Branding After a Merger or Acquisition: The aes renewables Story

Buying another business opens up possibilities. New expertise. New customers. New people. A chance to grow into something you couldn’t have built quite so quickly on your own.

It also leaves you with some important questions about your brand.

Which name should you use? What happens to the reputation of the business you’ve bought? How do you bring two teams together? And how do you explain the change so customers understand what it means for them?

These were the kinds of questions behind our work with aes renewables, following AES Solar’s acquisition of Black Isle Renewables.

Two established Scottish businesses were coming together, bringing expertise in solar and renewable heating. Our role was to help create a clear brand strategy for their future together, then help translate that thinking into how the business presented itself and communicated.

Where do you start with branding after an acquisition?

There is usually plenty to organise when businesses come together. Branding can quickly become another item on a very long list: choose the name, commission the logo, update the website, sort the vans.

But those decisions depend on knowing what you’re building.

For aes renewables, we needed to establish what the combined business stood for, where it wanted to go and what people should understand about it. We also needed to consider what was already valuable in the two businesses and how that could carry forward.

A familiar name can hold years of trust. A team can have ways of working that customers love. Those things deserve attention before you start changing what people see.

Our work included customer and staff surveys, alongside work with the leadership and marketing team. Listening helped inform the strategy, taking account of the people who would experience the brand and the people who would deliver it.

One brand with room to grow

One of the central decisions was how the different parts of the business would fit together.

We developed a branded house strategy. In plain English, that meant one main brand, with its services sharing the same values, tone of voice and visual identity. It also allowed room for future specialist areas as the business grew.

The name aes renewables reflected the wider offer, bringing solar, renewable heating and energy storage together under one name.

That matters because a name needs to make sense to customers today and give the business room to develop tomorrow. If your offer has grown beyond what your existing name suggests, people may be missing part of what you can do for them.

A single brand was the right direction for this business. For another acquisition, keeping an established brand might make more sense. The decision needs to follow the business strategy and the value in the names you already have.

Giving the business a shared way forward

A combined business needs something its people can understand and use in their everyday work.

For aes renewables, we developed a shared purpose and vision, supported by three values:

• Doing brilliant things. Taking pride in the quality of the work, the thought behind it and the details that matter.

• Making strong connections. Building trust through clear, open and respectful relationships with colleagues, customers and partners.

• Feeling good energy. Bringing optimism, integrity and calm to the way people work together.

We gave each value practical meaning. Making strong connections, for example, included sharing knowledge and helping people feel seen, safe and included.

This is where brand starts to influence the experience of working in a business and buying from it. Your values become useful when people can see how to put them into practice.

A clear personality in a complicated sector

Choosing renewable energy technology can involve unfamiliar terminology, a significant investment and plenty of questions. Customers need to feel confident in the people guiding them.

We developed the brand personality of The Beacon, expressed through four words: bright, confident, calm and grounded.

That gave aes renewables a clear direction for its language and presentation. Explain things clearly. Show people what’s possible. Bring knowledge and reassurance to the conversation.

The strategy provided the foundation for the creative work and the brief for the new visual identity. It also informed tone of voice, website copy and messages for different audiences, including homeowners, businesses and professional partners.

With that thinking in place, the words and pictures could express the same character across the business.

Explaining the change to staff and customers

Branding after a merger or acquisition involves people who will have different questions about the change.

Staff need to understand the direction and how to talk about the business. Existing customers need a clear explanation of how the familiar names connect to the new one. Potential customers need to understand the offer and why it matters to them.

Our work included communication guidance, audience messages, launch copy and FAQs to help explain the transition.

We also distinguished between the story needed at launch and the story needed for everyday marketing. At launch, the connection between AES Solar, Black Isle Renewables and aes renewables needed to be clear. Over time, the emphasis could move towards what customers could expect from the combined business.

What the brand work put in place

The work gave aes renewables one brand structure, a shared set of values, a defined personality and guidance for communicating consistently.

Together, these provided a foundation for the new identity and for future decisions about how the business would grow and present itself.

This is how we approach brand through The Brand School Method™: Strategy, the thinking; Image, all the words and pictures; and Experience, what it feels like. Each part needs to support the others.

Planning a merger or acquisition?

If you’re buying a business, bringing companies together or preparing for growth, it’s worth considering your brand while you’re making the bigger decisions.

What reputation are you taking forward? How will the different parts fit together? What should your team and customers understand about the next chapter?

At B is for Brand, we help business owners work through those questions and turn the answers into a practical direction for their brand.

Get in touch to talk about your brand before, during or after a merger or acquisition.