Common misconceptions and errors in post merger branding

Fuzzy short-term focus
How will additional brand value be created after the deal is done? How will the synergistic leveraging, repositioning, cost reductions, new territories, plant, products and resources balance out against employee disengagement, challenged loyalties, diminishing morale, scared suppliers, customer confusion, clashing visions, workforce duplications, IT systems that won’t talk to each other, payroll systems that are worlds apart, language challenges, distressed designers, boardroom clashes over brand relevance, stalled communications and too many people doing the same jobs?

Brand value... what goes up must come down... sometimes faster than you think
Brand value fluctuates. Its value pre-merger can bear little resemblance to its value post-merger. Customers may react adversely to the merger, so might employees, shareholders, suppliers, the media, general public, unions and general public. So might the contract staff cleaning the bathrooms. Not to mention the analysts who are looking for a field day. The tidy sum you paid the brand valuation company pre-merger to value your brand is short lived currency. It doesn’t last long. Particularly if you then go through a merger. Guess what? You need to spend it all over again post-merger to confirm to what degree brand value has fallen (or occasionally might have risen).

It’s how you use it (not how big it is)
If you are a company which is on the acquirer’s radar, of course you are going to do your darnedest to up its value by whipping your sales team into a frenzy, optimising internal systems, cranking up the PR machine, whispering sweet nothings to your shareholders, paying your designers a pittance for a spanking new logo, kissing your customers’ rear anatomy and reinforcing your commitment to disadvantaged folk, lame animals and the environment. It’s then all up to the acquirer to maintain this level of activity, determination and communication, or the whole thing will start to slow down and brand value will slide slowly but surely out the window and a big future write-down becomes inevitable.

Learn from the mistakes of others
More has been written about M&A disasters than any other topic on the planet. Just Google it to find out. How can you ignore the fact that more than a third of executives around the world who’ve been involved in major deals ’fess up that circumstances got the better of them. In the heat of the moment they got too caught up in the merger bidding/deal making process to put on their responsible hat and perform that ever so necessary due diligence on the past, present and future value and potential of the brands. Do you really want to end up starring with Bruce Willis in a brand disaster movie? Do the right thing. Come audition with me instead. You know my number. I promise I’ll whisper some sweet branding advice in your ear but I’ll stop short of the casting couch, unless you’re Claudia Schiffer hell bent on merging interests.


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

M&A confusion

A significant grey area is often encountered in merger deals where all focus is centred on the numbers while on the distant periphery lies intangible stuff like company reputation – an essential component of successful brands. Post merger failures frequently cite minimal discussion on brand planning and a distinct lack of strategic brand thinking in the lead up to the merger. There seems to be an inbuilt reluctance by deal makers to wheel in the branding experts until after the deal is done, the excitement has died away and a new reality sets in. Usually too late.

Brand mergers are frequently haphazard and unplanned. In the heat of the moment deal makers only see the potential for short-term financial gain which is often driven by personal agendas that inevitably lead to short term success and long term failure.

The full potential of mergers is rarely harnessed. A lack of pre-planning is usually the culprit. Mismatches or simple poor management of the resulting brand(s) often impact badly on customer and investor expectations and realise the worst fears in disengaged employees. Sadly many post-merger brands end up having a lower value than before the merger.

The path to M&A success is frequently seen as a risky and treacherous one and only for the brave at heart.

Here’s some simple and effective advice.

Communicate the merger benefits as soon as possible
Let customers, employees and investors know all the great stuff that the M&A can deliver. Win their support and make them feel part of the action, that their involvement is crucial to the future wellbeing of the brand.

Corporate reputation
Don’t just focus on the ‘hard’ assets resulting from the merger. Include the intangibles that contribute to brand value such as corporate and employer reputation.


Look for ‘deal makers’
Identify factors that will enhance the chances of success after the merger, such as the strategic use of the corporate brand, methods to deliver greater value post-merger to customers and how new market segments can be opened up.


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