A strategic partnership for global acquisition success

Having worked with Vibalogic for several years, ramarketing had developed a strong relationship with the team and had an in-depth understanding of the brand and its capabilities.

When Vibalogics underwent a private equity deal in 2018, ramarketing was in the prime position to support its next phase of growth due to our full-service capabilities and track record for supporting clients through PE investment and M&A.

As a company, this would be their first significant investment in a long-term marketing strategy, so it was critical to make an impact and we were the right people to ensure maximum value creation for the brand.

With a new CEO at the helm, they embarked on their mission to be seen as the premiere partner for oncolytic viruses and gene therapies and gear up for rapid growth throughout their investment cycle.

The partnership began with a week-long discovery lab at their facility in Germany, covering a full brand and messaging workshop. The ramarketing team also presented customer insight data, including a SWOT analysis and stakeholder research that had been gathered ahead of time. 

The first phase of the plan was an investment into rebranding Viblogics and developing a new website that better served their mission. An intentional choice was made to not dive into a full PR, content, and digital strategy as they wanted to make a smaller time and financial investment initially that would reset their foundations, putting them in good stead for later stages of growth. This approach was coined ‘supporting the search’, focusing on converting the organic traffic already engaged with their brand. 

Phase two was all about accelerating growth; this was when a comprehensive three-year plan was crafted to elevate Vibalogics in the competitive biotech landscape. Although this project was a holistic approach, our strong PR capabilities were an asset in this partnership, as we were able to position their new message in the right locations for maximum impact. This phase was all about demonstrating the value of Vibalogics. We worked on crafting a strong external presence that would, in turn, attract top talent, a powerful pipeline, and ensure they achieved their ambitious growth targets.

The content developed to support this campaign focused on the pre-IND audience – our team gathered information for Vibalogic’s subject matter experts (SME) and developed thorough market insights to determine the position these customers might be in, as well as their challenges and needs. 

We then developed that into a strategy, taking into consideration the topics and forms of content that would engage future buyers and provide the most value. The ultimate aim of this content was to demonstrate Vibalogic’s USPs, most notably their extensive expertise. To complement this, trend pieces and commentaries were crafted to position Vibalogics as a thought leader that has its finger on the pulse. Showing they understood the trends and challenges facing its customers and the OV industry was key. 

To get the most out of published long-form content, we deployed a waterfall content strategy that repurposed content for social posts and blogs, alongside webpages to drive readers through the customer journey. 

The team worked closely with Vibalogcs to constantly tweak, refine and improve the brand positioning over this rapid growth phase. This included enhancements to the brand and developments to the website, ensuring their collateral was always targeting the right audience. 

Recognizing the specialized nature of Vibalogics’ work, we also implemented a dual-approach digital strategy. 

One element was a hyper-targeted campaign that spoke to the niche oncolytic virus space. The importance for Vibalogics here was on generating qualified leads that reached key decision-makers within a small pool of potential partners. Simultaneously, we worked on a broader brand awareness campaign to increase their brand’s share of voice and cement Vibalogics in the life sciences ecosystem as the leaders in oncolytic viruses and gene therapies. 

Throughout this project, we were completely aligned with Vibalogics on the mission and vision of the partnership. We became an extension of their team and were able to make decisions with a clear line of sight to the overarching goal.