Friends, Consumers, Stakeholders: Lend Me Your Ears

The importance of a clear and well executed public relations strategy can sometimes be overlooked when a corporation is in the middle of negotiating a merger or acquisition. However, involving your PR team early on in the transaction can pay off in the long run. In a study done by City University London's Cass Business School, researchers found that the chances of closing a deal successfully can be increased by having a PR team involved during the early stages of deal rather than waiting until the ink is dry and an announcement of a successful merger has to be made. The study found that when the parties to a proposed transactions publicly announced an offer, the transaction closed successfully 84% of the time, compared to just 50% for deals in which the parties failed to make a public announcement and instead merely responded to press inquiries once news of the deal leaked. During acquisitions, when CEOs of both the target and the acquirer made public statements