The Point of Care Communication Council (PoC3) has rebranded as the Point of Care Marketing Association, the organization is set to announce today. Alongside the new moniker, the association has debuted a new logo and revamped its website.
The changes come at a time of both growth and disruption in the point-of-care space. After evolving their offerings amid the pandemic chaos, companies and networks operating in the sector reported that 2021 was among its strongest years to date.
“There was a record number of RFPs for point of care. There was a record number of hires at agencies of people working just on this,” said Dr. Richard Awdeh, Point of Care Marketing Association co-chair and CEO of CheckedUp.
The rebranding push started last year, when newly appointed executive director Nicole Divinagracia sounded out members and non-members alike on the organization’s overall approach and outlook. At first, Divinagracia expected the changes would be more tweak than full-on rebrand.
“It was, ‘Oh, we’ll just do a logo,’” she recalled.
But Divinagracia and team quickly turned their attention to the organization’s moniker. “We thought that if we were going to move forward and articulate this new vision of who we are, maybe it was time to think about the name.”
Beyond the obvious — that “point of care” had to be a part of it — the group considered numerous alternatives.
“Were we a marketing group or were we an advertising group? Marketing is the broader descriptor, and our members are looking at more than advertising solutions. So that came together pretty fast,” Divinagracia continued. “Then the final piece was whether we were an association or an alliance or a council or something else entirely. You look at the definition of an association — ‘members who have a common structure and a common purpose’ — and we check those boxes.”
There appears to be little nostalgia for the PoC3 shorthand. “Be honest: Did you know what the three Cs stood for?” asked John Kenyon, Point of Care Marketing Association co-chair and VP/managing director of Dotdash Meredith’s Targeted Media Health division, with a laugh. “Years ago, when they came up with the name, ‘point of care’ wasn’t even the standard term for this space. People still called it ‘physician office media.’”
(For the record, the three Cs in PoC3 stood for “care,” “communication” and “council.”)
As for the revamped website, it includes considerably more in terms of educational resources and industry research. “You can see examples of what media companies are offering. It’s a huge change for us,” Divinagracia added.
The rebranding arrives amid a flurry of activity for the Association. In November, it bulked up the agency presence in its membership ranks with the addition of Publicis Health Media and out-of-home specialist Rapport. It also rolled out its first-ever strategic plan, affirming the group’s emphasis on education and measurement.
“Nicole was only here a few months and she developed one of the best strategic plans I’ve ever seen,” Kenyon said. “It represents a profound foundational change. It has truly opened up the imagination of this industry.”
Divinagracia agreed, adding, “We’re still a young organization — we were founded in 2013. With this new brand and the strategic plan, we have a path forward for where we want to be.”
