Banking merger and acquisition activity is widely expected to experience a resurgence in 2025, with the new year starting off strong as 11 deals were announced in January. “Growth remains top of mind for banking leaders as they seek scale to stay competitive into the next year,” according to Believe in Banking, which outlines findings from Bank Director’s 2025 Bank M&A Survey. The data finds that 43% of bank executives say their organization is “very” or “somewhat” likely to buy another bank by the end of the year, with 31% classifying their institutions as “active acquirers.” Not only are banking leaders seeking scale through mergers or acquisitions, the deals reached record levels by the end of 2024.
It’s amid this landscape that Adrenaline attended Acquire or Be Acquired by Bank Director in January. At this year’s conference, Gina Bleedorn, President & CEO of Adrenaline, shared her insights in the session “Managing the Invisible Risks of Brand Strategy & Branch Conversion in M&A.” In her presentation, Gina outlined dual track impacts of M&A on a financial institution’s brand and branches, with brand and culture leading the charge to help banks shape a cohesive organization from the inside out. Institutions seek to leverage combined brand power to create internal synergies and market advantage. But a misunderstanding of brand may hold banking leaders back.
“Bankers often perceive brand as just colors and logos,” according to Gina. “This limited understanding affects their approach to mergers and acquisitions, where naming plays a crucial role.” At a foundational level, a brand’s name either sets the stage for growth or it holds an organization back. And it’s often not until a bank begins exploring a merger that the constraints of their name and identity come to the forefront. Bank brand identities and approaches to marketing tend to blend into a sea of sameness, and that creates market confusion. Lack of differentiation may be a challenge to a singular institution trying to compete, but it becomes deadly to a bank or credit union putting their best foot forward in a merger.
“The real value in M&A is more about the name than the brand’s visual elements,” says Gina. “Brand naming and renaming considerations significantly impact an institution’s success and perception in the market.” While credit unions are not immune to challenges with naming, they do tend to come into M&A with a better understanding of the limitations of their brand’s name. “I think the credit unions probably understand it a little more because they were originally named after some Select Employer Group (SEG) or county or city when they were formed.” Institutions solving ownability challenges using an acronym still must still define the brand. “Even with an acronym, the letters have to stand for something, so what does it stand for?”
Not only are names in banking similar, value propositions and how financial institutions deliver on them also have an air of uniformity. In fact, an exercise using ChatGPT to generate a vision and mission for bank or credit union produces results that may seem eerily familiar to banking leaders. “Brand sits in between a bank’s name and their culture,” according to Gina. “In addition to naming, when you bring in broader brand and culture, if you’re not unified in your vision and your values, those cracks come to the surface.” Strategic positions and cultural tenets that lack differentiation make it harder to integrate.
Financial institutions are becoming more aware of the importance of aligning culture before, during and after a merger, but resistance to change can keep leaders from taking on these brand-level challenges. “I’ve seen a shift since we started attending Acquire or Be Acquired. Bank leaders are definitely thinking about culture, value propositions and what they stand for,” according to Gina. “But while they’re starting to make more sense of the word ‘brand,’ they’re still dealing with both their own internal and institutional resistance to change.” That’s why she outlined key takeaways for banking leaders as they explore M&A. “I think perhaps the most valuable things in this presentation are the core considerations and risk factors for brands.”
Core brand considerations prior to a merger include:
- What equity does each brand possess?
- Which name/brand should we use?
- Do we need a new name/brand?
- How can we unify brands and cultures?
- How can we ensure employee and customer buy-in?
Risk factors to address prior to a merger include:
- Name(s) not legally ownable or growth-limiting
- Low awareness or relevance of brand(s)
- Weak or negative associations with brand(s)
- Lack of unified vision and values
- Resistance to change
Inform M&A decision making, mitigate brand risks, and guide efficient integration with these M&A questions, insights, and case studies of banking brands that have successfully grown through M&A.
Adrenaline is an end-to-end brand experience company serving the financial industry. We move brands and businesses ahead by delivering on every aspect of their experience across digital and physical channels, from strategy through implementation. Our multi-disciplinary team works with leadership to advise on purpose, position, culture, and retail growth strategies. We create brands people love and engage audiences from employees to customers with story-led design and insights-driven marketing; and we design and build transformative brand experiences across branch networks, leading the construction and implementation of physical spaces that drive business advantage and make the brand experience real.
