FrownDocs.
The Challenge
The medical aesthetics industry is booming. Soon to be worth a projected £3bn worldwide, the popularity of non-surgical treatments has scaled unprecedented heights. And in the UK, where barriers to entry and market oversight is minimal, the opportunity attracted many new entrants keen to ride the wave.
Risk is an inherent part of the industry, but it can vary enormously from one practitioner to the next. It takes years of dedicated learning to understand human anatomy, to recognise and handle complications, and ensure the highest safety standards.
There are no shortcuts, and it can't be condensed into a two-day course, so how can we trust our practitioners are safe?
Into this space stepped Dr Caroline Steele, founding FrownDocs and opening her first clinic in Stirling, Scotland, in 2018. Building upon her reputation as a trusted family doctor, Caroline’s work didn’t just deliver beautiful results (though also true), she created a welcoming, supportive environment where clients know they’re in the safest of hands.
When we joined forces, our challenge was simple: elevate the brand perception, leverage the momentum they’d already built, and lay the foundations for future growth.
1.0 Brand Strategy
First, we needed to pinpoint the brand essence, and what makes FrownDocs stand out from the crowd is an uncommon blend of medical expertise, technological investment, and outstanding results.
And as you might well expect of a Doctor-led business, it’s wrapped head-to-toe in their uncompromising commitment to the Hippocratic Oath. Sometimes that means declining clients with unrealistic expectations. Sometimes that means refusing to jump on the latest aesthetics craze when the science just doesn’t add up.
For FrownDocs, that’s just the cost of doing business their way, by their own rules. Radical transparency isn’t for everyone, but the bonds they form with their clients are all the stronger for it.
Building the team and surroundings to pull it off doesn’t come cheap, but they do deliver great value. Competing on price alone simply wouldn’t work, so it was critical customers quickly grasped the difference, why it matters, and, when it comes to your physical and mental wellbeing, you really do get what you pay for.
Now, if that all sounds a bit worthy and a bit po-faced, the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Despite the (many) letters and qualifications after their names, they’re a wonderfully warm, friendly, and interested bunch. But perceptions count, so we needed to pay close attention to tone of voice, charting a course between informative and clear-minded while tip-toeing around cold, esoteric medical jargon.
2.0 Brand Design (colour & type)
By design or not, FrownDocs’ established colour palette appeared to draw inspiration from the solid, dependable blues of with the NHS.
No bad thing for a clinical setting, sure, but we were keen to make it more of a nod than an arrow, transitioning to a hue more closely associated with cosmetics brands. Less uniform, more aspiration.
Elsewhere, we retained the clean white and complemented it with silver shadow for balance and a sense of calm, measured restraint.
Finally, we teamed the new colour palette with Century Gothic, a geometric style sans serif typeface. Designed with straight lines and consistent shapes, it's well-balanced and unfussy, evoking a sleek, modern aesthetic.
3.0 Web Design
The connection between external beauty and internal wellbeing is a contentious one. A fine line separates understanding, empathy, and hope from the danger of stoking fears and anxieties. So just as FrownDocs carefully does each day, we had to tread lightly too.
Customer insights illuminated how widespread medical aesthetic treatments have become. Across all ages, sexes, and backgrounds, everyone’s in. And for many, though certainly not all, their regime is a source of great pride - an investment in self-care.
With such a broad audience, our approach was to place storytelling front and centre. We wanted to get people talking and exploring new ideas, whether it’s captivating short-form videos or deep dives into the science underpinning, say, PRP Hair Restoration, we’ve got you. The trick was to find the just the right balance to add value and spark curiosity.
You see, medical aesthetics is more of a journey than a destination. And wherever you are on that journey, once you’ve found a good travelling companion, you tend to hold them close. So our role was really to plump the pillows, make sure everyone’s comfy, and enjoy the ride.
Since launch, ‘FrownDocs’ has become the ‘multi award-winning FrownDocs’ after tasting industry regional and national success, and are confidently striding into the future after taking their refreshing approach to medical aesthetics to a new clinic in East Dunbartonshire.
A clean bill of health? Just what the Doctor ordered…
Client Testimonial ↗
The resulting website is fantastic… and we’ve seen a marked increase in bookings since going live.
We approached Qubit Creations for support with our website. Online bookings were low and we had some feedback our previous site had been difficult to negotiate.
After discussion with Dan, we realised we could do with some help with our branding as well as improving communication with our client base.
In the aesthetics market it can be difficult to strike the appropriate balance between clinical/professional vs approachable. Dan’s insightful approach and creative ideas were fantastic.
He made the process extremely easy and supported us with all of our business needs. The support throughout the process has been second-to-none.
The resulting website is fantastic, it’s user friendly and informative for our customers, and we have seen a marked increase in bookings since going live.
I can’t recommend Qubit Creations enough!
