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Which route to take
Four brand options after an acquisition
When one company in the sector buys another, the first decision is what happens to the name. There are four common options. Keep the acquired brand as it is, keep it with an endorsement such as “a … company”, fold it into your own brand or create a new name for the whole business.
Danaher offers a public example from the sector. On 31 March 2020 it announced that it had completed the acquisition of the Biopharma business of General Electric's Life Sciences division. The same release said that, as part of Danaher, the business would be called Cytiva and would be a standalone operating company.
| Option | When it fits | What the customer notices |
|---|---|---|
| Keep the acquired brand | The name has loyal customers, an installed base and strong Google rankings | Very little, just the new owner in the legal documents |
| Keep it with a group endorsement | You want to keep the trust in the name and show the group behind it | The same name with a new line in the logo, website and documents |
| Fold it into your brand | The ranges overlap or your brand is better known where you want to grow | A new name on labels, certificates, website and orders |
| Create a new name | Neither name represents the combined business or it is a merger of equals | Everything changes at once and needs more explaining |
What should weigh most in the decision
Customer trust should weigh more than the logo. In this sector many customers have the bioreactor, TFF system or consumable validated in their process, with IQ, OQ and PQ completed. For them, the brand is the name printed on documents they have already approved.
Look at where each name gets searched, too. If people know the acquired name on Google, on LinkedIn or at trade shows, dropping it overnight closes a door that brings in leads. If the real problem is two product ranges competing with each other, that is a brand architecture question and the fix is to organise the range.
David Monje, founder of crida studio, ran marketing at TECNIC Bioprocess Solutions for four and a half years. There he repositioned the brand to compete with the large corporations and acted as the bridge between engineering, product and sales. When an equipment maker changes its brand, getting those three teams aligned matters as much as the design.
What should the name change notice to customers include?
It should say when the name changes, which documents change and how lots made before and after can be told apart. If the product, the site and the process are unchanged, say so plainly. Send it to quality and procurement as well as your sales contact, and have the new documents ready so they can review them before they arrive.
How to tell customers who run validated equipment
Customers working under GMP should know what changes and what stays the same before a delivery note arrives with a new name on it. A different name on the label, the certificate of conformance or the manual can trigger a change control on the customer side. If they know in advance that the product, the site and the process are unchanged, the review will be easier for them.
Send a formal change notification to quality and procurement, not just to your sales contact. It should say when the name changes, which documents change and how lots made before and after can be told apart. Check with your quality team and your supply agreements whether notice periods have been agreed with individual customers.
- Product and packaging labels and equipment nameplates
- Certificates of conformance, certificates of analysis and manufacturer declarations
- Manuals, datasheets, IQ and OQ protocols and validation packages
- Quotes, invoices, delivery notes, terms of sale and email signatures
- Part numbers, if they change, with a cross-reference table
Want us to map which documents, profiles and websites would change name in the integration? Leave your details and we will tell you where we would start.
Review my integrationDistributors, LinkedIn, YouTube and trade shows
Distributors should hear about the change before end customers do, because they will be the first ones asked. Give them a kit with the new logo, updated datasheets, a short text explaining the deal and answers to the questions that will come up. If you sell in several countries, produce it in the languages your partners sell in.
On LinkedIn and YouTube, decide whether to merge or keep the pages. A page with followers and a channel with demo videos watched over several years are assets worth keeping and renaming where it makes sense. At trade shows, the first booth under the new brand is a good moment to explain the change face to face.
How long should redirects from the old website stay in place?
Google's site move guide says at least a year and, from the user's point of view, indefinitely if you can. The Change of Address help page mentions a minimum of 180 days, or longer if Google Search is still sending traffic, and advises paying for the old domain for at least a year.
How to migrate the website and domain without losing rankings
If the acquired brand goes away, its website has to be redirected page by page. Google's guide to site moves recommends mapping every old URL to its new equivalent and using server-side permanent redirects such as 301. It also states that 301 redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank.
Google warns against redirecting many old URLs to a single unrelated page such as the home page, because it may be treated as a soft 404. It recommends changing one thing at a time, the domain first and the design later, and keeping redirects for as long as possible, generally at least a year. Remember the PDFs and images as well.
When the domain changes, the Change of Address tool in Search Console tells Google about the move. Its help page requires you to own both properties and advises against combining several moves into one location. It suggests moving them one by one, waiting for traffic to settle, and paying for the old domain for at least a year.
Can I keep both websites live for a while?
Yes, if both brands carry on and each has its own audience. If one is going away, two websites covering the same equipment confuse customers and leave two pages competing for the same searches. In that case it is better to move the site with 301 redirects and add a page that explains the deal.
In what order to roll out the rebrand
Decision and name first, then customers, and the public side last. If the name is new, check whether it is registered in the countries where you sell. Then build the inventory, notify customers and distributors and, once they know, launch the new website with the redirects and the change of address.
Google explains that rankings can fluctuate for a while during a move as it recrawls the site, and that for a medium-sized site it can take a few weeks or more to show the new URLs. Warn the sales team and watch the Search Console data for both sites.
