Summary

When organisations merge, the instinct is to rebrand quickly. Yet the recurring issue is misalignment on the growth thesis, target segments and offer architecture. Once leadership settles those choices and sequences integration around customer journeys, customer wins follow — because identity should confirm strategy, not stand in for it.

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Our Perspective

What this means for leaders navigating growth, change or transformation in their organisation.

The Real Signal

After a merger, the instinct is to change what the market sees first. Names, colours and taglines feel tangible, while integration feels messy. The trouble is that cosmetic speed often masks strategic drift. The Middle Market has noted that 70–80% of mergers and acquisitions underperform because value erodes in the first 100 days, which is exactly when misaligned choices compound silently. The visible brand can’t carry what the operating model won’t deliver. The signal the market is waiting for isn’t a new logo; it’s proof that the combined organisation has made hard choices and can execute them consistently.

Decide The Growth Thesis

Before any identity work, lock the commercial spine of the merger: where you’ll win, with whom and why. That means agreeing the growth thesis, priority segments and offer architecture in plain language leaders can repeat without a slide deck. If it isn’t crisp enough to guide pricing and trade-offs next week, it isn’t ready to be expressed visually.

• Pinpoint two or three segments where you have a right to win and why.
• Set portfolio roles: leader, challenger or incubate for each offer.
• Align pricing logic and value proof so sales and delivery tell the same story.

Integrate Around Journeys

Structure follows customer reality. Sequence integration by end-to-end journeys, not org charts, and publish one playbook everyone can deliver today. McKinsey points out that roughly 80% of companies complete a brand transition within 18 months of deal close, with 65% doing so inside a year, which gives you room to stage identity once operations have proof behind them. Use that window wisely: let behaviours lead, then let design codify what’s already working.

• Standardise the service promise and the “moments that matter” in onboarding, support and renewal.
• Equip frontline teams with one proposition, set of proof points and escalation paths.
• Bank early wins to show customers what’s better now, not just what looks different.

What CEOs Should Watch

You’re managing signal and substance. Three tests help keep them aligned.

• Governance: one steering group with decision rights on segmentation, portfolio and pricing; brand follows these calls.
• Metrics: track cycle time to consistent proposal, renewal retention and attach rates; visual identity later amplifies these gains.
• Narrative: the story you tell investors must match what customers experience within 30 days. Most organisations we work with discover the gap here first.

Looking Ahead

Treat brand change as a consequence of strategic choices, not their substitute. When customers can feel the merger through simpler choices, steadier delivery and clearer value, the identity becomes a confirmation, not a promise—and that’s when it compounds confidence rather than borrowing it.

Sources:

• How to accelerate value in the first 100 days after an acquisition — The Middle Market
• Integrating marketing and brand in M&A: The way to superior growth — McKinsey

Further Resources

1. Aligning Brand Strategy with New Leadership
2. Aligning Brand Strategy Under Market Pressure for Growth
3. Signs of a Weak Brand—and Aligning Strategy with Execution

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