Hay Group faced a crowded merger and acquisitions (M&A) market dominated by global accountancy and law firms. However, Hay Group’s approach was unique, concentrating on managing the integration of the intangible assets such as human capital, organisational structure and stakeholder relationships.
The solution
To establish Hay Group’s credibility in the market, Man Bites Dog (MBD), designed the most comprehensive study of European M&A ever conducted with a view to creating an authoritative White Paper on life after a merger. The research resulted in the ‘Dangerous liaisons’ report.
The publicity
‘Dangerous liaisons’ was launched at the Economist’s M&A forum, where Hay Group presented findings to a select audience of business leaders. This was also reported in an FT exclusive.
Dangerous liaisons was featured in 296 pieces of media coverage across 10 countries. It had an advertising value equivalent of £663,918, equating to 21 times ROI on total project costs and 35 times ROI on PR fees.
All coverage referred to the research and acknowledged Hay Group as experts on M&A integration. Seventy nine per cent of articles credited the company as a management consultancy and half featured Hay Group’s expert commentary. Eighty nine per cent of the coverage mentioned that intangible assets were critical to M&A success, supporting Hay Group’s sales proposition and distinguishing it from its competition.
Business impact
The PR campaign improved Hay Group’s revenue immediately. Television coverage generated direct prospect enquiries and secured a 4 million contract with a major services company and Hay Group’s appointment as the global strategic M&A partner for an aviation company.
Hay Group’s acknowledged expertise in M&A has helped its consultants secure more than 100 new business meetings and postmerger integration contracts totalling 10 million – a sales ROI of 247 times total project costs and 416 times PR fees. The campaign has also enabled Hay Group to begin work with local authorities and other public sector organisations on their integration programmes.
“Working with Man Bites Dog, we looked at how we could use press and media to reposition the image of the company through news generation. The results in terms of press and media coverage have been phenomenal, as has the number of requests for more information about our work,” says Claire Elliott, global marketing and communications manager, Hay Group.
