Product category:
Energy management; Boiler plant
News Release from: Flowserve
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 18 August 2006
Gestra steam controls rebranded
Flowserve Gestra
Gestra steam management products and systems have been carefully rebranded as Flowserve Gestra, as a result of the recent acquisition of the company by Flowserve
Tradition, loyalty and craftsmanship are important facets of the relationship that many European employees have with their employers These strong ties build significant value into some of the oldest and most well-known brands in the continent's industrial sector
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 29 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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Flowserve acquired one of these great brands in 2002 when it bought the companies of the Flow Control division of the UK holding company, Invensys.
Included in the acquisition was Gestra AG, a 100-year old internationally known leader in steam management systems, based in Germany.
Gestra was the dominant number-one brand in Germany, and a close number two across Europe.
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At first some Gestra management and employees were cautious about the acquisition.
The company had avoided a total rebranding when Invensys acquired it earlier, and there was concern that with the Flowserve acquisition might come globalisation of a company with a strong pan-European identity.
What's more, purchase by a large American company accentuated the need to bridge communication techniques, corporate cultures and business customs.
Initially, the Flowserve management wanted the 400-employee Gestra to transition immediately to a Flowserve company, says Lutz Oelsner, president of Flowserve Gestra.
"We didn't question the corporate decision to migrate Gestra to a Flowserve brand, but we thought our customers and employees would need more time".
Oelsner's opinion was borne out by the market.
Early feedback had some customers turning away salesmen, saying that they did not know who Flowserve was, had never dealt with the company before, and would not deal with them now.
Gestra representatives and Flowserve management agreed to a two-and-a-half year transition that would give Gestra the time it wanted.
Gestra would employ the Flowserve dual branding strategy to brand Gestra as a Flowserve sub-brand, renaming the company Flowserve Gestra.
One of the first actions by Gestra was to call an all-employee meeting at which Oelsner laid out the timetable and identity milestones for the rebranding process.
And he sold employees on the many advantages of joining the Flowserve team.
"That communication, coming from the top, was very, very important," says John Jacko, Flowserve vice president and chief marketing officer: "The Gestra rebrand was a strategic necessity for our success in Europe.
Gestra had survived a string of acquisitions without much identity change.
We felt the rebranding to Flowserve Gestra would enhance our portfolio value.
We were gratified when Gestra united as a group to realise the vision".
A series of communications was launched, including a letter to 5,600 Gestra customers.
The letter spelled out the benefits of becoming a client of Flowserve, and underscored how the great quality and service that made Gestra a leading brand would be preserved.
Gestra marketing management also used regular customer symposiums to get customers acquainted with the transition.
A Total Visual Makeover.
During the transition, Flowserve Gestra changed its logo, website, packaging, tradeshow materials and product identification.
Everywhere that was feasible the notable Gestra blue changed to the new Flowserve red.
"For our distributors and customers, the packaging change was a dramatic indicator that the brand had really changed," says Andreas Lubisch, Flowserve Gestra marketing director: "All of a sudden, where there were blue Gestra boxes before, the warehouses were lined with solid red.
Not only did it affect our distributors, it acted as a positive visual message to our manufacturing team".
A novel coffee cup design proved to be instrumental in getting employees to grab on to the branding change.
Oelsner personally illustrated the mug at the all-employee meeting.
"We wanted to make the branding a meaningful and pleasant experience for our employees because we needed their buy-in".
Now, Flowserve Gestra employees are clearly leading advocates of the adoption of the corporate branding.
Cultural, language and globalisation concerns have been replaced with loyalty to everything Flowserve.
Lubisch notes that use of the new coffee cup is just one sign of how enthusiastically Flowserve Gestra employees have taken on the transition.
"In the end, no one considers using the cup for cold drinks, because that would leave it colored blue," says Lubisch: "Everyone uses it for hot tea or coffee so the cup turns deep, Flowserve red.".
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