Virushka - A Win Win Merger

Throughout history we have seen many mergers and acquisitions. In most cases, we find that a stronger brand acquires a struggling brand to take advantage of its promising technologies or procedures. Hence, the weaker brand is usually considered a loser as it cannot negotiate much for itself. It loses its name, its assets and everything else that matters to the stronger brand and eventually dies in the process. For example, when Vodafone and Hutchison Essar merged the latter brand was killed and Vodafone emerged as the total victor. Today, though Hutch holds 32% stake it does not have any brand presence in the telecommunication sector of India.

This has been the scenario in most mergers and acquisitions across the world. There is a winner and there is a loser. Very rarely there have been cases where both the parties have won and complemented each other from their mergers and acquisitions like Facebook and WhatsApp where both the brands have gained enormously from the acquisition.

Another celebrated mergers of the moment if we can say so is that of Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma to become ‘Virushka’. They took an excellent decision to get married at the peak of their careers. Virat at present is the captain of a dominant Indian cricket team and Anushka is a leading Bollywood actress who has given five 100 crore plus movies including Sultan and PK. They are huge personal brands themselves and have many fans around the world. When their relationship came to limelight many companies saw an opportunity to bank on it and got them on board to endorse their products. Endorsements done by them became instant hits among the masses and together they became a much bigger brand. Their marriage at this point of their careers is an example of a perfect merger because they complement each other’s persona. Together they stand as 11 instead of 1 and 0 which we see in many other cases.

There is a famous saying ‘together we can’, something that many organisations need to learn and adapt to. Not necessarily for one to win, one has to lose. If both can find a common ground and invest in each other both can win. Both the brands can coexist and achieve bigger goals together.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Launchpad and Launchpad does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.