Health startup branding: the challenge of Zima Health

Zima Health definitely fits the health startup category – this is a company that provides operational services to mental health clinics and professionals. Both partners had previously worked in a clinic within this sector, specifically as a marketing director and in technical support. During this prior professional experience, they first encountered KOBU.

When they decided to venture out on their own, leveraging the extensive knowledge they had gained in managing such businesses, they turned to us knowing that they would find not just a branding agency but a trusted team of people truly committed to supporting solid and successful businesses.

We were familiar with the segment in which Zima operates and knew the average customer profile they were looking for, so it was easy for us to understand the objectives, fears and strengths that this new brand would naturally encounter when seeking its positioning.

Considering a short- and medium-term perspective in terms of brand strategy, we designed this health startup from the ground up, with strong and well-defined pillars for its visuals and messaging to allow it to evolve naturally over time. Their entry into the market has been successful and we’re looking forward to continuing to witness their evolution!

health startup branding: our approach

• Brand Consulting & Strategy: Brand Identity: values, vision, mission, message, promise and tone of voice; Brand Positioning: competition and brand services analysis; strategic guidelines for Brand Communication
• Branding & Storytelling: Core Creative Concept and Brand Narrative; Tagline; Brand Visual Universe: logotype, colour palette, main graphic element, iconography, branded customised typography, photography style; visual guidelines for brand assets; Simplified Brand Book
• Brand Collaterals: main stationery; SoMe templates; pitch deck presentation; event materials (exhibitor stand, roll-up); merchandising
• Website: temporary static landing page
• Content Production: brand teaser video

A health startup coming to life

Zima is a health startup that provides management, marketing and communication support services for mental health clinics and professionals. But it goes beyond that. Zima’s team possesses particular knowledge and experience in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, especially in what concerns the procedural, legal and documentation issues associated with this type of psychotherapy service, which are particularly complex and significant.

For the brand, this expertise is a key differentiating factor from the outset and adds to an extensive understanding of the human aspects involved in such psychotherapy. Supporting the patient embarking on these treatments is crucial to a successful clinic. These are potentially transformative processes with a profound impact on individual perception and experience.

Recognising that the mental health professional’s work should be focused on the patient and their developmental journey, Zima emerges as the right-hand support for managing the essential and tangible tasks required to sustain a mental health business. By taking on operational management, Zima aims to free health professionals from this burden, allowing them more clarity and time to focus on what truly matters: treating patients.

Health startup branding: road mapping the way

Our process began, as always, with the research, analysis, and understanding phase—delving into the “whats” and “whys” of the project. We conducted a questionnaire and held a single, candid interview with both partners, as we were already familiar with one another. From the start, we understood the business opportunity being explored, but we probed their motivations, plans, and objectives while gauging their perceptions, expectations and concerns.

As we were taking on a branding project for a health startup, it was essential for our client to be fully aware of the importance of carefully mapping the ecosystem where the brand would be launched. Understanding obstacles helps us anticipate challenges and, to some extent, enables us to design the brand more intelligently. 

We are not suggesting that a brand identity should bend to the volatile whims of the market, even considering this was a health startup; that would strip it of content and meaning, leading to inconsistency and disconnection in the long term. However, branding must serve the business, and we believe that the brand can reach its destination while avoiding the potholes along the road.

But to do that, we need to know the road! So, this initial phase of research and analysis allowed us to unveil that roadmap and devise a plan for this newly created health startup to enter its niche market intelligently, with fresh visuals and an assertive attitude, using a tailored tone of voice to communicate its unique selling points directly to its target audience.

Zima’s essence: an energy of change

The creative process around Zima Health’s brand identity kickstarted from something the client shared with us, which was the origin of the brand’s name: an animated story that involved various concepts such as identity, construction, deconstruction, the search for meaning and personal growth. All of them were imbued with great dynamism, life, movement and expansion, and all of them were closely related to the very process of ego destruction and liberation that underlies the process of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. The founders of the brand are themselves people full of vitality and with a genuine desire to contribute to the mindset evolution in the mental health field and they are supporters of the possibilities opened up by psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

Our minds buzzed with images, colours, shapes, and movements, and we began to imagine Zima’s visual identity. Like a living organism coming to life, an essence of pulsating energy popped up and became the central graphic element of the brand’s identity. That was Zima’s essence, an energy of change, evolution, and progress. A colourful and breathing shape that translated this health startup’s willingness to be a trusted partner, to put their hands to work, and actually contribute to a greater purpose by supporting mental health professionals to do their job at the best of their ability without wearing themselves out in the operational maze of running a business.

Designing a health startup brand toolkit

The heart of the brand’s identity was defined and it was meaningful. Zima’s essence, the visual vehicle of the brand, had been born with the charisma we wanted and now we would have to develop the tools for it to succeed. Revisiting the roadmap and the plan we had designed, we knew this health startup was preparing to enter a market still a little wary of new approaches to communication in the mental health field.

An increasing number of today’s professionals are from younger and more open generations. Still, we would have to consider a certain resistance to accepting a new brand in the game, with an image that could come through as too disruptive and, therefore, unreliable! The visual identities of brands in the health sector are still very attached to certain standards associated with trust, professionalism and seriousness such as low-key and mostly static visuals, minimalist colour palettes with only blue, white and grey, and standard serif or non-serif typefaces. But, for some time now, KOBU’s health branding projects have been breaking this stereotype and we want to continue to tread this path thoughtfully.

As with so much in life, balance is the key to success, which is why we felt it was essential that Zima, as a health startup, could enter the market with a clearly differentiated visual approach that stood out and appealed to the millennial generation, while ensuring its message of experience and reliability would be perceived immediately and convincingly.

Tailoring the brand universe

We opted for a logo consisting only of the Zima Health naming, accompanied by the signature Mental Health Operations Partner, which in itself explains the brand’s core business and solves the need to clearly and directly communicate the service offered by Zima. For the naming, we chose a particular typeface that we adapted to obtain a feeling that is perhaps a little techie and futuristic, but definitely innovative and differentiated. This font appears in the titles and highlights of the brand, making it a key element of the identity, and feeding visual inspiration for the brand’s iconography.

We tried to balance the disruptive character brought about by the central graphic element of the brand’s identity and by the font used in the naming with an elegant and sober colour palette where deep, almost regal green tones are predominant. The highlights appear in vivid green to reinforce the empathy, joviality and knowledge of the Zima team which are condensed in its inspiring tagline – Shaped by connections. Guided by knowledge.

taping into the customer journey to design the right brand assets

For this health startup, the process of brand awareness and lead generation happens mostly relevantly through presence at fairs and congresses. Naturally, digital media, especially social media, is inescapable nowadays, so we developed adequate assets according to the nature of each brand touchpoint.

Amid the various brand assets we developed to operationalise the brand, the exhibitor stand or booth stood out. Totally customised, portable and practical, this piece allows the brand to present itself at face-to-face events with eye-catching visuals, including also customised merchandising pieces, such as t-shirts, stickers and keychains. Another key brand asset we developed in this branding project was the pitch deck, an on-brand document that presents all relevant information about the company, serving as a sales tool with which the brand can present itself to potential clients and partners. 

And last but definitely not least, we have to mention that all physical brand assets allow access to the brand’s “digital home”, Zima’s landing page, where visitors can get all information and an optimised perception of the brand identity’s full potential.

A health startup brand set for success

Since its launch, Zima has been gradually working on its communication channels using the tools we developed and pushing for a cohesive and coherent implementation of the brand identity. If the brand maintains consistency and stays relevant in sharing content aligned with its core business and brand message, over time this health startup will make its way through and succeed in its brand awareness and lead-generation efforts, never losing sight of the importance of monitoring results to fine-tune its brand and communication strategy.