My initial charge at Publishing Business Systems (PBS; which was acquired by Digital Technology International, then Newscycle, now Naviga) was to bring the marketing and brand assets of two companies together following a global acquisition.
Because the acquiring company was a 30-year old brand and the acquisition significantly added to the company’s software platform (and value proposition), I wanted to establish a baseline for the brand. My first step was to initiate a brand perception study, soliciting feedback from customers, prospects, employees and industry influencers. I found there was very little brand equity in the company that was acquired, but more surprising, the brand perception of PBS didn’t echo the identity the company had hoped. PBS – and its technology – were perceived as old (“legacy”) and certainly not innovative.
The acquisition was very strategic in giving PBS the ability to bring highly innovative, integrated systems to the market that would truly differentiate the company. I developed a plan for updating the company’s corporate identity and integrating the brand assets of both companies – right down to the icons and terminology used within the company’s software. (The added challenge here was that the acquired company was French-Canadian and applied different terms to screen commands.) We launched the new brand/corporate identity at a major industry event to rave reviews. We pre-booked 90% of the available software demonstration time in our booth, ensuring high traffic and meaningful conversations.
In conjunction with the corporate identity update, I also led the transformation of the company from a technology-driven (build it and they will come) to a market- and customer-driven organization. Leveraging the Pragmatic Software Marketing Framework, I implemented a formal product marketing function and gained top-down buy-in of this approach.
The updated identity, market-driven orientation, and new solutions generated a renewed interest in the 30-year old company, contributing to a 3% increase in market share in an extremely narrow market. I also launched the discipline of Account Management to sell the acquired systems (and other value-added solutions) into the existing client base. Second-year revenue from account management was more than $1.3M.
Two years later, I was again called upon to integrate the brand assets of two companies. PBS and its acquirer, Digital Technology International (DTI).
Pam Bednar 