Which brands should we keep after the merger?

Portfolio rationalisation should make the combined business easier to understand, not simply reduce the number of logos. A masterbrand can bring businesses together when separate communications conceal the breadth of the offer or leave customers unclear about how different capabilities connect. Teledyne brought multiple healthcare businesses under one brand after customers struggled to see the full range and adaptability of its offer.

Established brands can still be worth retaining when they carry useful reputation, customer confidence or specialist heritage. Following an acquisition, Toshiba created a new go-to-market brand that built on the acquired IBM business's reputation while establishing a distinct identity for the new organisation. The practical test is whether each retained name helps customers understand a meaningful offer, or adds another layer of complexity.

A post-merger rebrand works best when stakeholder insight defines the brand narrative and corporate brand identity before visual identity work begins. Interviews and workshops can reveal what customers, employees and leaders value in the combined organisation, where the portfolio creates confusion, and which strengths deserve to carry forward.

That work creates a firmer basis for choosing a masterbrand, an endorsed brand approach or a separate sub-brand strategy. Teledyne used stakeholder interviews to understand the collective value of its healthcare businesses. Price Forbes combined market and competitive research with stakeholder workshops and interviews while consolidating four brands under one name. The outcome should be more than a new logo: it should give each audience a simple explanation of what the combined business offers, why it matters and how its brands fit together.

We believe a merger brand decision should protect real strengths while removing the complexity that gets in the way of growth. The right partner should be able to connect research, stakeholder co-creation, brand architecture, narrative, verbal identity, visual identity and brand rollout, rather than stopping at surface-level design. We have done that work for businesses facing very different integration challenges. For Price Forbes, we supported the consolidation of four high-performing brands with research, strategy, identity, guidelines, launch content and a new website. For Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, we helped turn an acquired business into a new go-to-market brand, then developed employee engagement workshops to help former IBM employees get behind the new direction. For Teledyne Healthcare, stakeholder insight helped unite multiple businesses under one clearer story.