Effective communication will be an important factor for companies hoping to take advantage of the opportunity.

According to ODNR’s long-anticipated annual analysis of shale well production numbers, Ohio hosted 87 oil- and gas-producing horizontal wells at the end of 2012, with nearly half of them in Carroll County, roughly between Canton and Youngstown. Perhaps most telling, ODNR expects the number of horizontal drilling permits to grow from 86 in 2011 and 376 in 2012 to 526 this year, 750 in 2014 and 1,000 in 2015. ODNR projects that 1,000 total wells will be in production by 2015, compared with the 87 officially reporting production in 2012. The ODNR results are posted here.

Some media and analysts say the results are less than expected. In reality, energy costs, raw materials supply, job market and property values, particularly in Northeast Ohio, will likely be significant and long term.  Several large oil and gas development companies, including Anadarko, Chesapeake, BP and others, are drilling aggressively. Midstream companies that build pipelines and infrastructure are investing billions and moving as quickly as possible to connect to the growing number of producing wells.

The communications implications are widespread:

•  Media relations I: Journalists at all levels of media, from national and international to trade, broadcast and digital outlets, have a nearly limitless appetite for this story. And they’re coming at it from all angles – energy, economic impact, business, financial, environmental, regulatory, human resources, land use, urban and rural planning, to name a few. If you’re in the industry, serve the industry or want to be a player, you have a chance to be part of the story. But plan ahead. It does little good to be surprised by a reporter asking you to share specifics.
• Media relations II: When working with the media, look for ways to “hook” your story or company to a major trend. The media have a built-in interest in anything related to the shale play. Creativity, relationship-building with media, thinking strategically about timing and managing expectations become critically important under such conditions.
• Crisis communications: The opposite is also true: media may become more interested in your company than you are in working with them – in a crisis situation or for competitive reasons, for example. Be prepared to handle increased scrutiny. A crisis communication plan, crisis communications training, preparedness drills, and monitoring of news media and social media are excellent starting points. Take note, for example, that ODNR wants the industry to be “prosperous but not at the expense of the environment” and is committed to developing and strictly enforcing “proactive, not reactive, laws.” It is also moving toward quarterly reporting by the industry and the agency.
• Internal communications: The competition for highly skilled, motivated manufacturing, maintenance, transportation and field service workers could be fierce by 2015. Already, some companies are reporting that they have lost some valued employees to oil and gas employers.  This suggests a need for impactful internal communications (perhaps along with additional job training and enhanced career advancement opportunities) to help retain talent. 
• Marketing communications: For companies eager to enter Ohio’s oil and gas sector, you must move quickly and smartly. Web content and marketing materials that address the unique needs of the industry, and a sales force that understands the market and the customers and speaks the language are essential. Demonstrate thought leadership and previous experience in your business development marketing and communications. The Utica play in Ohio may well be on the verge of a boom. Few Ohio organizations will be unaffected. Communications can play a significant role in maximizing the benefits and minimizing the risks.

Want to learn more about this? Contact Gregg LaBar at 216-241-4614 or glabar@dix-eaton.com. For additional thoughts on energy and sustainability, follow Gregg on Twitter, @threeps.

But an even bigger question is: Why would a public company want to take that route?

The SEC’s announcement is not expected to have much impact in the short term. The use of social media has been growing – and will continue to grow – as an integral part of a strategic approach to investor communications that enhances transparency and increases engagement of key audiences.
Still, whether your company is a heavy user of social media or a relative newcomer to the concept, it’s important to understand the SEC’s position and carefully consider whether it calls for a change in strategy.  

By nature, material news is not easy to explain. “Full disclosure” means exactly that – a complete discussion of an event or other news item and its impact on the company’s performance, growth, profitability, strategic execution or related issues. It’s basically impossible to provide that kind of perspective in 140 characters, the maximun length of a post on Twitter.

And what if the news isn’t good? It’s easy to see how trading might be affected by an announcement like the one posted on the Netflix CEO’s Facebook page that the company had surpassed a milestone of streaming 1 billion hours of content to its users in the past month. If the news is not so positive – involving layoffs, closing a facility, missing earnings estimates, the sudden illness or death of a CEO, or countless other examples – the brevity and informality typical of most social media communications could result in confusion, incomplete information, misleading perceptions or a potentially negative impact on a company’s stock price or public debt.  

Control is another key issue. To comply with the SEC’s Regulation FD, companies typically have designated their website or traditional newswires as their “recognized channels of distribution.” These channels are easy for audiences to access and easy for companies to control as effective and accurate conveyors of material announcements. Maintaining or controlling a social media channel can be difficult – especially if it is an individual’s account rather than the company’s official account – and there is always a risk of hackers.

In addition, the company must make sure its audience knows where to look for information. Otherwise, as the SEC notes, “the investing public would be forced to keep pace with a changing and expanding universe of potential disclosure channels, a virtually impossible task.” While social media outlets provide unprecedented pathways for companies to engage actively with investors, the last thing you want to do is make it more difficult for analysts, investors and the media to follow your company. It is also important to remember that, while social media tools are growing in popularity within the investment community, many people are still uncomfortable using them, and some do not participate in social media at all.    

As the SEC recognizes, there are many effective ways for companies to communicate with the public. If you haven’t already done so, now is a great time to set some social media strategies for your company. Here are some steps to help guide that process:

• Evaluate and evolve your disclosure practices and policies on a quarterly basis through an established corporate disclosure committee.
• Meet regularly with your board of directors and management team, and make sure they understand both the potential benefits and risks of social media.
• Create or review your company’s social media strategy and policies to take better advantage of the social media channels and complement existing communications methods.
• Conduct a shareholder-focused social media audit to monitor conversations about your company, and determine what, if any, social media channels shareholders are currently using.
• Observe how other companies are using social media, and learn from their successes and missteps. 

The use of social media continues to evolve and accelerate. Now more than ever, it is critical for public companies, their management teams and boards of directors to understand how to use these powerful channels to communicate successfully while avoiding the related risks.

For more information, please contact Lisa Rose at 216-241-4606 or lrose@dix-eaton.com.  For additional thoughts on the capital markets and investor relations, follow Dix & Eaton on Twitter.

From Georgeson:

Game-Changer for Shareholder Activists?

The SEC’s recent comments on public companies’ use of social media to disseminate material information may have an impact on communication from other vantage points as well – such as from activist shareholders in a proxy fight. Thus, public companies will need to develop their own strategies in response.

We asked Bill Fiske, senior managing director of Georgeson Inc., a strategic shareholder consulting services and proxy solicitation firm, for his thoughts:

“In my opinion, the biggest impact from the SEC’s clarification on social media’s role in disclosure may be during activist campaigns. Dissidents may see the SEC clarification as a justification for using social media channels more aggressively to promote a wide range of actions, such as exempt solicitations, just-vote-no campaigns, shareholder proposals or full-blown proxy contests.

“The use of tailored websites in these types of contests is already commonplace and some activist shareholders have even used YouTube videos as part of their strategy. Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms might just be the game-changers in the future of shareholder activism.”

Bill Fiske can be reached at bfiske@georgeson.com 

In fact, addressing shareholder concerns can be even more challenging for private companies because of the need to keep tight reins on certain disclosures for competitive reasons.  It’s a fine line – circulating too much information runs the risk of having it fall into the wrong hands, but too little communication can lead to disgruntled shareholders.

Private companies also are not immune to activism among their shareholders. The destructive nature of such disputes can cause serious problems within a closely held ownership group, often involving generational family ownership and a tightly knit business operation.  Private owners can raise many of the same activist concerns as public investors – including inadequate board composition, insufficient attention to shareholder proposals, questionable reporting or accounting practices, excessive compensation, succession planning, quality of management, operational problems, disagreements about strategic direction, enterprise risk management and other governance issues.

Consequently, it is important for a private company and its board of directors to determine exactly what level of information to provide to shareholders, including employee shareholders, and to communicate it on a consistent basis that aligns with the board’s strategic objectives and messaging.

Establishing a disclosure committee is an essential first step in developing and implementing a shareholder communication policy.  This committee should include the authorized spokesperson(s) for the company and the board, as well as the company’s general counsel.  It should meet at least quarterly – or more frequently, if appropriate – to assess the company’s disclosure practices, ensure that the company is following its own communication policy consistently, evaluate the quality of information flow, review feedback, and confirm that all targeted audiences understand the messaging.  Best practices doctrine also supports anticipating potential operational and reputational issues, and having vetted contingency messaging in place for timely review and distribution in case of a crisis or other situation requiring an immediate response.

To prepare specifically against a potential shareholder activist situation, a private company should  develop a contingency communications plan based on a keen understanding of current shareholder perceptions, motivations, possible demands and/or complaints, and potential triggering events.  Such a plan would include:

• Preparing a strategic messaging platform to address recent and future performance, long- and short-term corporate goals, industry and market issues, governance practices and more.
• Establishing a response team of public relations and crisis communications advisors with activist expertise, to integrate with legal and financial advisors.
• Developing response modes for all stakeholder groups.
• Elevating the level of social media monitoring, which can provide early clues about shareholder sentiment.
• Mobilizing credible third-party testimonials.

Setting a high standard of communications not only protects a hard-earned reputation, but can also help a company deliver its message and defend itself in both the private and public arenas. It also will help keep the lines of communication open if the time comes when negotiations are appropriate.  Consistent and effective communication with shareholders is a critical component of a private company board’s governance responsibility.

For more information, please contact Lisa Rose at 216-241-4606 or lrose@dix-eaton.com.  For additional thoughts on the capital markets and investor relations, follow Dix & Eaton on Twitter @DixandEaton. 

Protecting your brand is harder than ever in the digital age. Social media gives everyone a “voice” and provides a platform for users to say anything they want about your brand. And, as was the case this week, malicious users sometimes take it a step further – not just saying things about your brand, but providing a “rebranding” you hadn’t counted on.

Take the latest cases of Twitter hacking: Burger King (@BurgerKing), Jeep (@Jeep), MTV (@MTV) and BET (@BET) had their Twitter accounts hacked, and all were rebranded to a competitor brand and overtaken with a barrage of obscenities and otherwise unseemly messages. And those incidents were not limited to social media – many media outlets, including the Associated Press and Mashable, reported on the hacks as news stories.

What can your company learn from these incidents? And how can you protect your brand against being exploited? Here are a few ideas:

• SAFEGUARD YOUR PASSWORDS. This includes creating complex passwords for your social media accounts, as well as regular updating of passwords as needed. For example, did someone who had access to your social media accounts recently leave your company or the agency that managed your company’s social media accounts? Or is your password simply YourBrand123?  Institute a rigorous password protocol that will help safeguard your company against possible hacks, and keep a current list of everyone who has access to your accounts.
• ABM – ALWAYS BE MONITORING. In the age of social media, hacks can go viral in a matter of minutes. While the hacks that occurred this week were against large national brands, there’s nothing saying your company’s brand might not suffer the same fate. There are a number of cost-effective tools that can minimize the time and money you have to put toward monitoring your brand in the social space, and your agency partners can likely help with this task if you’re short-staffed. The minimal resources it takes to regularly monitor are a smart investment given the potential brand risk. Diligent social media monitoring can help ensure you will become aware of issues as soon as they arise, minimizing the amount of time a rogue hacker might have control of your message – and your company’s brand
• DEVELOP A SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS PLAN – BEFORE ANYTHING HAPPENS. What happens if your brand does fall victim to a social media hack? Create a plan – before anything happens – that will ensure swift and comprehensive handling of the situation. Consider adding a social media protocol to your company’s crisis preparedness manual or creating a decision tree to help you determine the best plan of attack if your company’s digital presence is compromised.

So you think you’re safe because your brand isn’t active on social networks? Even if you don’t have an established social media presence, anyone could exploit your brand by creating a fake account or using your company’s brand in an unflattering way. Do you have a plan in place to address those issues if they arise?

If you’re interested in talking further about how to protect your brand in the age of the “Twitter hack,” including how we might be able to assist with your monitoring needs, contact Customer Communications practice leader Lisa Zone at lzone@dix-eaton.com, or on Twitter at @lzone.

First up is Lance Armstrong, apparently coming clean about decades of denial and performance-enhancing drug use in two “made-for-the-O-network” segments. It’s unclear if the next confession will come from Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te‘o, who apparently either was the victim of an elaborate hoax involving a girlfriend he met online or masterminded a publicity stunt to raise his own profile as a Heisman Trophy candidate and future NFL star. Who knows – if Armstrong’s apology is well received and he is eventually reinstated to athletic competition in some sport, perhaps baseball gambler Pete Rose will like the odds and give Oprah’s couch a try.

Certainly, apologies are not new in the celebrity world. But the lights do seem brighter now with an increasing number of online watchdogs (Deadspin broke the Te‘o story) and the omnipresence of social media to perpetuate even the smallest rumor. Even business leaders are no longer above having to issue an apology, as evidenced by JP MorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon’s very public mea culpa over the firm’s $3 billion loss resulting from derivatives trading last year.

So the question becomes, when does an apology make sense for a company or executive? And what is the best way to deliver an apology so you can get on the road to brand recovery?

Here are a few guidelines:

• If you decide that an apology is the best course of action, do it without reservation and don’t cut corners. The worst thing any company (or leader) can do is offer a half-hearted apology that no one believes is sincere or one that the legal department has watered down so heavily out of liability concerns that no one can understand what it really means.
• Get bad news out as soon as you can, and deliver the message yourself with as much detail as you can. In the Te‘o situation, both Te‘o and Notre Dame issued statements and held news conferences talking about their investigation and offering details of what they learned to bolster the case that Te‘o was duped – that he was somehow an unwilling participant in a cruel hoax. We’ll see if that plays out to be true, but certainly their efforts at transparency while demonstrating embarrassment and remorse make him (and the university) appear a more sympathetic character than Armstrong or Rose, who simply tried to cover it all up. 
• On the flip side, don’t just apologize for anything and everything only because you think that’s what is expected when a customer, shareholder or activist complains. If you’re in the right, and the person/entity is using you to gain publicity or financial advantage, stick to your guns and make clear why you acted in the manner you did or why you have the policy you do.
• Don’t wait too long before deciding on a course of action. If you’re going to make an apology, do it promptly. Waiting until you “see how things go” waters down an apology’s effectiveness, while one that is decisive and prompt carries greater weight and as such helps achieve the important objective of minimizing brand damage and shortening the news cycle. In the Armstrong and Rose cases, the story became as much about their trail of deception, vehement denials and counter accusations as it was about the rules they broke in the first place. Don’t let it get that far down the road, and remember that adding lies on top of lies simply isn’t going to work in the long run.
• Possible legal liability or arrogance/hubris are not good reasons to avoid an apology. Legal considerations are important, but so is brand equity. If your customers turn on you because they think you should apologize but you don’t because you’re afraid of getting sued, you’ll suffer financially anyway. Get some smart lawyers to work with your PR team to help you find a solution, not to stand in the way. Same goes for arrogance and hubris. Find someone you trust who will judge you honestly and ask their opinion of what you should do – if offering an apology is obvious to them, then it should be obvious to you.

For more information, please contact Matt Barkett, managing director in Dix & Eaton’s Crisis Communications Group, at (216) 241-3073 or via email at mbarkett@dix-eaton.com.

Journalist Michael Lewis worked several months on the profile of Barack Obama that appeared in Vanity Fair’s October issue. The lengthy article titled “Obama’s Way” has more than 41,000 Facebook likes and more than 3,500 tweets.

And yet, the article’s veracity and long-term value to President Obama were reduced when it became known that Lewis, a well-respected writer, commentator and author of such books as The Blind Side and Moneyball, was required to get White House approval for each quote before publication.

The years-long practice of quote approval exploded on the media scene this fall when The New York Times reported on how prevalent the practice was during the presidential campaign. Quote approval is among the most smothering of tactics that politicians and business executives seek to invoke to sanitize information provided during an interview. Other tactics include requesting to approve a list of questions prior to an interview or to see an entire story before publication.

Far too much effort often is spent attempting to control the media rather than planning to provide a good interview. It’s an understandable imbalance.

Being interviewed is a more potentially powerful act than ever. One great quote, or misstatement for that matter, can be instantly tweeted, blogged and posted on a social media site such as YouTube or Facebook. If the quote is a real doozy, it can go viral. The message spread becomes virtually unstoppable, whether you like it or not. Do a Google search that includes BP CEO Tony Hayward and “I’d like my life back.”  You will get 125,000 results. And the drilling explosion in the Gulf of Mexico was more than two years ago!

Practicing effective media relations requires far more effort than striving to exert increasing amounts of control prior to an interview. Think how your perception of an article, blog post or video interview would change if you knew the coverage contained contrived or “managed” information. The impact of the journalism is lessened, as is its ability to change perceptions. The third-party credibility endemic to professional journalism is compromised.

Rather than pressing for control you can never really achieve, business executives – and politicians for that matter – who interact with the media would be wise to improve their interview skills. To achieve the maximum benefit from an interview, make sure you say something impactful! Approach media interactions as win-win propositions if at all possible, and aspire to the five following tactics:

• Prepare for the interview. A good reporter backgrounds himself/herself on the topic to be discussed, and so should you.
• Understand generally what the interviewer is going to cover. If you want to talk about earnings and the journalist asks about China, you may not be in the right interview! Establishing parameters for an interview often is a good idea, but don’t expect to see a list of questions every time.
• Know what you want to say. If you really know what you want to communicate, chances are greatly reduced that you will say something you later regret.
• Think about the best way to say it. A rambling answer does reporters no good. They need succinct, pithy quotes.
• And by all means, tell the truth. All smart media interactions begin and end with this fundamental principle.

The power of an effective quote can last for years.

Consider this answer Steve Jobs provided The Wall Street Journal in 1993: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

Eighteen years after the interview, Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple and The Wall Street Journal republished the quote. The Business Insider website then posted it as well.

Jobs embodied his message. Talk about creating a win-win!

For more information, please contact David Hertz, senior vice president in Dix & Eaton’s Media Relations Group, at (216) 241-2145, via email at dhertz@dix-eaton.com or on Twitter @dhertz.

To help avoid becoming overwhelmed if your company is just now jumping into the fray, the following three-step process can ensure that you and your staff are ready to take advantage of the opportunities of social media marketing. These are the Three “L’s” of social media strategy:

• Listen. The best way to know what’s being said about your company (and your competition) is to do a social media audit. This involves monitoring the conversations about your company and your competitors on a variety of platforms over a significant period of time – at least a month or longer. A comprehensive social media audit can help identify what your company should be doing to protect and enhance its brand, reputation and effectiveness in the social media space. The audit should include an analysis of the content of conversations related to your company and your competitors. From this analysis, opportunities will arise that can help your company distinguish itself through actions such as taking ownership of important topics, participating in key conversations or promoting specific products.

• Learn. Once the social media audit is complete, it’s time to gather your forces and determine the best ways to invest your time and resources to get the most out of your social media program. A workshop is an effective setting to educate staff on social media best practices, significant trends and key platforms, as well as surveying associates to learn from their own experiences and opinions. By combining what is learned from the audit and the workshop, you should be ready to create a roadmap for putting your company’s social media activities to work.

• Leverage. To help your team stay on track with your social media program, you’ll need a “playbook” that builds on all of the information previously gathered and sets the standards for how your communicators and marketers can leverage this information to advance your company’s business goals. Any one of your associates should be able to pick up the playbook and follow the social media guidelines that have been developed. The book should be organized into chapters, covering topics such as trade shows or community relations, that provide step-by-step instructions on best practices and tactics for social media to reinforce your corporate and brand messaging.

After this process is complete, a fourth step is necessary, and it’s an ongoing one – Listen Again. No matter how active you are in the social media space, it’s important to have an ongoing monitoring program to quickly identify and address any issues that may arise. Conversations should be monitored daily to pinpoint any new trends, topics or other items of discussion that require a response. Relevancy and transparency are two key components to any successful social media campaign, and ongoing monitoring can help you adjust your activities as needed.

For more information on setting up an effective social media program, call Lisa Zone at 216-241-4629 or visit www.dix-eaton.com/b2bsocialmedia.  For more on the latest developments in social media and customer communications, follow Dix & Eaton on Twitter @d_and_e.

Sustainability reporting is the practice of measuring, disclosing and being accountable to internal and external stakeholders for organizational performance toward the goal of sustainable development, which encompasses economic, environmental and social impacts. This is the so-called “triple bottom line” or the Three Ps of “people, planet and profit.” Further, corporate governance performance is now often considered as a fourth element – under an umbrella called ESG (environment, social and governance) reporting.

Nearly one out of every nine investment dollars under professional management in the United States today – 11 percent of the $25.1 trillion in total assets under management – is devoted to socially responsible investing. This “mainstreaming” of sustainability into investing is expected to continue. According to one recent estimate, socially responsible investing will reach between 15 percent and 20 percent of total assets under management by 2015.

In just the past few weeks, expectations for sustainability reporting have reached an unprecedented high level. Consider these recent developments:

• In Rio de Janeiro, at the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (also known as the Rio+20 or the Earth Summit), corporate sustainability disclosure was at the very top of the agenda. Many influential companies are now joining with investor groups and national governments (led by Brazil, Denmark, France and South Africa) in commitments to make corporate sustainability reporting a global mainstream practice.
• NASDAQ and several overseas stock exchanges have agreed to urge, and perhaps eventually require, listed companies to report material information about environmental, social and governance risks. They want their companies to report on issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, water usage and gender equality, or explain why they won’t. They and several socially responsible investor groups have called for common international standards to unify the reporting.
• The London Stock Exchange will force companies listed on the main market to publish the full details of their greenhouse gas emissions for the year beginning April 2013.
• Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts & Co. L.P., the private equity firm, said that its companies reported $365 million in cumulative cost savings and additional revenue by participating in KKR’s Green Portfolio Program since 2008. Twenty-three out of KKR’s more than 70 portfolio companies now participate in the program, which is focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, waste and water use, and reporting the results.
• In Australia, a multifund investors council is threatening a “name and shame” campaign, publicly naming listed companies that do not provide “meaningful” environmental, social and governance data that could affect share price.
• The Indian government is considering requiring companies operating in India to report on environmental, social and economic performance within the formal framework of corporate governance.

The Global Reporting Initiative, which originated in the United States but has grown mostly in Europe, is the world’s most widely accepted, integrated reporting framework. Approximately 4,000 organizations have used the GRI framework, while others choose to communicate their sustainability performance under various standards or internal guidelines. Formats vary – some organizations develop stand-alone annual sustainability reports, while others prefer printed scorecards, often supplemented by robust online portals. Integrated reporting, where sustainability performance is part of financial reporting in the annual report, is also gaining momentum.

When done well, sustainability reporting communicates goals and “the journey,” and is not merely a list of outcomes and data points without context. That’s because transparency, and visibility into the successes and opportunities for continued improvement, are perhaps the most important traits of sustainability reporting.

In Part 2, we will look at best practices for practical sustainability communications and reporting. In the meantime, for more information, please contact Gregg LaBar at 216-241-4614 or glabar@dix-eaton.com. For regular updates on related matters, follow Gregg on Twitter at @ThreePs.

 
Integrating the brands and marketing functions of two merged companies can be a major and lengthy challenge. For companies that are not adequately prepared for this effort, the integration may take longer than expected. If the process is done improperly, the ultimate impact on the post-merger business may even be a reduction in value for shareholders rather than an improvement. 
 
Developing a brand integration plan as part of the overall preparation for an acquisition not only will minimize business disruption, but it also will affect how quickly the continuing enterprise will achieve the synergies and other strategic objectives expected from the deal. Here are a few key steps to follow to ensure that brand and reputation don’t get lost amid the complex financial, legal and other considerations prior to a transaction:

• Define and establish an evaluation process that will provide a methodical assessment of brand and marketing synergies when considering an acquisition target. Use checklists to assess the strengths, weaknesses and compatibility of both entities’ corporate brands, product brands and marketing functions. This knowledge will provide insight into what needs to be done to merge the two businesses and will help ensure that the resulting whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

• Develop a decision tree to help determine how the acquiring company should integrate the new brand to maximize value. Considerations include: Is the company to be acquired a leader in its market or markets, and does its brand have a greater value than the acquirer’s brand in those markets? Does the new brand open up new markets or channels for the acquirer’s existing products?  Are there additional financial considerations or commitments that could enhance the brand integration? Such information can be used to more effectively integrate both organizations, better leverage the merger’s impact in the marketplace and more quickly achieve the desired synergies and value-creation goals.

• Create an integration plan, as far in advance as possible, to guide the communications surrounding the announcement of the acquisition and subsequent events, identify the brand integration team, establish priorities to ensure a smooth transition, and set important target dates. For companies with an aggressive acquisition strategy, generic plans can be established well in advance – now would be a good time – to be tailored later according to the size and scope of any potential transaction.

Evaluating the potential “fit” of two companies – including their brands, marketing functions and other intangible assets – can be the key to a successful acquisition. Much of the complexity and uncertainty associated with this critical process can be overcome through analysis and planning, along with a thorough understanding of the best way to use the brand strengths of both businesses to maximize long-term value.

For more information, contact Lisa Zone at 216-241-4629 or lzone@dix-eaton.com. For more on the latest developments in customer communications, follow Lisa on Twitter @lzone.