Galvanising commitment to a stretching new strategy

The Challenge

Merck Consumer Healthcare, a division of the Merck Group, had grown through acquisition to become a collection of different companies with different cultures, strategies and brands. The executive team realised that if the different businesses could work together more cohesively they could become even more successful.

The team spent three years developing a stretching strategy that it hoped would propel the business from 15th in the world to a position within the global top ten consumer healthcare businesses. There were three pillars to the new strategy: to augment the local brand strategy with the creation of consumer-oriented global ‘power’ brands that would account for 60 per cent of global sales within five years; to conquer new markets and channels; and to make strategic acquisitions.

However, Merck hadn’t involved the wider team in helping to create the strategy, so it faced the challenge of trying to fire-up key people and teams about the strategy even though it was essentially handing it down to them to implement in their parts of the business. Participation in the development of strategy is essential to winning confidence and buy-in to that strategy.

So Merck asked Cognosis to help it create a strategic communications campaign that would enthuse, excite and inspire people about the strategy. The campaign would be targeted primarily at local leaders and HR heads in the 30 or so countries where Merck has a presence, and they would then act as ambassadors for the strategy in their region.