TATA Chemicals brand consolidation: Power of one?

• Main Authors: TULI, Kapil R., SPROULE, Kevin
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2012
• Subjects: Branding; Brand Unification; Brand Consolidation; Global Branding; Branding Strategy; Strategy; Post-Acquisition; Post-Acquisition Issues; Post-Integration; Post-Integration Issues; Advertising and Promotion Management; Marketing; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cases_coll_all/41; https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/case/2991
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In July 2010, Sujit Patil, Head Corporate Communication for Mumbai-based Tata Chemicals (TCL) had to develop a company branding strategy after a series of acquisitions. TCL had acquired several of the top five producers in the soda ash business, making it a commanding player in the global industrial and commercial markets for the product. TCL had acquired the large British Producer Bruner Mond, the US leader; General Chemicals Industrial Products and Kenya based Magadi Soda, all with well-known brands and established customers. Senior management at TCL wanted to see these new companies unified under a single global brand, but that task proved easier said than done. Long-standing brands, centuries old companies and even a town named after the company in the case of Kenyan Magadi Soda. The case starts as Patil considers his next steps and whether to sustain long-standing and well-selling brands or scrap them all for a new global brand across what had become the second largest soda ash producer in the world.