Roll up branding question

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by a searcher from Baruch College-The City University of New York - The Zicklin School of Business
in Red Bank, NJ, USA

1yr ago

Roll up branding question

What doing a roll up, what are some approaches on rebranding acquisition targets? Take something popular like home services where you are consolidating a region - are you rebranding targets right away to match existing firm/portfolio, leaving them unchanged for a bit and then changing them, or leaving the brand as is and creating a group name? If making a change, how are you communicating it to the market without obliterating the goodwill you just purchased?

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reply by a searcher 1yr ago
from Harvard University in Denver, CO, USA

I think Levi described the options very well so I won't repeat. However, I would be very, very, very hesitant about re-branding unless the existing brand has a terrible reputation (in which case you hopefully bought it for cheap!) Usually there is very little upside initially in changing the brand, but there is a ton of potential risk and expenses. It's expensive to rebrand (trucks, uniforms, etc.), requires a ton of mindshare internally that takes away from marketing/sales focus, and risks confusion in the market which can lead to slower sales and customer churn. Assuming you bought something that works, why fix what isn't broken? Where I think it might make sense is when you're ready to spend heavily on mass-marketing like TV, radio, sponsorships, etc. that's more regional and where you want to drive everything to a single brand. Even then, I'd start with the sub-logo approach where you leave the brand in place but add "a HoldCo Company" under the logo for ~1-2 years. You can then market the sub-logo but it's not awkward when the original brand's trucks show up to do the work. The other time I'd change the brand is if it's a much smaller bolt-on acquisition where you're really just buying accounts, crews and equipment, not the brand.

reply by a searcher 1yr ago
from University of Western Ontario in Toronto, ON, Canada

Agreed - this is the approach and caution I took when we completed our bolt-on acquisitions. There was a surprising amount of negativity around this at the parent company, but these employees did not understand the risk and lack of upside that Justin and others have described above. It also ended up being a morale booster for employees of the bolt-on company.