How M&A teams should be thinking of a brand as not just being a logo
An M&A event requires an organization to think of the resulting brand as a vessel. This vessel must be strong enough to carry the new organization’s purpose and products or services. It must have integrity. This integrity will provide the strength to bend, but not break, toward change.
Down markets, customer churn, and competition are all exigent change factors that may make an organization look toward brand revitalization. But just as dangerous to the under-constructed brand—one that emerges from M&A—are changes like positive growth, innovation, and/or new products or services.
A brand is not a stopping point along the journey. A brand should carry an organization through the entire journey. The resulting brand should encapsulate the true reason why an organization has come to exist and uphold its future vision. A good brand is aspirational and achievable, as well as ownable and adaptable.
To better illustrate (and pardon the turn of phrase), does a person who is blind have a different impression of the Coca-Cola brand? A visual identity—logo, colors, type—is only one expression of the brand. It’s certainly an important part of the brand, but it is not the brand itself.
A brand is better expressed in a phrase. The words we choose can encapsulate why an organization exists.
It’s important to not conflate a brand statement with a tagline, though the former often begets the latter.
The remarkable thing about a brand’s visual identity or tagline is that it can quickly resonate with a customer and remind them of their relationship with the organization. Think of the Apple logo or Nike’s “Just do it.” tagline. Expressions of brands become lighthouses, offering a promise, trust, and familiarity with the product or service. We follow its beacon to the shelf, to the package, to the website, to the app.
A CEO’s main objective is to continually orient the organization—its people, its goals, its initiatives, its approach to and actions in the market—around the brand. For leaders, the brand provides a single point of truth. A well-constructed, trustworthy, and true brand will provide guidance in day-to-day operations. The many actions and decisions undertaken by perhaps hundreds or thousands of employees will be better oriented toward and unified around brand principles.
Without the brand itself, the logo is one of many, the tagline meaningless. With solid brand foundations in place, organizations can strive for and achieve their purpose, time and time again.
This content series is part of our ongoing partnership with is + at.
About the Author
is + at is a strategic design house specializing 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 realizes brands, messaging, and products into market-ready states.
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