Why M&A Should Stand for ‘Meaning & Alignment’

The M&A world has been a rollercoaster.

Before COVID, dealmaking was booming. But since 2020, however, the global M&A market has swung between record highs and decade lows, in both deal volume and values.

It’s official: era of the mega-merger is back.

2025 marked a near-record rebound of almost $5 trillion in deal value, driven by headline moves such as Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros; in 2026, activity looks set to remain elevated.

But it's still a risky business. 70-75% of mergers fail to deliver.

The common mistake? Treating brand as decoration instead of direction.

It’s why brand strategy is more important than ever. Positioning, values, narrative, identity, and governance…this is what aligns people, priorities and performance during times of change.

Indeed, when Tate & Lyle joined forces with CP Kelco, we set out to prove that brand can be the integration engine, not an afterthought.
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Here are 6 things we learned:

1) B2B ≠ Bland to Bland

If your brand only makes sense to procurement, you’re missing the point. Even in B2B, you’re still talking to humans. They want pride, meaning and purpose – to feel excited to work for you and proud to work with you. Even scientists dream of sending rockets to the moon and going down in history.

Don’t think business to business, think believer to believer.

Ask yourself: Would anyone wear your logo on a T-shirt? Would they brag about being part of your story?

2) Create Desire, Not Just Definition

Mergers shouldn’t just make you bigger, they should make you feel complete. More capable, more mission-driven. So don’t just list divisions. Reframe what the world gains.
For Tate & Lyle and CP Kelco, we used Science, Solutions, Society: science creates solutions, solutions enable better choices, together they serve society.

The goal isn’t to be complex, it’s to be complete.

Ask yourself: Would you still believe your purpose if you didn’t get paid to say it?

3) Simplify to Amplify

Post-merger brands often catalogue everything. Great brands clarify one thing. For Tate & Lyle + CP Kelco, The Power of & became the connective idea. A clear, forward-looking promise that tells employees their role and customers what to expect. Think about Nike’s ‘dare to design the future of sport’ – a line that sets direction, not just description.

Your strategy needs to excite people about the next chapter.

Ask yourself: Does your brand platform just say who you are now, or where you’re going next?

4) Make the Invisible Remarkable

Too many B2B brands settle for being understood when they could be admired. The most powerful identities don’t just describe what a business does, they dramatise it. For Tate & Lyle, food science is alchemy with evidence. Understanding how particles behave, how texture forms, and how molecules interact to create flavour…all of this technical brilliance was reflected in an identity that turned mastery into magnetism.

Make the microscopic feel momentous, and the technical feel human.

Ask yourself: Are you just showing what you do, or dramatising the wonder and the rigour behind it?

5) Pass the Day One Test

Spreadsheets don’t inspire. Day One does. If people arrive confused or cynical, you’ve lost momentum. If they arrive proud, curious and clear, you’ve set the tone. Think of Google’s “Nooglers”: playful, symbolic, and binding.

At Tate & Lyle, giving every employee an AI ampersand wasn’t a gimmick, it was a mechanism for ownership. The rebrand wasn’t done to people, it was built with them. Belonging beats broadcasting.

How people feel on Day One shapes what they build on Day Two.

Ask yourself: Would you hire your own brand to work for you?

6) Turn Launches into Movements, and Culture into Strategy

This is where stakeholder engagement and cultural buy-in make or break the merger. Culture clash is the number one reason deals fail. So, do the work before design and launch:

• Listen deeply: leadership interviews, frontline roundtables, culture diagnostics.
• Map stakeholders: board, investors, regional leads, sales, R&D, plant ops, unions, key customers.
• Co-create the future state: positioning workshops, values synthesis, behaviour frameworks.
• Pre-commit buy-in: briefings, Q&A roadshows, brand councils, local champions.
• Launch for participation: toolkits, training, manager scripts, rituals, feedback loops.
• Govern for scale: clear ownership, KPIs, cadence, and consequences.

Because when people help build the brand, they’ll make sure it lives.

Ask yourself: Are you bringing stakeholders on the journey early enough to earn real commitment?

In the end, M&A shouldn’t mean Misery & Ambiguity. It should mean Meaning & Alignment. Create something people believe in, and the merger becomes more than maths; it becomes momentum.

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