Luminary

We’ve worked with Kate Thaisz for years, since the inception of her geriatric care management business. Over the years, Kate has struggled with awareness of care management as a whole, connecting with seniors + adult child caregivers, and differentiating herself as the top choice in her area. 

Kate found that her branding didn’t always smoothly connect her to her target audience. In particular, her company name, Compassionate Choice, didn’t say anything about care management, a service that already isn’t the easiest to search for.

Sometimes older adults or adult children seeking help don’t look for a care manager, instead looking directly for care + homes themselves. A geriatric care manager like Kate can take so much stress off their plates, but they have to find her first. 

We did a lot of research to see what other geriatric care management companies were doing online. We looked at their company names, any special focus areas, and geographical limitations to gain a better understanding of how to advise Kate on her journey forward. There are lots of factors to consider when thinking about a brand refresh.

• What does your current branding say about your business? 
• What do you want your branding to say about your business? 
• What changes are you willing to make to align your branding with your desired messaging? 
• What, if anything, do you want to keep about your current branding?

Many other companies that offer similar services share words in their names and are not very precise with their company naming efforts. Kate liked the idea of her company acting as a beacon, guiding light, or lighthouse to help guide her clients. This brings a comforting feeling to her company’s name + immediately draws people in, helping them feel safe in her care and garnering an immediate sense of trust. 

However, many names like “Guiding Light” or “Beacon” came with searchability issues. Most of the name ideas we came up with based on this direction were either recognizable as something else or were already names of businesses in Connecticut, Kate’s area of operation.

This led us to the idea of a name like Luminary, Alight, or Illuminated with supportive text that offers more of an explanation of the services offered, like “a beacon of supportive care management.” We wanted to keep Kate’s concept while adapting it to be more unique + adding supportive text to offer more context.

We presented Kate with some options and ideas for how to move forward. Each concept had a one-word company name with a short line of supporting text, and they could be swapped based on her preferences. 

Our initial name ideas included:

• Luminary 
• Alight
• Illuminated
• and simply her name, Kate Thaizs 

Examples of supporting text for these names included:

• Supportive management for geriatric care
• A beacon of supportive care management
• Senior care, simplified
• Supportive care management
• Kate Thaizs, Geriatric Care Manager

Putting them together, we came up with some suggestions for how to pair these names and supportive texts, offering up concepts for her new full branding. We came up with:

• Luminary, a beacon of supportive care management
• Alight, senior care, simplified.
• Illuminated, a beacon of supportive care management
• Illuminated, care management, simplified.
• Kate Thaisz, care management, simplified.
• Thaisz & Co., care management, simplified.
• Kate & Co., care management, simplified.

We presented these name options and ideas to Kate, giving her some time to think them over before we moved forward with the design aspect of the project. Ultimately, we determined that including her name in the company name wasn’t the right direction. For searchability, the company name should be easy to spell + focused on her service rather than her as an individual. 

Kate has chosen Luminary, care management, simplified + we’re moving forward with this change for all of her branding moving forward, including her new logo design + website. Interested in other branding by recreative + co.? Check out our projects for Seacoast Racing + June’s Cafe.