Fortunately I haven’t had to spend too much time in hospitals or doctors’ waiting rooms lately. What struck me on a recent man-flu-related visit was the corporate branding I saw everywhere. Not drugs companies touting for business, but the NHS itself.
When did it become a brand? In the days when nurses wore frilly uniforms rather than jump-suits and James Robertson-Justice shouted at junior doctors (kids etc), you went to a surgery or hospital which you sort-of knew was funded by the National Health Service, but that was it. I suspect that there was, then, neither a marketing budget nor a marketing department spending their days being pitched to by ad agencies. But that’s progress for you.
