Question

Topic: Branding

Rebranding After A Merger

Posted by Anonymous on 5/13/2004 at 2:27 PM ET 250 Points
We are about to go through a merger and are contemplating renaming the company to the one we are merging with. Our current company's name is dumb and does not in any way communicate what we do as a company (healthcare). Also there is little name recognition, however, there is brand identity in our product lines. I was curious whether any one had gone through this with their company and how did you handle the perception that you were being acquired and therefore to your customer maybe something was wrong. Also, how did you determine the brand equity of the acquired company without letting the cat out of the bag?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 6/2/2004 at 5:39 PM Accepted
    rkelly,

    There's been some good points made here. I would add this: Take out your heart and stomp on it.

    For the M&A to be successful from a marketing, sales, and profit perspective, you HAVE to remove politics and emotions from your branding decision. That's the reason JBTron suggests bringing in outsiders to do the research needed to make the decision. That's why, as Lois pointed out, the big First Union Bank took the smaller Wachovia's name (great reputation for customer service), and has followed that decision by instilling THOSE brand attributes throughout the organization.

    Whatever your decision, plan on taking a long period to get your customers awareness back up to speed.
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