Globally, companies have responded and recovered from the pandemic conditions by launching significant metamorphoses, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) played an instrumental role in this journey.
The pandemic provided an opportunity for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to increase capabilities and remain viable. Organisations are growing, becoming more complicated, and offering a wider range of services as a result of mergers and acquisitions. The combined company, in principle, can perform tasks that neither of its component businesses could previously. However, in practice, many mergers and acquisitions result in weakly distinct brands that lack the market appeal, focus, and personality of their predecessors. With some planning, firms can navigate M&A branding challenges and take advantage of merger or acquisition opportunities.
The leadership team requires clear brand and positioning guidance from subject matter experts to leaders of business units and the entire firm. They must work internally after concentrating on those employees in their company who interact with clients most frequently. Businesses must draw a clear image of the new positioning of the consolidated brand in the market and how to plan to handle the inevitable queries and objections. Additionally, they should ensure the creation of the necessary tools and training for the client-facing personnel since they will be required to defend and explain the new brand. Prepare the team to be persuasive advocates, in other words.
Internal teams' ability to explain a brand's recent evolution will be constrained even with the best training and resources. Therefore businesses must alter the external communication tools to represent the new firm after an M&A as they often result in the introduction of new teams, services, and perhaps even entirely new business models. In the absence of a compelling message explaining what has been changed, the audience may create an unfavourable picture. Business executives must ensure that the message is well-directed at the outset. This in turn could necessitate the use of a more sophisticated launch plan.
Internal team viewpoints are important as well. It's a good idea to "take the temperature" of the internal teams as part of a market research study. Comparing internal and external impressions will allow us to gauge how sensitive the staff is to the needs of the customers. Additionally, teams are more likely to support the new approach if they are included in the debate about your overall positioning. The M&A branding process can be advantageous, inclusive, and informative by creating a procedure that promotes internal participation.
Businesses will have the chance to evaluate relative brand strength when setting an objective baseline to define the following steps and prioritise communication efforts. For instance, it is best if a newly acquired company is integrated into a stronger brand as soon as possible if it has low brand recognition in the marketplace. The likelihood is that this will require less expensive than if the same company had a great reputation and was widely known. It will take more work to counteract preexisting brand conceptions and inform people about the new brand configuration with a stronger entering brand.
