Learn about how it was created with our OMSers
Creating the new Overcoming MS strapline
As part of our 10th anniversary, you have probably seen that we have launched our new branding. This moves us into a new decade as we look to engage more deeply with healthcare professionals, while keeping some connections with our previous branding. You can read the story about our new branding here. In addition to the new branding, we wanted a new strapline that we can use in communications, alongside our old straplines.
Various people gave their ideas for this new strapline – including our agencies and internal employees – and, in the end, the selected strapline was the idea of OMSer Denny, member of our Communications Advisory Group.
Elements of the new strapline
The two core elements that Denny included within the strapline were the idea of hope – which people get as a result of discovering the program – and evidence – as the program is evidence-based, which adds to its credibility and is the foundation of the realistic hope that people feel when they discover the program.
We felt that this was a strong strapline to use both with people inside our community and also with healthcare professionals, for whom the evidence-base is important.
Feedback from Denny on the strapline and her background with Overcoming MS
About her thinking to create the strapline, Denny said:
“Getting diagnosed with MS was a dark and life-changing experience for me. I was convinced that my lifestyle must have contributed in some ways and that there must be something that I can do to shape my outcome. I read through different lifestyle approaches and protocols but found that most seemed to base their recommendation on mere theories of what might or should work. When I read Professor Jelinek’s book I found something different: well-defined lifestyle modifications that were backed by evidence. It gave me hope that having a good life with MS is possible.
“I felt that the words “hope” and “evidence” are the ones that every newly diagnosed person needs to hear. This is why I wanted to include these words in the strapline.
“I have been following the program since April 2019, a month after getting diagnosed. It has helped me beyond just managing MS: I’ve rediscovered a healthier and more fulfilling way to live which has improved my relationships with others and my relationship with myself. By now my hope that OMS works has turned into a conviction. Thanks to the circle that I’m a member of and my work as a volunteer in the Communications Advisory Group, to me OMS is more than the 7-step program: it is also a diverse and supportive community.”
Thoughts from the Chief Executive on the strapline
Giving his reason for supporting the strapline, interim Chief Executive Stephen Richards said:
“We wanted something that we felt summed up Overcoming MS to both the public audience and also to healthcare professionals. It wasn’t an easy task!
“We were delighted when we received Denny’s suggestions, as we felt that her ideas contained the right sense of optimism and positivity – which we feel is one of the keys to Overcoming MS – combined with the legitimacy of our evidence-based foundations. We will use this interchangeably with ‘Overcoming MS is possible’ as we move into our second decade”.