Mergers And Acquisitions Consulting
Full-Service Brand Programme For Leading Property Management Institution
Overview
Sector:
Property Management Membership Organisation
Location:
Central London, UK
About The Client
The Property Institute (TPI) is an organisation that brings together two existing membership organisations – ARMA and IRPM. Its primary audience comprises of property management professionals, including both companies and individuals. The CEO and Board of The Property Institute have defined its new purpose as “managing people’s homes competently and ethically.”
To achieve this purpose, The Property Institute recognised the need for a full-service consultancy that could provide guidance on successfully merging the two organisations and supporting the development of a new brand while being sympathetic to their diverse audience.
Website: www.tpi.org.uk
Brand Facts
- The Property Institute is a specialist membership body for property management professionals.
- The Property Institute recently merged two well-established membership organisations, ARMA and IRPM, and needed to be sympathetic to the existing client base regarding both the direction of the business and its branding.
Project Facts
- The Property Institute required a complete brand development strategy, including visual identity, tone of voice definition, templates, and website development, with support from The Mackman Group’s research, strategy, branding, and marketing specialists.
- The Mackman Research team worked closely with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that all brand development decisions were underpinned by thorough research.
The Challenge
The client’s biggest challenge was to find a direction moving forwards which allowed the two brands to merge successfully. This includes the merging of services, resources, and outputs such as Members Qualifications. Key to this was the rationale behind the merger, communicating this to TPI’s audience and a seamless merger of current channels (such as website and member area).
Our Process
Market Research Consultancy
An extensive research and insight program was conducted, consisting of collateral audits and stakeholder consultations, to remove assumptions or biases about the direction of the new brand whilst gathering feedback from all stakeholders (members, affiliates, partners, and employees) to underpin the merging of ARMA and IRPM.
The strategic insight found that the board and employees for TPI were generally in agreement on how the brand should move forward, but there were several barriers or questions which needed to be considered, such as brand loyalty at the ARMA / IRPM level. However, there was a keen focus on becoming a driver for change within the industry and raising standards.
The audience insight sessions highlighted the need to tailor content to company and individual members and consumers. Mackman also highlighted several improvements to both process and clarity in the customer journey mapping exercise, which were woven into the strategic marketing recommendations.
Mackman recommended ‘The Property Institute’ became the overarching brand, with ARMA becoming the company membership and IRPM the individual membership divisions. A streamlined and improved marketing plan was drafted to support this direction.
The Property Institute sought to make use of detailed insights and research to determine the best way forward for their merged brand. They also wanted to access The Mackman Group’s in-house team of experts to support their existing marketing staff.
Full-Service Business Consultancy
As with all our projects, it’s important to present the new vision to key stakeholders. In this case, we introduced our early concepts to the board members to ensure their buy-in and understanding of the rationale. After presenting our research findings and strategic direction, we proceeded with the introduction of our creative brand direction, which flowed through to visuals and the physical appearance and application of the merged brand.
Branding Consultancy
The employee and key stakeholder insight reported historic sentiment towards each brand. Despite the significance of IRPM and ARMA within their respective sector segments, an appetite for a new organisation existed that would pool resources and knowledge. Research and insight with external stakeholders reported a need for a single cohesive brand that would display authority, professionalism and trust to all audiences.
The primary objective was creating a visual brand that would assure existing members that historical brand equity would merge to form an even stronger and more substantial brand that would have a significant impact, enabling industry standards and community well-being to improve. However, the challenge with a merger rebrand is to ensure that historic brands feel included in the new branding. Each brand has its strengths and is respected for slightly different reasons. The challenge was to respectfully merge the brands, carrying them along like a thread whilst producing a new identity that signifies TPI’s mission, vision and values.
Project Outcome
The Property Institute joined forces with The Mackman Group because of our comprehensive range of services and a strong emphasis on research. This approach ensured that our work not only withstood scrutiny but also had a logical and clear rationale.
