Background

Veeco is a large, publicly held B2B technology company. The firm provides metrology devices and process equipment used by manufacturers worldwide in the data storage, semiconductor, wireless, lighting and solar industries.

After many years of acquiring various brands, Veeco’s corporate structure had evolved into three separate business units: Metrology & Instrumentation, Process Equipment and Epitaxial Equipment.

RiechesBaird was hired by the Metrology & Instrumentation business to help define their global strategy, clarify the divisional brand value proposition and, most importantly, integrate their multiple brands into a global communications strategy for growth.

Issue

Our discovery process revealed several key insights that ultimately drove the brand strategy. To its credit, the Metrology & Instrumentation business was a conglomeration of some of the finest product brands in the industry.

Veeco acquired these established brands from companies with strong, proud individual cultures. Upon joining Veeco, the staff resisted being integrated into Veeco’s corporate position and, more specifically, the divisional value proposition of the Metrology & Instrumentation business unit. Compounding the issue, Veeco’s divisional business strategy and brand architecture had not been clearly defined. Nor did key stakeholders (business unit leaders) buy into the value proposition. Consequently, the market did not recognize the value of the Veeco brand because the individual business units were operating as silos, without the benefit of a unified value proposition.

Strategic Insight

RiechesBaird began the engagement by helping Veeco navigate the changes and establish a clear brand strategy. We created a group of leaders from across the brand portfolio to drive the necessary changes for growth. We began by conducting an internal benchmark study—our proprietary Strategic Branding Assessment—and agreed on success metrics. Next, we determined the current status of employees’ perceptions, needs and desires, then followed up with a complete customer brand audit across all businesses.
The customer data exposed the confusion surrounding the product brands and legacy company brands. Veeco’s audiences did not know what the Veeco brand represented, nor did they understand the company’s divisional value propositions. Clearly, Veeco needed to leverage the strength and power of its combined businesses.

Armed with these insights, RiechesBaird and the Veeco management team worked to develop a compelling new vision and mission, brand strategy, brand architecture and internal communication to motivate and align the organization.

Vision Creation: True innovation lay at the core of each Veeco business unit. Their contributions improved their customers’ product performance. Veeco was seen as an enabler of discovery, with customers acknowledging these achievements. The new vision for Veeco was to “Enable our customers to make discoveries and reach new levels of productivity.”

Brand Architecture: With performance at the heart of the brand, we aligned the organization by flipping the architecture from an unmanaged “house of brands” to a well-guided “branded house” strategy. We led with the corporate brand, which focused attention on the Veeco brand and its value equation.

Brand Strategy and Internal Adoption: We successfully trained the entire Veeco organization on the strategy, incorporated the brand position into their sales organization and developed an internal communication plan along with creative work to reinforce the divisional brand.

Result

The program had tremendous impact on many fronts. To start with, the parent company felt the brand position was so strong they decided to integrate it into the entire organization.

The brand architecture has also been successfully adopted on the divisional level. The new Veeco brand position is being introduced into the marketplace and receiving positive response. In addition, the internal adoption campaign has given the employees clarity about the future brand and strategy as well as the role they play in enabling their customers’ success.

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