Strategic marketing and internal comms delivers a very successful acquisition.
Using our knowledge of customer journey touchpoints, we created an integrated campaign that would take employees on their journey from announcement through to the takeover on day 1.
Signature Care Home Acquisition requires expert marketing communications programme to align with business transformation
OnBrand Marketing Agency and Practical Change Partners successfully joined forces in August 2021 when it was announced that Signature Senior Lifestyle was to more than double in size, thanks to the acquisition of Sunrise and Gracewell Care Homes into their property portfolio, changing from managing 16 luxury care homes to 36 in the process.
Employee engagement and strong internal communication would be key to delivering internal acquisition success, so Practical Change Partners introduced OnBrand into the conversation, having worked together on Practical Change Partners’ own brand communication and business strategy plans.
Develop and execute a complex, strategic communications programme for staff, residents and their families
- Delivery of core objective to engage quickly and effectively with each and every team member across all 36 care homes across London and the home counties (over 4,000 individuals) to create a feeling of belonging and inclusion in the newly extended Signature family.
- Delivery of campaign goals including embedding company values, encouraging cross team collaboration, reassuring team members of all levels in the business of the many positive outcomes of change, despite the disruption and building internal recognition of the newly structured senior leadership team driving the larger business forward.
“Together” Campaign.
Following a series of internal meetings to collect team feedback and share ideas across all three brands, the OnBrand design and content team developed a range of possible campaign creatives, but the standout theme chosen was ‘Together’ – an umbrella theme that encapsulated the strength in three established luxury care home providers coming together as one stronger, high performance business.
Comms Programme.
Using a range of communication channels including welcome videos, informative newsletters, branded thank-you gifts, celebration Day 1 party packs and a packed programme of cake decorating competitions, shared resident experiences and surprise balloon arches delivered on the day, the Signature senior leadership team were able to welcome each and every team member with personalised messages, team and resident parties and branded goody bags as a heartfelt thank you for all the hard work completed, both as part of the acquisition and from the recent tough times in the care home industry, due to the pandemic.
What we did.
Video Marketing
Day 1 Welcome video messages from Senior Leadership Team.
Email Marketing
Short weekly bulletins with acquisition milestone updates from key areas of the business.
Project Management.
Together Campaign updates in general manager meetings, key workstream lead meetings and company-wide ‘Town Hall’ meetings.
Intranet Management.
New company messages on The Hub Intranet to ensure team members across all care homes felt engaged and updated on key areas of the business, including day to day concerns such as uniform or entry card queries.
Employee Engagement.
Celebration Party Packs, individual team thank you gifts and goody bags were delivered (as a special surprise on the day) to all care homes and the team support office for everyone to enjoy on the Day 1 merger completion.
Social Media.
A fantastic sharing of all the individual care home festivities was encouraged across social media channels on Day 1.
E-Newsletter.
A follow up summary Newsletter went out after the Day 1 Celebration parties to thank everyone for all their efforts.
Video Content.
Follow up video messages and updates were planned for the next phase of the programme to pick up again after all the planned Christmas excitement in the new year.
Events Management.
Celebration Day 1 party packs and a packed programme of cake decorating competitions, shared resident experiences and surprise balloon arches delivered on the day, the Signature senior leadership team were able to welcome each and every team member with personalised messages, team and resident parties and branded goody bags as a heartfelt thank you for all the hard work completed, both as part of the acquisition and from the recent tough times in the care home industry, due to the pandemic.
Words from Signature.
The Services.
Getting this merger right involved many moving parts and skills from the OnBrand team.
Words from Practical Change Parnters.
A fantastic piece of feedback for the OnBrand content creation team was a video message from the senior leadership team had been brilliantly received, and a request for more direct senior contact, either in person or on video was key to frontline staff feeling connected with the company. Aidan and Kay were delighted to oblige and put their whole team in front of the camera for a Day 1 welcome message.