Global rebrand in 9 weeks

Following the agreement for Marsh to acquire HSBC Insurance Brokers’ global operations the £135 million deal could only be completed if the acquired company was stripped of its HSBC branding.

Their challenges

Quite simply the timeline was the biggest challenge. The acquisition programme needed a consultant who could rapidly execute a complex brand change on time. A key condition of the deal was that HBSC branding must not be present in any form was the transaction had completed. The rebranding project had to be executed in the UK, the US, Europe and Asia through offices that had varying levels of independence with HSBC Insurance Brokers’ central marketing team in the UK.

Our approach

We quickly developed practical working relationships with Marsh’s marketing department and the marketing team within HSBC Insurance Brokers.

Project outputs

• Brand look and feel
• Brand guidelines
• All brand assets for Marsh and Gibbs Hartley Cooper
• Internal communications for staff
• Analysis of how HSBC and Marsh product lines could be integrated
• Rebrand of printed matter: sales and technical literature, corporate stationery
• Corporate stationery, globally
• Ground-up redesign and branding of the global internet sites
• Rebrand change for system generated documents
• Rebrand of offices and buildings
• Merchandise
• External launch communications

Outcome

The intervention facilitated product integration between the Marsh and HSBC insurance product lines, delivered a global rebrand, developed a new brand for Gibbs Hartley Cooper and enabled the £135 million deal to complete as scheduled.