthy and comfortable. (That’s what everyone
does and says).
Let’s think a little bigger. And a little more holistically.
Let’s create living environments where residents are given the
tools, the resources and encouragement to do something that
isn’t talked about much in this category:
To flourish as human beings. Or, simply put, to bloom.
To bloom is to become your best self. To achieve your full potential for
happiness, peace. To do the things you’ve always wanted to do. To feel
the way you’ve always wanted to feel. It could even mean to actually
grow.
This is not about comfort or quality – that’s the ante.
This is about self-actualization – the highest rung on Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs.
This is not a radical shift from what you do now. But it is a higher aim.
It’s aspirational. And we see nothing like it in the category.
It also just so happens to be the first five letters of your company’s
name.
Bloom. Discover your best self.

24. CREATIVE PLATFORM
BRAND IDEA