The world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company with revenues of $48.3 billion announced its acquisition of a rival company with a strong business unit in biologics and vaccines. That unique expertise made this BU the real target of the acquisition and the crucible of the integration and culture change. As a result, the new president, from the acquired company, and his leadership team, faced a different set of challenges than their colleagues.

The head of Communications for the BU selected VTLO, based on our deep experience in partnering with leaders to communicate change resulting from mergers and acquisitions. We developed and implemented a comprehensive communication approach spanning the months before and after Day 1 of the acquisition to position the new president and his leadership team and to announce and advance their ambitious goals for the BU.

• Create a “voice” and agenda for the new president to define BU culture and
  strategy for workforce and peers
• Equip BU leaders with global messaging and strategies to communicate aligned corporate program and approach
• Prepare BU employees to support integration efforts and meet business goals

• In advance of Day 1, the new president defined a “voice” and agenda for the BU culture and strategic goals
• Executed the Day 1 plan with flawless precision
• Equipped the BU leadership team with communication tools to conduct town hall meetings with their teams
• Partnered with the new leaders to announce organization changes and personnel
• Colleagues understood the business unit structure and its immediate strategic imperatives
• Colleagues felt positive about the new BU and their role in it

• Developed strategic communications for new president to deliver before, at and after Day 1. The plan included speeches, video scripts, employee update messages and BU data presentations to express president’s personality and plans for BU culture and strategy
• Created strategy and implementation plan for global BU leaders to communicate with employees. This included town hall materials, toolkits and videos
• Managed the project: conducted research, drafted all communication deliverables, monitored version control among all allied organizations, including regulatory, legal, compliance and strategy; directed the work of graphic artists and video production crew
• Provided a 90-day executive communication plan for president and leadership team to continue connection with global BU workforce