Air Liquide

Air Liquide is the world’s largest supplier of industrial gases, employing 65,000 people globally. The decision to rebrand the organisation presented a set of unique challenges, not least the desire to keep the brand change strictly confidential, right up to the point of launch.

The company’s decentralised structure meant key information, budgets and processes were managed at a local level – a potential obstacle to a smooth rebrand.

VIM Group’s role was to support with the planning and preparation for the rebrand, including expert advice on budgets, brand priorities and how best to address the challenges.

VIM carried out an initial Impact Analysis exercise, which assessed the impact of implementing the new visual identity. Building on this work, we undertook a second, more in-depth information-gathering exercise, this time on a wider global scale.

From these findings, VIM were able to advise Air Liquide on budgets for local and regional teams; how best to deploy the branding across the various brand touch points and robust timing plans for each workstream. We also provided key recommendations and identified risks to a successful roll out.

The rebrand was launched successfully. Our findings, including recommendations and risks, were accepted in full, and have been taken forward to inform the post-launch deployment and decision-making process.

Related to this, the Procurement Team asked VIM to undertake a new piece of work around purchasing. They were looking for guidance on how best to optimise their purchasing spend for selected workstreams and sought recommendations on experienced, global suppliers who could partner with Air Liquide.

In response, VIM produced a purchasing approach paper, with recommendations on how to optimise spend. This also included a shortlist of experienced suppliers.