Renaming During M&A

The name you select or create will be the most significant of all brand components.

A brand name is the most tangible expression of an organization, product, or service. While certainly not the only critical component, it will be used more often than any other.

 A name will be employed pre- and post-M&A to quickly communicate meaning, reputation, and expectations. When someone asks an employee where they work or what they are working on, the name will often come first and be attached to everything that employee says next. It will help to create a single entity under which disparate employee groups can begin to behave as a unified team. It will be the lead in all press. It will have a significant impact on the new visual identity, the story, and all go-to-market assets.

Deciding which merging company’s brand and/or product name will persist, which to retire, or to create a new name, is critical in M&A. In many instances, both merging companies may have great name recognition. It is in these instances where tactical methods for ascribing value will be very helpful.

WHY (RE)NAME?

A visual identity refresh can be a great idea for an organisation for many reasons: to better align with or stand out from a competitive set, to lead with a more contemporary visual expression, to reinvigorate marketplace awareness, and others. A name, however, is the most difficult of all brand components to change.

Deciding when to rename, and why, is either driven by invention (such as a new company, product, or service), massive organisational change (such as a need to explain and redefine a company around a new purpose), or by exigent forces, including corporate malfeasance and negative press.

WHO ARE WE, NOW?

M&A activity provides a different inflection point. A company can change its name, or the name of a product/service, with less consternation. In short, the decision can be based on the resulting new purpose and vision of the resulting company.

By consulting the following six points early in the M&A process, subjectivity may be replaced with qualification:

1. Will the result of your M&A require a lot of communication to customers, employees, and/or stakeholders to help them understand the change?
   A new name can provide an opportunity to create a new, clear narrative.
   
   
2. Will integrating two organisations be confusing/challenging to employees?
   A new name can provide all with a first and enduring sense of unity.
   
   
3. Do both brands suffer from negative or weak marketplace perceptions, internal unrest, and/or significant HR challenges?
   A new name can provide fertile ground for building positive impressions and attracting new talent.
   
   
4. Does one brand enjoy significantly more positive perception or recognition than the other?
   Keep the most positive brand, especially if the two were similar. Use comms to matriculate the value of the retired name into the emergent name.
   
   
5. Do both brands enjoy excellent marketplace perceptions and perform well?
   If so, there are two options:
   
   1. Select one existing name over the other, preferably the one that has a stronger or larger presence. Some elements of the retired company or product/ service name may be incorporated into other brand components.
      
      
   2. A portmanteau of both names may be an elegant solution, partially unifying brand equity while maintaining individual brand awareness, such ExxonMobile.
      
      
6. Do both brand names enjoy strong recognition and reputation but offer differentiated products/services?
   Consider allowing both to operate as independently-named entities. Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods is a strong example.
   

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME?

The effort to move brand awareness from old to new names takes a concerted and often long-tail effort. The only thing worse? Carrying around, and trying to market away, legacy negative value associated with a name. 

 About the Author

This content series is part of our ongoing partnership with is + at.

is + at is a strategic design house specialising in brand and product market readiness. By combining expertise, insight, and innovation, opportunities are identified in areas that are primed for success. is + at designs systems and realises brands, messaging, and products into market-ready states, and builds the systems that support them to success.