Brand Development

Memory care services across Living Branches had developed independently over decades. Prior to this project, three memory care neighborhoods existed across two campuses, each with its own legacy name. A fourth, brand-new memory care neighborhood was nearing completion, creating a natural inflection point.

Leadership recognized that while they had lived with naming inconsistency for years, continued growth made it increasingly untenable. The existing neighborhood names were serviceable but generic, rooted in earlier eras, and did little to communicate what actually differentiated the organization’s approach to memory care, particularly creative arts therapy and music-based programming.

The goal was to move away from viewing memory care as a collection of individual places and toward presenting it as a unified service, with a name and identity that could scale across campuses and support Living Branches’ long-term trajectory.

As communications manager reporting to the chief advancement officer who owned the project, I served as a core project team member and liaison between leadership and the external branding agency. I participated fully in discovery, focus groups, and naming discussions and was responsible for shaping messaging, and supporting internal education and external rollout.

While I was not the formal owner of the project, I played a central role in refining naming criteria, evaluating options, and translating strategic decisions into language and materials for staff, residents, families, and the public.

From the outset, the team agreed that playing it safe would not work. Many competitors leaned heavily into themes of calm, peace, or protection. While understandable, those approaches risked reducing residents to a condition rather than honoring them as people capable of growth, connection, vitality, and expression.

I helped shape and reinforce a set of criteria that guided the naming process:

• A warm, human tone without feeling saccharine or infantilizing

• Language that avoided clinical coldness

• Longevity and ease of pronunciation

• Visual flexibility across signage, print, and digital use

• The ability to scale cleanly across multiple campuses and neighborhoods

• A meaningful connection to a real differentiator in the organization’s memory care approach

Music emerged as a powerful throughline. It was not a marketing invention but an authentic strength of the organization’s programming and philosophy. The eventual name, Serenata, evoked music, warmth, and continuity while still feeling grounded and usable in day-to-day conversation.

I was part of a small group responsible for evaluating tone and direction, ruling out options that leaned too generic or too emotionally vague, and ensuring the final name would actually do work rather than simply sound pleasant.

One of my key contributions was shaping how the name was introduced internally. Rather than handing frontline leaders a script, I advocated for involving mid-level management in determining how they would explain the change to their teams.

By engaging those leaders in developing the language and framing, the rollout felt collaborative rather than imposed. This approach helped build genuine ownership and avoided forced compliance that can undermine confidence in care settings.

Serenata immediately replaced all legacy neighborhood names. Minor slip-ups were expected, but overall adoption was smooth and uncontroversial, with staff using the new name comfortably and consistently.

I also handled or supported key external touchpoints, including:

• Updated website copy for memory care services

• Brand journalism explaining the philosophy behind the new identity

• Digital communications

• Coordination with the branding agency on logo refinement

• Staff-facing materials and branded apparel to support internal celebration

The brand did not live solely in a deck. It was implemented quickly and coherently across channels.

The Serenata brand successfully unified memory care services across campuses and provided a clear, scalable framework for future growth.

Feedback from staff and families was largely positive. This project reinforced for me that good brand work, especially in healthcare and aging services, is less about safety or rigid alignment and more about authenticity. A name needs to say something real, honor the people it represents, and give staff language they can stand behind with confidence.