Perspective
How brand paves the way to M&A success
Executive Summary
At the heart of a successful merger is a great brand.
Used not just for marketing but as a touchstone for setting the integration agenda, brand can be the key to uniting stakeholders and accelerating success. From Exxon + Mobil, Delta + Northwest Airlines, Stanley + Black & Decker, Actavis + Allergan, RockTenn + MeadWestvaco, Lippincott has helped leading brands come together for over 80 years. And we’ve seen how approaching brand in the right way can create lasting value for the new enterprise.
Mergers involve countless executive decisions: cost rationalization, integration of finance, tax, HR, and IT functions. Successful mergers make sure brand is not simply another to-do, but a broader decision-making frame that can unite disparate groups and accelerate success.
Drawing on decades of insights from brand-savvy leaders at GE, IBM, 3M, and more, this guide lays out the six keys to merger success through brand:
- Unify with a shared purpose
- Name your business vision, using verbal identity to convey corporate strategy
- Design through the transition, using logo to unite cultures and signal purpose
- Rally your people, employing multifaceted engagement programs
- Consider your customers with careful messages and clear actions
- Use brand as your strategic compass, from pre-deal announcement to deal close and beyond
Built effectively, brand can reduce employee uncertainty and turnover, enhance internal team-building, signal a fresh strategy, build new energy, forge common behaviors, purge tired legacies, and tell a compelling story to investors and the press.
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