How does brand apply when going through a merger or acquisition?

Mergers and acquisitions can be tricky. When trying to combine two company cultures, various products and services or two different identities, there is always a risk that you will run into issues.

You’ll probably be asking yourself:

• Do we change our name and create a new brand identity, logo and website?
• How do we create the right business culture?
• What would help us retain our talented team?
• How can we communicate our leadership story and direction?
• What are the best steps to take to ensure our customers stick with us during our journey?
• Is our market share at risk?

So how do you go about this in a way that is productive, effective and with as little disruption as possible? You’ll need to take a comprehensive, deep dive into your brand as a whole and understand who you are, why you do what you do and then where you are trying to get to. As you’ll be merging two or more brands, this aforementioned process will need to apply to both your current brand and those you are combining.

To get you started on this process, we’ve quickly broken down some of the crucial steps to take and questions to ask yourself when you begin the process of merging or acquiring brands.

1. Understand — Understand the brands you are merging – how do they talk to customers? What’s the company culture? What’s the vision of the business and how is this communicated?

2. Plan — Set out a migration plan for the next 24 months, including clarification of the leadership story and vision. Setting metrics and a timeline will allow you to step back and see the bigger picture. And remember, this is a transformation journey everyone in your company needs to be a part of.

3. Review — Review your current brands against your vision. Often the vision is different to the existing business’, so it is common to opt for a new overall brand in order to set a new focus – something your whole team can rally behind.

4. Design — Design will play a pivotal role in the success of your merger. You must set the right visual identity (logos, colour palette, typeface, etc.).

5. Engage — The communication of your transformation is critical for your employees in order to boost internal engagement and for your customers to ensure they are aware of the changes you are making and the benefits they can receive.

This short guide is designed to help get you started asking the right questions – from here, you can begin to react and implement change across the merger or acquisition.