When should we consolidate acquired brands and when keep them separate?

Create a shared brand relationship model that sets the non-negotiables, while giving acquired brands room to stay relevant to the markets they serve. A central team can align messaging with business goals, improve visibility and create a more consistent look and feel across the portfolio. That clarity matters most where brands serve common global accounts.

The trap is treating consistency as sameness. Messaging developed centrally can miss local market maturity, cultural nuance or the language that makes a legacy brand meaningful. Equally, leaving every market to create its own materials can duplicate effort, weaken quality control and create portfolio confusion. Set clear masterbrand and sub-brand roles, then define where local teams can adapt creative, tone and content without breaking narrative consistency.

Involve employees at purposeful moments, ask for insight that can shape real decisions, and explain how their input affects the new brand. Employee buy-in grows when people understand why change is happening, can raise practical concerns and receive the tools needed to deliver the brand in their own work.

Start by speaking with people across roles, locations and levels of seniority. Explore customer pain points, sources of pride, opportunities and worries about the change. Feed the insight back, confirm the direction, then involve the people who must implement the identity in digital products, sales materials and customer experiences. Consultation becomes tiring when it feels performative, so be clear about what is open for input and what has already been decided.

Brand architecture should show which brands belong together, what each brand is for and where customers should encounter it. That makes brand consolidation a deliberate portfolio decision, not simply a naming or visual identity exercise. A clear structure can bring central oversight and a more coherent market presence, particularly for global accounts.

The right structure also recognises that markets are not interchangeable. A message that works in one region can fail in another because the audience has different needs, awareness or expectations. Give central teams responsibility for the shared narrative, visual foundations and quality control. Give local teams defined freedom to adapt content where market nuance genuinely matters. The result is portfolio clarity without a one-size-fits-all brand experience.

We believe acquired brands should not be consolidated simply because they now share an owner. The real challenge is creating enough clarity for customers and employees to understand the relationship, while keeping the relevance that made a local or specialist brand valuable in the first place. We have seen how central control can bring consistency and alignment, but how centrally created messaging can also miss local nuance. In our work on the Price Forbes rebrand within Ardonagh Specialty, we involved employees in research and created materials explaining the rationale and their role in the brand's future. That is the balance we aim for: a clear shared direction, backed by practical local understanding.