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- The merger of Kleer and Membersy prioritized building internal alignment around people, processes, and culture before introducing a new brand identity, ensuring the foundation reflected shared goals and values.
- Leadership emphasized that rebranding was not just about visuals but about creating a unified identity that eliminated legacy divisions and gave employees a sense of collective ownership.
- Selecting a name required balancing emotional resonance with technical considerations such as trademark availability, memorability, and domain access, ultimately resulting in “Clerri” — a brand designed to signal clarity and simplicity.
During her first days on the job, the brand identity of Clerri was anything but clear for Chief Marketing Officer Latha Youngren.
Membersy and Kleer were two powerhouses in the dental membership space that combined in 2024. During and after the merge, they were already tackling the technical and operational challenges that came from bringing two companies together.
Even from the early days post-merger, creating a cohesive rebrand wasn’t just an afterthought; it was part of the new company’s DNA.
Youngren’s first week on the job, employees from Kleer and Membersy gathered in the Chesterbrook, PA office for an all-hands gathering. It was the first time the newly formed company had all employees in one space. “On my first day, everyone kept saying, ‘Whatever our future name is…’ and I thought, I just got here!” she said.
While people were eager to unify under one brand, it became apparent that the process entailed more than just a new logo or a fresh coat of paint.
“We thought it would be easy,” said Chief People Officer Melissa Richardson. “Get in the same boat, row in the same direction…We quickly realized it would be very challenging.”
A year to set up the foundation — because internal alignment is key
When Kleer and Membersy merged a year ago, they never intended to keep two names. Beyond just being a mouthful on sales calls, it suggested two services for two different audiences in the dental membership space, not a single united platform, said Director of Enterprise Sales Dan Crawford.
“We had prospects call us Kleer, we had prospects calling us Membersy,” said Crawford. “No one was saying Kleer-Membersy. Now the market knows we’re together under Clerri.”
But in that first year, the focus was on internal rebranding and integration, explained CEO Dave Monahan, making sure people, process, and culture were working together before landing on a name that could encapsulate the change.
“You can do a surface thing,” said Monahan, “we didn’t want to do that. We wanted to make sure the foundation was aligned with who we were and what we wanted to be.”
Clerri engaged with an outside branding firm for close to six months to get the positioning right before revealing the new identity.
“The name breaks down that barrier,” said CPO Richardson. “There’s no more legacy Kleer, no more legacy Membersy. We are Clerri now.”
Toasting the future to surface shared values
Back to the all-hands gathering. One of the biggest priorities for leadership was finding a name and story that spoke to everyone, including legacy hires as well as new team members. The new name had to reflect the “voice of the employee.”
With an exercise called “Raise Your Glass,” they asked employees to pretend they were toasting the company in 2050. What did they love about it? How did it help customers?
The exercise urged employees across all departments to think not of a name, but of what the company meant to them. Not only did it help bring the two companies together, but it created a unified set of values, Richardson said.
“Our values were no longer just words, but actions,” she said. “Behaviors that represent who we are day in and day out.”
Out of 500 options, which ones can you trademark?
While sentiment and backstory are essential for everything from a cohesive sales strategy to morale, a rebrand still comes down to one thing. Trademarks.
“Trying to find a name for your company? It’s a mess,” CEO Monahan said with a laugh. “There are so many words already used.”
Monahan estimates the team considered between 400 and 500 different names. Throughout the process, he said, “Clerri just kept coming back.”
CMO Youngren found the naming to be the most technical part of the process. The name had to be short, memorable, and refreshing, but it also had to be trademarkable. It had to encompass where the brand was going, but also have an available web domain.
“What we ended up going with is not a real word,” Youngren said, “but it carries a feeling of simplicity and clarity.” With a refreshing green color palette and a rounded, friendly font, the rebrand evokes a consumer-friendly brand that keeps future verticals in mind.
From a customer perspective, ‘it just works’
Both platforms were designed with different audiences in mind — Kleer originally focused on small and medium-sized dental practices, while Membersy catered to enterprise clients and larger dental service organizations.
So while the product team spent time bringing the two platforms together on the back end, Chief Technical Officer Paul Biancaniello wanted the front end to feel seamless for legacy users and new clients.
“Eventually, we would like to get into one code, one unified tech stack,” said Biancaniello, “but it’s going to take time to get there. So instead, we’re setting it up so from the end user’s perspective, [both platforms] feel the same. Then behind the scenes, we can do a switchover.”
Product’s focus on a seamless experience feeds into the overall rebrand, emphasizing simplicity for the user. That includes recently released code that easily integrates with a dental practice’s management system. “Now the front desk sees exactly who’s coming in, whether they have insurance, and how much they could save, with one button,” Monahan said. “It just works.”
While the rebrand is complete, he sees it as “day one” of the next phase of growth.
Moving forward, the company is positioning itself as the connection point between practice and patient needs. “We want the patient using their benefits, not forgetting about them like they often do with insurance,” said Monahan. With a clearer name and mission, he wants to bring Clerri’s tools to a broader audience.
“Now we have one name,” Crawford added. “One mission that we can align with our customers.”
