Or, how to keep brand equity in the acquisition shuffle
Working through the minutia of a merger/acquisition is a giant lift. There are so many moving parts. Negotiating the terms becomes all consuming. And now, as the clean energy landscape shifts yet again, expect to see more announcements coming down the pipe.
I’ve journeyed through my fair share of clean energy mergers and acquisitions with clients in my time. The agreement is all. I get it. Everyone wants to negotiate the best possible deal for themselves. I would too.
But what happens to the brand and brand equity after the deal is signed? It is a rare instance when teams have thought this through. Maybe some love is given to a press release to announce the agreement. Maybe. I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard, “we’ll figure it out,” in response to questions about post-acquisition brand and marketing strategy.
What should you think through for stronger brands post-acquisition? Follow along dear readers for a brand/marketing overview, but by no means exhaustive list o’ considerations.
The big question first: which brand(s) survive?
In the case of an acquisition why are you acquiring said company? Is it the brand? The IP? The people? The client list? The infrastructure? Something else? Likely it’s a combination of factors. But the important part is to answer the question, which will help determine actions to take with the brand being acquired.
It comes down to what your end goal plans are for the brand. Will it become a sub-brand? Will it operate largely independently? Will it go away?
Questions are similar for mergers, only flavored a bit differently. Will you mash-up two brands? Will one brand become dominant? Will you completely rebrand with a new name?
None of this will happen overnight. But understand the end point to plan for the in-between. Answer this question before planning any other steps. It really is that important for a smoother transition.
Short-term brand and marketing planning
Think about what needs to happen in the short term. This would be activities leading up to, during, and shortly after the announcement.
Talking points
You’ve already answered the big question. Now turn that into talking points. Why is this merger/acquisition happening? What is your team excited about in this process? What can customers, employees, and stakeholders expect to see over the next few months? How does this effect products and product schedules?
Designate key contacts. Who should address media inquiries? And who will give interviews? Who answers questions about contracts, finance, engineering, products, HR, investors, etc.?
You’re managing brand messaging both internally and externally at this point. Both are equally important.
Customer contact
With talking points in hand, who contacts key customers and when? In most cases, talking with key customers prior to a press release hitting the streets is important. It will not only help alleviate concerns your customers will have, but will promote a stronger connection with them.
Consider what investor contact you need to make as well at this time.
Internal announcement(s)
While much of your staff will catch wind of what’s happening prior to any announcements, talk to them. Written communication is one option, but in the case of a merger/acquisition, doing something in person or via zoom is a better option. Walk them through what to expect and when, how it will impact their jobs, who to talk to with questions (see above for key contacts), and who to direct media inquiries to when the announcement lands.
This is an important step in managing your brand internally. On more than one occasion I have watched organizations lose all internal brand equity due to poorly managed acquisitions. Employees move on, carrying the negative emotions with them. With enough negativity “out there” it will directly impact the brand in ways you did not foresee.
Press release
Even if your organization has not worked with a PR agency in the past, it’s worth it to work with one through this process. A press release is not just a press release, but messaging for media, investors, customers, partners, and the clean energy community at large. A good PR agency will help craft your message with your end goals in mind and will lead you through the maze of activities leading up to and post “releasing the press release.”
Consider timing, which organization will release the press release, which organization will “repost” it, who is quoted, and what other supplemental materials are needed to support the announcement.
Public-facing materials
Speaking of supplemental materials, make a plan and develop the materials needed to support the announcement via public-facing marketing outlets. What needs to happen to your website(s) and when? What about social media? And not just the announcement, but do you change any channel artwork the day of the announcement? What images, video, logos, visual assets, etc. do you need to support the announcement? What about updating email signatures? Email/newsletters?
Medium-term brand and marketing planning
You’ve gotten through the initial announcement and you have an end goal mapped out. Consider what needs to happen over the next 90 days or so.
There will be a lot of focus on integrating systems, processes, onboarding employees to new systems, migrating customers, etc. There are so many practical moving parts happening in this window. Because of that, this is the point at which many organizations lose the thread of brand and marketing in order to deal with other “stuff.”
For many, the announcement and announcement activities brought a lot of brand awareness to the forefront. Sadly many don’t take advantage of this momentum during the transition phase.
Consider this example: A solar company was acquired. The announcement garnered a lot of attention and the company’s LinkedIn page followers increased a whopping 379% over the month of the announcement. Unfortunately, the acquiring company did nothing with the LinkedIn page over the following months. They not only lost the momentum built by the announcement, but unfortunately took no action to convert those followers to their own LinkedIn page.
Depending on your end goal, consider:
Visual identity – logos, visual branding, marketing and business materials – what needs to happen to update materials? If you’re keeping the logo, but need add a reference to the acquiring company, who does this work and when should it be finalized?
Set priorities in what needs to change first, second, third, etc. Consider public-facing materials first to help clarify the brand transition. What needs to change on the website? What gets regularly updated? What about social media? Will those channels be maintained? If not, what is the plan to ask followers to migrate to the new brand? Are there tradeshows or conferences coming up that will need new materials? What about sales tools? Products and product packaging? Other marketing materials? What kind of permission would you like to receive from email subscribers? Or are you migrating the list wholeheartedly? And remember business-related materials such as business cards, letterhead, invoice templates, mailing labels, etc.
Take some time to understand metrics and ramifications of not migrating followers, materials, and other elements. What sort of SEO/AEO hits will the brand take if the website is not long maintained? How is the engagement on social? What kind of audience are you losing by no longer posting? And how engaged are email subscribers? Is the open rate abysmal? Or will you be losing a strongly engaged audience?
In addition to planning out and prioritizing how to tackle the tactical visual and migration elements of your brand, also take some time to update your initial talking points about the merger/acquisition. In the first few weeks, questions will come up that you didn’t think of initially. And you may find adjustments being made to initial plans. Take some time to update and adjust your talking points. Be sure to get those talking points to forward-facing employees.
And finally, as you update plans going forward, share any changes in your “what to expect” plans with customers and stakeholders to keep clarity at the forefront.
Long-term brand and marketing planning
Your long-term plans will be determined by your goals set out in that initial “which brand(s) survive” discussion.
If one brand is going away, make a plan for when certain materials will sunset. For instance, when will the website become a redirect to the acquiring company’s website? What materials from the website, if any, need to migrate before that happens?
If the acquired brand is staying around, what additional changes need to happen to align with the acquiring brand? How will you market the acquired brand as a subsidiary of the acquiring brand?
Planning for every possibility is not realistic. However, taking some time to plan for the transition will help you take full advantage of any brand equity the organizations have built, while giving you the chance to build that brand equity further and in a meaningful way.