As an agency specializing in B2B healthcare marketing, we are frequently on the front lines of projects related to branding, public relations, and communications for healthcare acquisitions. To help you prepare for everything from media statements to internal campaigns, we’ve compiled a summary of our experience.
For over a decade, deal-making has been reshaping the industry as big players get even bigger through merger and acquisition (M&A) activity driven by vertical integration and other market forces. This trend is projected to continue in 2025 due to anticipated interest rate cuts and the current White House administration’s softened antitrust regulations. In particular, experts from KPMG expect the pharmaceutical industry will see a boom in M&A activity as big pharma scrambles to buy up smaller companies to replace revenue from expiring patents. Consolidation among hospitals and health systems is also likely to continue as financial pressures in the post-pandemic landscape leave some organizations vulnerable to acquisition by more financially stable entities like private equity firms or large health systems.
Some of the most widely publicized deals involve massive organizations swooping in to purchase other sizable healthcare companies. However, many M&A deals involve venture capital firms buying and selling smaller players or integrating them into health services organizations that have complementary service offerings. Regardless, most entities are looking to rebrand and integrate operations within a matter of weeks. This short rebranding time is preferred because they’ll soon be preparing to make yet another strategic acquisition or repackage and sell the new company itself.
Unfortunately, few agencies have the agility and know-how needed to craft the rebranding, marketing, and communications for fast-paced healthcare acquisitions. Even in-house marketing staff may not have the playbook needed to effectively manage all the strategies required for these transitions at such a demanding pace, especially on top of their existing workloads. Fortunately, Activate Health has this process down to a science, considering that we work on rebranding and communications for healthcare acquisitions on such a frequent basis. We’ve shared a few key aspects of our process below to help marketers facing ferocious deadlines and increased internal pressure to rapidly rebrand, prepare for the onslaught of media inquiries and effectively communicate about an upcoming M&A event.
Communications for healthcare acquisitions: Who needs to know what
Figuring out when and how to communicate with key stakeholders is just as important as what to communicate. The most urgent priority after any deal is announced is the rapid communication to all parties, including:
- Internal employees
- Existing customers
- Prospects
- Partners
- Vendors
This does NOT include media, as these highly sensitive communications require a separate public relations and crisis communications strategy.
While there is no one-size-fits-all plan for most organizations, there are certain tactics that are common across most strategic communications for healthcare acquisitions. For example, many of our clients need talking points for C-suite leaders and FAQs for employees that use a positive tone to alleviate their concerns. Prioritization for these communications is also critical. First, you should determine who needs to know immediately (usually upon minutes of the deal being announced), versus audiences who can be a second-tier priority. Do you communicate with the managers first, employees second, customers third, and vendors and partners last? That’s not to say you have weeks or even days between these communications—most will be timed out within a matter of hours. But the order of priority will be important for our next strategy. When the media makes an inquiry (and they will), you want to make sure your employees and customers aren’t caught off guard.
Real-world example: Specialty pharmacy M&A
Activate Health worked with a specialty pharmacy whose staff rarely spent their time on a computer. As a result, sending out an all-staff email was not the most efficient way to communicate. Those team members instead needed to receive a custom communication delivered by their team leader at a time when everyone was available.
This may sound obvious, but it’s not until you dig into the day-to-day operations of a newly acquired company that you really understand all the parameters impacting the success of communications for healthcare acquisitions.
The media comes calling: Holding statements, talking points, and preparing for leaks
If we wrote an entire book about strategy and communications for healthcare acquisitions, media relations would likely take up quite a few chapters. As mentioned above, the media should not be lumped into the general stakeholder communications plan. Instead, they require a separate approach and strategy authored by savvy public relations and media relations experts. That’s because there are a whole host of ways the media can make your communications for healthcare acquisitions go sideways. For example, they may announce the deal before you’re ready to disclose by citing rumors and other “off the record” sources. In that instance, you must have a holding statement ready to fend off these inquiries and respond strategically yet truthfully. Best-case scenario, you’ll have control over the timing of the media announcement of your deal. Still, you’ll need a proactive approach that includes tactics for press release distribution and media follow-up. However, there is simply no way around it—you’ll want to partner with a public relations agency skilled in these types of communications for healthcare acquisitions. If you don’t, you could be putting your organization (and your job) at risk.
What needs to be rebranded? A comprehensive audit and prioritization of key deliverables
Every good post-acquisition rebranding plan considers a few key factors—and foremost is the prioritization of deliverables for rebranding. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Yet when you’re talking hundreds or most likely thousands of different branded materials—from signage to custom post-it notes to IT reports—this prioritization process can get unwieldy fast. Bringing in an expert facilitator like the team at Activate Health will help your operations and marketing staff implement a specialized auditing process. This will involve identifying the master list of all deliverables and their importance, external/internal nature, use, cost and run-off date for each. A cost/benefit analysis of each material is essential during this process. For example, if your inventory includes 5,000 folders and your organization uses 1,000 per month, can you wait to rebrand it for several months? How is this folder and its branded materials being used? Will rebranding it immediately impact sales and customer-facing priorities? After this master list is complete, you’ll develop a timeline and tactical execution list for how and when to rebrand and what this rebranding will entail. This might include something as simple as a new logo on a custom report or an entire redesign of a tradeshow booth or corporate website. The end result of this process will be a comprehensive roadmap for rebranding and a plan that is reasonable and cost-effective enough to please even the budget-sensitive investors and CFOs.
Getting the messaging on point: Re-examining your value framework
Last, but definitely not least, integrating two disparate organizations will require a careful examination of your organization’s value framework, including your pillars (key differentiators), proof points (provable facts that support these pillars), and positioning. This step involves a careful assessment of the capabilities associated with the newly purchased company, their brand story, and their unique positioning in the marketplace. For instance, an entirely new service line can more easily be integrated into your value framework than products and services that compete with or closely complement existing offerings. Much of this discussion will happen at the organization’s highest levels and should be facilitated by seasoned marketing and branding leaders. This new messaging will be incorporated into many of the deliverables associated with your rebranding and communications plan above. As a result, this step must happen simultaneously with many other important stages of this rollout process. However, communications for healthcare acquisitions don’t stop the minute a deal is announced or even closed. Instead, they’ve truly just begun. This new value framework will enhance existing deliverables and drive the development of new strategies and tactics—at least until the next deal is on the horizon!
If this doesn’t sound challenging, you probably haven’t yet experienced the type of communications for healthcare acquisitions that keep marketing people up at night. The most important aspect of all of these strategies is thoughtful planning for all possible scenarios, as every rebranding and communication strategy is unique. That’s where the leaders at Activate Health can help. We serve in an advisory capacity to many marketing teams, but can also take on much of the heavy lifting around tactical execution as well. If you’re looking for a partner to assist your organization with rebranding, public relations, or communications for healthcare acquisitions, contact us today for a customized proposal and strategy guide.