With intangible assets driving much of the corporate value in the 21st century, identifying the value of a brand and specifically its equity as an "intangible asset" on the balance sheet is critical to M&As. Unfortunately, because many aspects of a brand are exactly that—intangible—there is no one cut and dry way to valuate a brand irrefutably.

Says Suzanne Hogan, senior partner at brand consultancy Lippincott Mercer, "I think that it's important for the deal makers in mergers and acquisitions to understand what the organization's brand strategy is prior to cutting the deal because if they don't have a clear understanding of what the value of that brand is over time, they may claim a larger value than the brand really has."

AT&T steeped in groundbreaking milestones and envious brand equity may be the poster child for a business that is not doing so hot anymore yet retains a brand value worth billions. Regardless of whether it's overvalued or not, it remains to be seen whether the AT&T name will stick around post SBC merger.

While there are many brand outcomes as a result of an M&A, most in the branding world agree that the key is to understand the brand being acquired for all its strengths and weaknesses, and then have a plan as to how it will fit within the business and brand strategies of the acquiring brand. From there an appropriate brand strategy can be chosen to facilitate the best "brand architecture" (consultant lingo for what the brands are called and how they fit together) and communication.

For as many mergers and acquisitions that occur each year (2005 activity is up 50 percent over the previous year), there are still a surprising amount of companies that don't bother looking at the latter in detail until there is some sort of crisis that points to the mess of brands in their portfolio, jeopardizing the core brand's communication. Often branding agencies are called in post-merger(s) to sort out the jambalaya of brands collected from both big and small acquisitions.