In December 2021, Stanley Black & Decker announced it had signed an agreement to sell STANLEY Security to Securitas, a Swedish security company.

As a member of the STANLEY Security marketing team – leading global PR and content, no less – I knew the announcement meant a LOT of change and an equal amount of work in the coming year.

That was an understatement! For the next seven months, I would be leading the external communication planning for STANLEY Security (and its sister company STANLEY Healthcare), developing all client-facing content, creating new processes, collaborating with stakeholders across both legacy businesses and laying the foundation for a new world-class brand.

The goal of this work was to support a successful acquisition close – what we colloquially referred to as “Day 1” – by ensuring we had a clear and consistent message for our clients. When Securitas finally completed the acquisition on July 22, 2022, Day 1 went off without a hitch, a testament to the months of hard work, collaboration and planning that went on behind the scenes.

In total, I created more than 25 assets, which were localized for nine regions and six different brands. Among these assets were a robust client communication toolkit (which I trained our sales teams how to leverage), FAQs, client letters, blog posts, social media posts, webpage updates, chat playbooks, web banners, executive communications, media statements and more. Below are examples of some of those assets:

Blog Posts

Social Media Posts

Web Banners

Website Chat Playbook

(Other assets are confidential and proprietary.)

The best part was finally getting to meet my Securitas counterparts after close. We had been working together day and night to plan for Day 1, and it was so rewarding to celebrate our hard work!

This project was the first of three phases of the acquisition planning. Phase 1 was all about preparing for Day 1. Phase 2 was focused on rebranding and managing dual brands. Phase 3 was about building our new brand story.

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