Wells Fargo Nikko was one of the largest and most successful asset management firms in the world. (Its founders had invented programmed trading.) In order to continue growing it had to become more aggressive in overseas markets, and so they joined forces with the asset management arm of Barclays Bank. The job was to announce the new ownership and start the branding transition. Understandably, there were concerns about current clients' reactions to such a dramatic name change, since institutional investors are traditionally very conservative. By shifting focus from the actual merger to the underlying operating philosophies and customer benefits that linking the two companies would offer, the company enjoyed a virtually speed-bump free transition.