Story: Vintura

Vintura

What happens when two successful teams realise they've been chasing the same dream from different buildings? That was Vintura and Cepton: two leading consultancies in European life sciences and healthcare, both convinced they could make more positive impact together than apart. The foundation for joining forces wasn't a spreadsheet, it was a values match that had been quietly sitting underneath the work for years.

The brief wasn't to staple two logos together. It was to fuse two distinct cultures into one shared soul before the integration memos had a chance to flatten either of them.

Listening to what the two firms already held in common

A merger is, in practice, a cultural event dressed up as a transaction. We ran an intensive co-creative trajectory across both teams, because a shared soul cannot be dictated from a deck.

Using 23plusone we tested which of the 24 fundamental human drivers were genuinely shared by Vintura and Cepton. Mastery, obviously. Curiosity, obviously. And a quieter one that turned out to carry the whole merger: contribution. Not consulting-as-theatre, but the less glamorous version: the habit of making a real dent in a client's actual problem, and caring more about that than about the slide deck. Once that was named out loud, the two cultures were noticeably closer than anyone had risked saying.

A brand manifesto as shared compass

Out of that came a clear brand manifesto, co-created with both teams, that now functions as a north star for the International Vintura Group as it grows and integrates. Not a poster, a decision aid: the kind of document people can actually point to when a hard call needs to be made.

As one of the team members we worked with put it: "It was a challenging and valuable process to create and define our collective soul. The approach was inspiring, and it was a great team effort to reach this result. Our brand manifesto now serves as our compass for growth."

The result is a united force ready to show up as Europe's premier strategy boutique in life sciences and healthcare, built on a shared cultural foundation instead of a hopeful org chart. Successful mergers start with the soul match, not the signature page.

Merging two firms without flattening either of their cultures?

If your organisation is facing a merger, an integration or a strategic alliance, there's a way to surface the shared values first so the brand becomes a compass both sides can use, rather than a compromise neither side recognises. Let's talk about it.

Reach out to Kim or Alexander if you're looking for something similar

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