Align acquisitions with a unified brand refresh

BBI Solutions had grown through a series of acquisitions, bringing together specialist businesses with strong reputations in diagnostics, reagents, antibody development and digital health technologies. While the expanded group offered customers a broader range of capabilities, the brand portfolio had become increasingly fragmented.

Businesses such as Novarum, Diarect and MBS each carried their own identity, marketing materials and visual language. For customers, this made it harder to understand the full scope of expertise available across the group. Internally, it also created complexity as new acquisitions were integrated and marketing activity expanded across multiple regions.

The challenge was to create a brand framework that would bring the businesses together under a stronger master brand while retaining the credibility and recognition built within specialist markets. The solution needed to support future acquisitions, simplify customer understanding and provide a consistent platform for marketing, communications and product development.

We spent time mapping how the different businesses within the group related to one another and where customers encountered overlap, duplication or confusion. From there, we explored several possible structures, ranging from keeping each business largely independent to bringing everything together under a single master brand. The right answer needed to work commercially, support future acquisitions and make it easier for customers to understand the full breadth of BBI’s offer.

Alongside the architecture work, we conducted a detailed audit of customer touchpoints, competitor brands and marketing collateral across the group. This provided a clear picture of where inconsistencies existed and where opportunities could be created through greater alignment.

The new brand architecture placed greater emphasis on BBI Solutions while recognising that some acquired brands still carried considerable value within their specialist markets. Instead of introducing wholesale change overnight, we created a phased approach that allowed those brands to remain visible while gradually strengthening their connection to the parent business.

A new identity system was developed to strengthen the group’s cohesion. Rather than replacing everything that existed before, we looked for ways to create visual links between the brands, making them feel part of the same organisation while retaining elements that customers already recognised and trusted.

A comprehensive identity framework was then developed covering typography, colour systems, photography, iconography, infographics and digital applications. The system was designed to work consistently across multiple divisions, product categories and international markets while remaining flexible enough to support future acquisitions and service expansion.

To support implementation, we produced a detailed set of brand guidelines and created templates for key communications, including brochures, presentations, email marketing, social media and advertising. We also helped establish a scalable framework for future collateral production across the organisation.

The work gave BBI a much clearer structure for managing and communicating its growing portfolio of businesses. Customers could more easily see how individual products, services, and specialist brands fit together, while the business avoided losing the reputation and recognition built through previous acquisitions.

The refreshed identity also brought greater consistency to marketing materials, digital channels, and customer communications. Just as importantly, it established a framework that could be applied to future acquisitions, reducing the amount of brand complexity that often accompanies growth.

Today, BBI has a more connected brand presence that reflects the scale of its capabilities without losing the specialist expertise that has made its individual businesses successful.