Next-Level Branding: Why We Are a Lab

In March 2016, ADVANCE for Physical Therapy & Rehab Medicine asked physical therapy practice owners how they approach branding. One of them was Dr. Davis Koh, founder of KOH Physical Therapy Lab, who described how business school changed the way he thought about his practice's identity.

From a basic clinic to a clear identity

When Dr. Koh opened his practice in 2003, it was simply Koh Physical Therapy, marketed with business cards, fliers and a template website. Earning his MBA prompted him to ask what kind of physical therapist he wanted to be and how every part of the practice could show it. His answer was to be current in techniques, modalities and equipment, in a modern, professional and warm setting.

That answer arrived as he was buying a building in Irvine, so the practice relaunched with a new facility, equipment, website and name: KOH Physical Therapy Lab.

Why "lab"

The name was deliberate. As Dr. Koh put it, "The name 'lab' was very important to me because I didn't want to be seen as a traditional clinic." The space was designed to match, with metal and wood fixtures, raised exposed ceilings and sliding-glass doors on the treatment rooms instead of a standard clinic look.

While the surgeon's tool is a scalpel, our tools are our hands.Dr. Davis Koh, in ADVANCE

The team's navy scrubs carry the same idea. Dr. Koh compared them to a surgeon's: "While the surgeon's tool is a scalpel, our tools are our hands." Care is hands-on and active, not a matter of setting someone up on a machine and leaving the room.