Positioning and Differentiation with Health Care Organizations
Two health care organizations located in the same area are Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and City of Hope Research Hospital, both in Los Angeles. Both facilities cater to and are championed by Hollywood celebrities, so in many respects they are similar. Their positioning and differentiation is distinctive in other respects, however. This paper will examine the positioning and differentiation of both organizations, noting their similarities and differences.
Cedars-Sinai can boast that “Many a star has been born, literally” there (“Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,” 2008). Its location, “where Los Angeles meets Beverly Hills and West Hollywood,” ensures that it serves movie stars and other Hollywood celebrities, and this visibility prompts exceptional care (“Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,” 2008). In addition to its star-studded patient list, the hospital is also known for being a teaching and research hospital that has approximately 600 different research programs (“Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,” 2008). Even its Board of Directors boasts such notables as Steven Spielberg and Sherry Lansing, and it enjoys celebrity supporters such as Barbra Streisand, Denzel Washington, Mel Gibson, and others (“Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,” 2008; “Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,” n.d.).
Cedars-Sinai’s positioning and differentiation are both related to its celebrity image. It has positioned itself as the hospital to the stars by extending special privileges to stars at the expense of its ordinary, non-celebrity patients. It provides “private, 24-hour nurses, gourmet meals and, in adjacent rooms, plush beds for the entourage,” and when Julia Roberts arrived to deliver twins Phinnaeus and Hazel, the hospital “booted a pregnant woman from a prereserved birthing suite” to make room for her (Gornstein, 2008). In addition, the hospital asks celebrity-oriented questions prior to the arrival of pregnant stars, such as “Will you be checking in under an alias?” (Gornstein, 2008). Cedars-Sinai’s positioning as a celebrity hospital differentiates it from the numerous other hospitals in the Los Angeles area, which explains why the list of stars that have stayed there—or died there—is virtually endless.
For all of the celebrity accommodations offered by Cedars-Sinai, the City of Hope Research Hospital in the same city seems curiously devoid of special favors and procedures for celebrities. The City of Hope has positioned itself instead as a breakthrough research hospital that offers hope to the sick and dying. However, it still has a strong tie to Hollywood by virtue of the fact that it is a popular celebrity charity. Hollywood stars performing benefits for the City of Hope abound, and recent benefits have ranged from Miley Cyrus performing with the Jonas Brothers (PR Newsire, 2008) to a Hollywood cookbook launch party to the launch of Prince’s fragrance (Purcell, 2007). A celebrity softball challenge attended by such luminaries as Carrie Underwood and Vince Gill is typical of the types of benefits designed to promote the facility through a form of celebrity endorsement (“Carrie Underwood and Vince Gill,” 2008). Thus, the City of Hope has positioned itself as a celebrity charity organization, a move that has facilitated its endorsement by numerous celebrities in a variety of different benefits.
In terms of differentiation, the City of Hope is similar to Cedars-Sinai in that its celebrity ties are one of the primary differentiators between it and similar organizations. The center receives much celebrity and media attention that puts it in the limelight while other research hospitals are less well known to the public. In addition, the City of Hope has been designated by the National Cancer Institute as a “Comprehensive Cancer Center—the highest level of recognition bestowed by the NCI,” of which City of Hope is “one of just a handful of elite institutions nationwide to receive this prestigious honor” (“Comprehensive Cancer Center,” 2008). This designation highlights the hospital’s scientific excellence and diversity of approaches to treating cancer and signifies that it has “undergone a rigorous review process and has met or exceeded NCI standards in these areas” (“Comprehensive Cancer Center,” 2008). Thus, City of Hope’s positioning reflects its excellence as a research organization and its superior approaches to fighting cancer.
Both Cedars-Sinai and the City of Hope are located in Los Angeles, where Hollywood celebrities abound. However, it must be pointed out that the numerous other hospitals and research centers in the city have not achieved the recognition that these two have. Cedars-Sinai is positioned as the hospital to the stars, and the City of Hope is positioned as a breakthrough research hospital with superior scientific and research capabilities and achievements. Both Cedars-Sinai and the City of Hope are differentiated by their celebrity associations, Cedars-Sinai by virtue of the many celebrities that are treated or on the hospital board and the City of Hope by the many celebrity endorsements and benefits. Patients at Cedars-Sinai can well expect to see a Hollywood celebrity in the next hall or the next room and patients at the City of Hope can expect to be provided comprehensive treatment of the highest quality as evidenced by NCI endorsement. Both hospitals are regarded as excellent health care organizations that use modern medical technology and processes and both have been acclaimed on several levels by a number of authorities. The one attribute that they have in common most strongly is their high visibility due to their celebrity associations. Celebrity endorsements carry much weight, but their actual admittance to Cedars-Sinai is the best endorsement. If they—who can afford the best doctors—are willing to entrust their lives to the staff at Cedars-Sinai, that is a tremendous incentive for the average individual trying to choose from among Los Angeles’ many hospitals to choose Cedars-Sinai. Thus, of the two hospitals, Cedars-Sinai has both the greater visibility and the better positioning and differentiation.

References
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Purcell, M. (2007). Prince fragrance raises funds for charity. Look to the Stars. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http://www.looktothestars.org/news/277-prince-fragrance-raises-funds-for-charity