Joel David Marshall Senior Brand Strategist · Creative Director
Joel David Marshall

Senior Brand Strategist · Creative Director

HealthcareConsumer Electronics & MobileTruck AftermarketBrand PositioningProduct Positioning

I find the insight that moves a brand, then guide the work that carries it.

Twenty-plus years building healthcare and national brands: positioning, research with patients, physicians and referral sources, creative briefs that inspire teams, and integrated campaigns that carry the strategy all the way to market.

Open to senior brand strategy roles with healthcare organizations

See the work How I think
Celebrate Here billboard for San Juan Regional Medical Center.
Life. Better. Here. · Celebrate Here bulletinSan Juan Regional Medical Center
$114M → $1.4BLG Electronics' US presence in the first year of its TV launch
54+Campaigns created for one regional health system over 18 years
25+Brand and product positioning studies, each presented to the C-suite
110+Provider, survivor and family interviews behind the Compass Oncology rebrand
Brands served LG Electronics, Appliance & CommercialPanasonic / LUMIXLogitechRIM / BlackBerrySan Juan Regional HealthCompass OncologyGerber Legendary BladesHusky LinersSmartCapBedslideAir LiftNIC / CerakoteCatholic Healthcare West (now CommonSpirit Health)

Healthcare systems San Juan Health · Compass Oncology · Catholic Healthcare West, now CommonSpirit Health: Sequoia Hospital, St. Joseph's Modesto, St. Joseph's Stockton and Mercy Mt. Shasta

Strategic insight

The best brand strategy starts with a question nobody has asked.

I sit down one-on-one with the people who decide a brand's future: patients and families, physicians and referral sources, customers, dealers and employees. Ranked data tells us what matters. The conversations tell us why. The best insights hide in plain sight, and once you see one, you can't unsee it.

Survivor & family interviewsNorthwest Cancer Specialists
Q1

What was your first reaction when you got your diagnosis?

Q2

What did you want more than anything when you walked out of the office that day?

The insight

Not hope. Direction. They wanted the next steps and a path forward to healing.

HCP audiences

Physicians, providers & referral sources

Oncology provider and referral-source research, a referral and patient decision study for St. Joseph's Stockton, and provider recruitment interviews on why physicians chose their practice and their town.

Patient audiences

Patients & families

Survivor and family research for oncology, spine, women's health and diabetes, and 24+ patient testimonial campaigns.

Internal audiences

Employees & leadership

Internal perception studies, leadership retreats, and employee campaigns that build pride from the inside.

Northwest Cancer Specialists → Compass Oncology · Positioning, naming & identity

The insight that named a brand.

When Northwest Cancer Specialists, the largest cancer practice in the Portland–Vancouver area, wanted to rebrand, I interviewed more than 30 providers and more than 80 cancer survivors and family members, including families of patients who lost their battle.

Nearly every oncology clinic positions around hope. Patients told us they wanted direction: the next steps, and a clear path forward to healing. That insight became the brand position, guided the naming process to Compass Oncology, and shaped the logo and identity we developed for the launch.

compassoncology.com ↗

Direction,
not hope.The insight behind a new name, position and identity.
LG Electronics · Brand + flat-panel TV launch

Winning the sales floor while being outspent ten to one.

LG was launching its brand and its flat-panel TVs in the US at the same time. I interviewed dealers and salespeople, something no one had done in years, and learned they sell whatever earns the best margins and incentives. The research also showed women weighed heavily in the TV decision, though every brand marketed only to men.

We moved LG's brand dollars into the channel: a customizable dealer marketing platform built around the two seasonal selling windows that mattered, with women brought into the marketing. I managed the channel market relationships and sold the channel and brand campaign in to hundreds of dealers and distributors. Dealers started preferring to sell LG.

$1.4BUp from $114M in the first year of the launch, against competitors spending ten times more on brand.

Beyond healthcare The same process, proven in other categories.

Automotive accessories · for Yonder

Husky Liners

Husky Liners ad: a soda spills onto a Husky floor liner and stays in its channels, away from the truck's carpet. Husky Liners ad: a husky dog holds a black Husky floor liner in its mouth.
Research
Consumers ranked what actually mattered to them in floor liners.
Insight
The category leader's headline claim ranked eighth. Vehicle protection ranked first, so we rebuilt the message around blunt, no-nonsense protection.
Result
After a decade of flat revenue, the repositioning that came out of this brand and product planning helped management double the company in three years, grow its most profitable direct-to-consumer channel, and sell the business in 2017.
The work
Brand repositioning, website, packaging and advertising, produced by the same designers and film crew I work with. Case study ↗ Watch the spot ↗ "Creme" :30 ↗
Market entry · South Africa to US · for Yonder

SmartCap

A hand presses the latch on a steel SmartCap truck canopy in falling snow.
Research
One-on-one interviews with truck owners across the US, testing four positions against the category leaders.
Insight
For decades, truck caps were fiberglass because the category leader grew out of American boat-building, and nearly everyone followed. SmartCap was steel, forged in South Africa's rugged land, and owners wanted rugged above all.
Position
"Built like a truck, not like a boat." I presented it to the CEO and C-suite in South Africa. The campaign was produced by the same designers and film crew I work with.
Truck aftermarket · for Yonder

Bedslide

Bedslide magazine spread: a rancher pulls a full load of firewood out of his truck on a Bedslide, beside a forest clearing cut in the shape of the load. Headline: The easiest way to load and unload your truck.
Research
Brand and product positioning studies for a sliding truck-bed cargo system.
Insight
All we had to do was show the product. Once people saw it work, it sold itself.
Result
The "Drawers" :30 spot, produced by the same design and film team. Watch the spot ↗
Consumer · Outdoor

Gerber Legendary Blades

Research
As VP of Account Planning, a full brand planning study for Oregon's original knife brand. The goal: get more women to carry a knife. The first question: do you carry a knife? Why or why not?
Insight
The most common answer: "No! Because I'm never going to stab anyone with it." Yet women use knives in the kitchen constantly, and open more boxes than anyone, mostly with pens and scissors. Out of the kitchen, the tool became a weapon.
Position
A knife is a tool, not a weapon. Fittingly, Gerber itself began as a kitchen knife company.
Product launch · Vehicle care

NIC / Cerakote

Research
Positioning discovery for a manufacturer, through an agency partner.
Insight
They planned to compete with vehicle dressings. Consumers saw a different category, a coating, which changed the go-to-market strategy.

Positioning and insight studies

For every study, I wrote the executive summary and presented it to the C-suite and senior leadership for buy-in. Then I developed the position, wrote the strategy and headlines, and worked on production for the campaigns that followed.

25+Brand and product positioning and insight studies across healthcare, consumer electronics, mobile, outdoor and the truck aftermarket.
  • Brand positioning
  • Product positioning
  • Product naming
  • Rebranding
  • Market entry
  • Brand perception: community and patients
  • Expanding-market studies
  • Internal caregiver perception
  • Provider recruitment
  • Referral and patient decision process

Studies for San Juan Regional Health · Compass Oncology · St. Joseph's Stockton · Panasonic / LUMIX · RIM / BlackBerry · Logitech · SmartCap · Husky Liners · Bedslide · Air Lift · Gerber Legendary Blades · NIC / Cerakote

Creative work

Strategy you can see: video, print, outdoor, environmental and digital.

Most of this work is for San Juan Regional Medical Center and San Juan Health Partners. Once we built the position, Celebrating Life in the Four Corners, everything flowed from it, and so much of the health message claims an active, outdoor life in the region for healthcare. Each campaign runs from the strategy brief to the finished pieces.

Video

Concept · Script · Production
Title card from the Life. Better. Here. brand film: Better is our mission, over the Four Corners landscape.
Life. Better. Here.The brand position launch film that introduced the renewed mission, vision and position to every employee: celebrating the pride and joy of life in the Four Corners. Watch on Vimeo ↗
Brand position launch · 2:45
How to Prevent a Heart AttackA four-spot series for the San Juan Regional Heart Center. A heart mascot works through four simple rules, one spot at a time.
Broadcast · 4 × :30
Couch Potato
Fridge
Scale
Smoker

More on Vimeo

OB/GYN launch · :30 Celebrating Women Celebrating the women of the Four Corners who make life better here. Watch on Vimeo ↗ Community health · :30 If You're Thirsty, You Drink Water! Kids take on soda and alcohol in a region that needed a healthier habit. Out of the mouth of babes. Watch on Vimeo ↗ Internal campaign · 2:49 My Why Reminds employees of their highest purpose: working as a family to care for the families in their community. Watch on Vimeo ↗ Diabetes campaign · :60 Ian: Denial The anchor spot for the "Don't Be in Denial" diabetes education campaign. Watch on Vimeo ↗ Urgent care · :30 Family Happens Broadcast spot for San Juan Regional urgent care. Watch on Vimeo ↗ Brand spot · :30 Better You Broadcast spot built on the Life. Better. Here. platform. Watch on Vimeo ↗ Product positioning · 2:43 BlackBerry PlayBook Use-case films that position the PlayBook tablet around what people would actually do with it. Watch on Vimeo ↗ Truck aftermarket · :30 Husky Liners "Creme" Blunt, no-nonsense protection, the message that came out of the Husky Liners brand and product planning. Watch on Vimeo ↗ Truck aftermarket · :60 Air Lift "Know Squat" The spot that came out of the Air Lift brand positioning study. Watch on Vimeo ↗ Truck aftermarket · :30 Bedslide "Drawers" Show the product and it sells itself. Watch on Vimeo ↗

Campaigns

Filter by type, or select any piece to view it larger.

The process

The climb: from every viewpoint to the common truth.

Branding isn't creating something new. It's uncovering something true. I'm a hired truth seeker and truth teller, and the quality of the process determines the quality of the position. I've refined these four steps over two decades.

  1. Discovery

    Never decide anything before discovering the most relevant truth. Start inside and move outward: before you can change how people outside an organization think, you often have to change how people inside think. Leadership and staff interviews surface blind spots and groupthink. Then one-on-one interviews with customers, patients, providers or dealers, with benefits and values ranked against the organization's own list. Every interview is filmed, so leaders hear the truth in their own customers' voices, and we listen closely to the words people use, because perception is personalized truth. People who already have a relationship with the brand are the best source, because they can tell you why. Why? is the highest question.

  2. Digestion

    About 2 weeks

    The step most people try to skip. Time to digest what we learned and apply the wisdom gained in discovery, synthesized into a Brand Positioning Executive Summary and a creative brief that gives the team one clear direction.

  3. Determination

    Never build before the foundation. The Brand Positioning Expedition brings the data, planners and brand leaders together to determine and affirm the position. The position sits where the brand's highest truth meets the customer's, because that's where resonance is greatest. If there's no mutual benefit, there's no relationship. This is the summit, and leaders leave as owners of the brand.

  4. Development

    Never ends

    Identity, personality, relationships and every campaign that follows, all built on the same foundation so the work stays cohesive for years. A brand's truth stands firm and keeps changing as life happens, so the listening never stops.

Deliverables Brand IdealBrand MantraBrand PositionBrand ValuesVoice + PersonalityDifferentiationPrioritized BenefitsCreative Brief
Experience

Agency leadership, independent practice, and 18 years inside one health system's brand.

  1. 2012 – present Marshall + More Good Founder · Brand Strategist & Creative Director

    Independent brand planning and production practice. Account director and creative director for most San Juan Health campaigns over the last 10 years, as the system's virtual agency: brand positioning, reputation studies, leadership strategy retreats, and 54+ campaigns including provider recruitment, employee pride and 24+ patient testimonial pieces. Develops the campaign concepts, writes print copy and video and radio scripts, and owns strategy, production management, client relationships and budgets. Contract brand strategist for Yonder on SmartCap, Husky Liners, Bedslide, Air Lift and NIC / Cerakote, with campaigns produced by the same design and film team.

  2. 2022 SHSMD Connections Speaker, Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development

    "Branding Inside and Out: Developing a Cohesive Brand to Reach Employees and Consumers," co-presented with San Juan Regional's marketing manager, my client of 18 years.

  3. 2012 – 2016 George Fox University Adjunct Instructor, Marketing & Communications

    Every student memorized one definition: "Marketing is the process and practice of communicating the most relevant truth to our most relevant target in the most relevant and resonant way."

  4. 2003 – 2012 Steelhead Advertising Account Executive to Executive Vice President · Director of Brand Planning

    Led brand planning for Panasonic, LG Electronics, Logitech, RIM/BlackBerry and healthcare clients, including product positioning, brand strategy and copywriting for BlackBerry. Account director and strategist for LG Electronics, LG Appliance and LG Commercial, managing channel relationships and selling in the LG channel and brand campaign to hundreds of dealers and distributors. Ran dealer and channel research across the US, presented in client C-suites, and led new-business pitches. The agency's mantra: “Communicating Relevant Truth.”

  5. Earlier Pastoral ministry 18 years

What I bring to a leadership role

  • Brand strategy, positioning, architecture and brand storytelling
  • Insight generation with HCP, patient, caregiver and consumer audiences
  • Creative briefs and briefings that inspire creative teams
  • Executive summaries and C-suite presentations for every study, and a national healthcare conference speaker
  • New business strategy and pitch development
  • Mentoring: taught marketing at George Fox; led teams as an agency EVP
  • Integrated campaigns: video, print, outdoor, digital, environmental
  • Campaign concepts, print copy, and scripts for video and radio, through production

B.S., Management & Communications, Corban University. Additional studies at Multnomah Bible College and Bob Jones University.

Why it works

A pastor and a brand planner practice the same craft. A pastor uses truth to give direction to the people they serve. A brand planner uses truth to give direction to the organizations they serve.

Eighteen years as a pastor taught me to listen for what people care about most, and to ask myself how I can best serve them in their lives. Every study I run is built on that habit.

Off the clock
Joel on a chairlift with snowy Cascade peaks behind him. Joel on his Central Oregon herb farm, wearing a Tumalo Tea shirt.

Mountaineer and former Mt. Hood Ski Patrol. For three and a half years I lived in a log cabin on the Sandy River, skiing more than 120 days a season. Riding the lift one day, I watched climbers heading for the summit and realized they knew the same mountain in a completely different way. Neither of us was more right. That's where the mountain metaphor comes from.

Also a Master Gardener, herb farmer and forager, which takes the same patience as good research. The greatest benefits are often under your feet.

Contact

Let's talk about what your brand needs next.

Hiring a senior brand strategist? I'd welcome the conversation, and I'm glad to share a full resume and references.