PropertyPal Merger with Propertynews

THE BRIEF

Northern Ireland’s two leading property portals planned to merge in an important deal that would provide customers with the best of both. JComms was hired by the owners of the portals to help manage the communications around the deal. The key objective was to ensure it was properly understood and to provide the foundation for the deal to be a success for both portals and the market as a whole.

WHAT WE DID

The strategic approach agreed with PropertyPal’s CEO and new board was front-foot communications. We would announce the merger proactively in a clear and high-profile way, confidently articulating the very considerable benefits for the market as a whole. We would ensure that key stakeholders heard about the merger from the companies directly first, and this would be closely followed by clear and high-profile media coverage, including targeted interviews. Post the announcement, there would also be ongoing clear communication and open engagement with stakeholders, with opportunities for them to meet with and discuss the merger with key company representatives. 

Working closely with PropertyPal’s CEO and new board, JComms created a communications plan to guide when and how the communications would take place. This included a timetable, clearly allocated responsibilities, key messaging, press announcement, customer announcement, Q&A doc, interview briefing notes, social media content and holding lines in case news of the merger broke ahead of time. We organised photography of the two teams together to accompany the announcement to communicate the spirit of the merger i.e. bringing the best of both together. JComms also supported PropertyPal’s CEO and the team through the announcement and in the weeks that followed. This included briefing media, issuing the press announcement, providing interview prep, dealing with follow-up media questions, and providing ongoing advice. 

THE OUTCOME

Media coverage of the announcement was extremely high profile with key messages clearly communicated. Interviews were undertaken with a small number of key media which allowed the CEO of PropertyPal to further reinforce key messaging and clearly deal with questions about the merger. Following the successful delivery of the communications, PropertyPal and Propertynews are successfully operating together and delivering the best of both to customers and the market. The announcement has had a positive impact on the portals with a subsequent uplift to platform traffic in the proceeding weeks. Feedback from PropertyPal on the work done by JComms has been very positive, and JComms has been asked to undertake further work for the company as a result.