What should we keep when combining brands after a merger?

A merger does not automatically require a completely new brand. The decision is whether existing names, heritage and associations help people understand the combined organisation or make its offer harder to interpret. Price Forbes consolidated four brands under one established name while seeking to retain the pride and panache of its history. Its new direction balanced that heritage with a more optimistic, future-facing identity and narrative.

The practical test is whether the retained brand can credibly represent the wider business. Where it can, preserve recognisable elements that provide continuity, then use the brand platform, verbal identity and visual system to explain the new ambition. Where legacy perceptions limit understanding of broader capabilities, the organisation may need a clearer narrative or more substantial identity change, as Tata Technologies did when shifting perceptions beyond automotive engineering.

Brand combination decisions should start with the people who must understand and use the result. For Inver Re, stakeholder discussions helped establish how a new reinsurance brand would fit within The Ardonagh Group portfolio, how it should be perceived and the market gap it would address. That work identified a parent-company foundation worth retaining, which informed a new name with a connection to Ardonagh's heritage.

Employee involvement should inform the direction without making every participant a decision-maker. In the Price Forbes rebrand within Ardonagh Specialty, employees were included in the research phase and received materials explaining why the approach had been chosen and how they contributed to the future vision. This combines useful insight with a clear rationale, helping teams understand both the purpose of the change and their role in making it real.

Employees can reveal whether a proposed combined brand is meaningful in day-to-day work, especially when teams have different histories, locations or ways of describing the business. Direct engagement also creates an opportunity to explain why the change is happening and to hear concerns before launch. This matters because a rebrand can otherwise feel like an abstract management project rather than a direction people can support.

First Names Group illustrates a people-led approach following a management buyout. Interviews with employees and stakeholders established that trust and confidence in its people were central to the business. The resulting identity used employees' first names as a visual language, while the launch was coordinated so employees in each location discovered the new brand at the same time. The former Group Head of Marketing and Communications said stakeholders across locations were engaged throughout the process.