Post M&A Branding – Part 3 of 3 posts

Deciding which brand to absorb in the M&A
To get the M&A deal across the line requires significant investment. Attention then turns to rationalisation and new cost efficiencies. What rarely happens in these post-M&A stages is pro-active investment in a branding and communication strategy.

To harness the new brand’s full potential you need to engage an integrated branding and communication methodology which justifies and promotes the new brand.

To optimise the chances of success and to minimise risk, the brand methodology must encompass the key components of:
Discovery
Future vision
Name generation
Definition
Expression
Communications
Delivery
Engagement
Monitoring

There are four strategic sets of communications to consider:
1. External and product brand communications
2. Shareholder communications
3. Employment branding and employee communications
4. Internal brand engagement and change management communications

Must do branding activities pre-and post-M&A
1. Appoint competent brand professionals pre-M&A. Build an ongoing relationship with them and be receptive to their recommendations.
2. Consider branding, internal communications and marketing as essential to the success of the M&A process.
3. Allocate a realistic budget specific to the branding activities.
4. Commission ‘Brand Discovery’ research and gain input from:
    CEO
    Board members
    Managers
    Key employee groups
    Shareholders
    Customers
    Suppliers
5. Communicate with key audiences before, during and after the M&A.
6. Ensure retained service/product brands are consistent with the parent brand.
7. Determine how to select the most appropriate brand with which to move forward – Survivor, Combo, Evolver or Co-existing and who will be involved in the selection/decision process.
8. Develop a comprehensive employer branding program.
9. Research, define and communicate your unique brand proposition – understand it and believe in it.
10. Communicate to employees, investors and customers the strategic reasons behind the re-brand and what it comprises – this will foster acceptance and buy-in.
11. Establish a branding committee to oversee the development and implementation of the brand as well as brand champions to ensure it achieves its objectives.
12. Agree on an implementation schedule. Measure message and brand penetration and awareness at pre-appointed milestones – give it time.

Conclusion
Employ proven methodologies to determine the most appropriate brand model and allow branding professionals to play their part in helping to determine, communicate and embed the new brand. They will help determine – where it was, where it now is, where it needs to be and how best to get it there.

Remember in the post-M&A landscape that people are core – employee sentiment, investor confidence and customer engagement and loyalty are key factors controlling the success of the M&A. Effective branding and communications will influence and satisfy these audiences and gain their confidence and buy-in.

Managing the brand architecture of merging entities is a complex task. The need for effective brand management increases with the complexity of the M&A and number of brands and sub-brands being brought together.

Engage with a branding and communications process managed by branding professionals.Consider the branding program as an extension of the M&A investment and allocate appropriate resources at an early stage in the process.

If your organisation is at the point of considering a merger or acquisition in Australia, Singapore or the United Kingdom and you need guidance, feel free to contact me tony@heywood.com.au

Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.

View some of Heywood’s work at www.heywood.com.au