Three Brand Building Imperatives in Leading Successful M&A Deals 

Many businesses in Asia have achieved exponential growth through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in recent years. However, success hinges not just on immediate financial gains, but also on how the new organization (“NewCo”) integrates both operational and brand equities.  

A well-defined and executed brand strategy can significantly impact the overall business success during and post M&A by fostering cohesion, clarity and confidence among all stakeholders. This is especially true for B2B companies, where M&A deals often involve the evolution of not only organizational structures, but also offerings, processes, people and cultures. 

At Prophet, we have partnered with a diverse array of businesses across Asia and around the world to safeguard complex M&A deals, from which we’ve identified several common success factors. In this article, we share our perspectives with three distinctive case studies. 

Seatrium: Creating an “Atrium of People of the Sea” 

Keppel O&M and Sembcorp Marine, two leading global marine companies merged in 2023. As the industry strives towards cleaner and renewable energy, the two organizations came together to forge a new path forward. We identified an opportunity for the NewCo to differentiate with a stronger brand purpose – “We exist to ensure customers can thrive today while creating a greener and brighter tomorrow.​” The new visual identity was carefully crafted to highlight new waves of innovation in the marine environment. The name “Seatrium” created by the client also centered around this purpose.  

Vistra: Building a “Category of One” From the Inside out

EQT Private Capital Asia (formerly BPEA EQT) made significant investments to merge Vistra and Tricor, forming a powerhouse brand in the corporate and fund solutions industry. With its diversified business portfolio, Vistra embarked on a bold transformation journey, reimagining itself as a purpose-led brand. From beginning to end, Prophet worked closely with employees and stakeholders in the extensive brand, visual and culture development process to make sure that it resonates with those who embody the brand and culture.   

G7 Connect: Connecting all with a Human-Centric Brand Story 

Another powerful example is G7 Connect, born from a merger of two leading IoT SaaS companies in China’s road freight sector, G7 and E6 Technology. After a successful merger, G7 Connect had two key challenges – to clearly define its renewed vision and engage all stakeholders, while streamlining the currently complex portfolios inherited from two industry giants. Prophet partnered with the  NewCo to create an impactful and human-centric brand tagline, “Beautiful change happens now” to encapsulate G7 Connect’s commitment to continuously creating positive changes for all industry participants through digital technology.  

Three Brand Building Imperatives  

Through these examples, we can clearly see the common threads that empowered their successful transformations – a steadfast and consistent purpose and the unification of diverse stakeholders. The role of a compelling brand strategy cannot be understated, which unveils three imperatives: 

1. Adopt a Brand-Led Mindset in the Early Stages of M&A Deals 

Transformation across the culture and organization, business model and objectives are an integral component of any merger and acquisition. This must be led by a strong brand purpose anchored in business objectives as a guiding star for the organization throughout the M&A process.  

As the strategic foundation translating business objectives into resonating go-to-market solutions, this brand-led vision must be a CEO agenda adopted from the early set of M&A deals to instil energy and confidence throughout the organizations. Lack of a brand-led vision may lead to risk of misalignment across functions and hindered collaboration, ultimately causing suboptimal and inconsistent executions.  

In the case of G7 Connect, the leadership team had carefully considered brand implications at every step of the M&A journey, so that cross-functional leads were united under a common goal. Strategic priorities were thus clearly defined when it comes to creating a new brand for the NewCo. At launch, various business units from operational to talent teams had already reached clear alignment with the marketing and strategy teams, gaining a thorough understanding of the new brand and its purpose, thus empowered to plan and execute innovative marketing activations in an effective way. 

2. Unite Diverse Audience Groups with a Human-Centered Brand Story 

M&A deals often bring together multifaceted stakeholder groups with diverse priorities, values, and interests, spanning from investors, employees, partners, to customers, government entities and the public. With a clarified purpose, the NewCo must articulate their objectives and vision through a compelling brand story to unite all stakeholders behind a common goal. Human-centered storytelling is instrumental in resonating with different audiences within the stakeholder ecosystem who have distinctive perspectives and expectations. 

For example, while Seatrium’s vision was to forge a new way forward for the O&M and energy industry, it also aimed to create meaningful impact for employees, Singapore, and shareholders. By immersing ourselves in the cultures and perspectives of different stakeholders, we combined the strengths from both organizations to retain their unique DNA. At the core, Seatrium’s new brand purpose is centered around people, customers and its culture, while striving for engineering and execution excellence. This human-centered approach is the key enabler for the organization’s success after the M&A. 

Beyond establishing a strong brand identity externally, an impactful brand story also helps to harmonize organizational structures and foster a unified organizational culture. As organizational changes bring about uncertainties, incorporating the brand story to develop a comprehensive EVP (Employee Value Proposition) and employee engagement strategy is critical.  

3. Optimize Brand Architecture to Demonstrate Amplified Value 

The brand portfolios of the individual entities must not exist in isolation post M&A, as this could lead to confusion of the customers and the dilution of each brand’s equity. Guided by its new brand purpose and positioning, NewCo must clarify its brand portfolio and architecture strategy in order to identify new or redefined offers.  

Additionally, this will demonstrate the change and evolution in the business model and ambition, as well as the amplified value delivered to various stakeholders. 

With Vistra’s expansion through M&A, it was crucial to harmonize the sub-brands within the portfolio. Through competitor and industry analysis, we adopted a strategic, data-driven approach, creating a decision tree that gives management flexibility to organize all sub-brands effectively. This will help build a relevant, credible and differentiated brand portfolio.