A Brand’s True Value Lies Below The Surface
It’s difficult to escape the pervasive influence that brands have on our lives.
NEW THINKING
It’s difficult to escape the pervasive influence that brands have on our lives.
It seems everywhere I look in the marketing press these days, someone is advocating the need for brands to deliver experiences. But not everyone can or should deliver a formatted experience, and, equally, some brands would quickly wither if they didn’t.
Despite its continuing popularity, mergers and acquisition (M&A) has a terrible track record. Reviews find that the chance of an acquisition increasing shareholder value is no better than a flip of the coin.
Brands come alive for people when they encapsulate ideas that consumers want to have in their lives. That’s partly what makes brands distinctive and desirable. So what do you do when your core idea is no longer as attractive as it used to be?
A solid brand architecture strategy can significantly improve the odds of acquisition success. Given that the odds are no better than 50/50 (based on analysis of how many past acquisitions increased shareholder value), companies should make sure they have their brand architecture ducks in a row before they join the impending stampede to buy companies or brands.