This case chronicles the 30-year evolution of Bank One's business strategy of growth through acquisition and the resulting branding issues encountered by the need to rebrand the acquired existing entities. Begins in 1968--at the start of the newly formed First Banc Group of Ohio, Inc.--a holding company created by the McCoy family to acquire other small banks in the state of Ohio. The banks were to be renamed "Bank One." It continues through the next 30 years of growth, marketing innovations, and expansion to many states beyond its Ohio base. This period of growth and change produced numerous challenges to the company's identity. The principal focus of the case is on the major branding obstacles associated with Bank One's merger with First Chicago NBD, a very large commercial bank. First Chicago NBD represented the first major commercial bank to become a member of the Bank One family of dominantly retail banks. Issues encompass whether the First Chicago NBD name should be changed to Bank One, as had been done for all previous retail bank acquisitions over the years or retain its name using only the endorsement, "A Bank One Company." Further complicating the situation is a major Bank One brand development initiative intended to implement the Bank One brand identity in new ways for all Bank One entities.

The creation of Lucent Technologies was the result of AT&T's "trivestiture" in 1995. In this split, three companies were formed: AT&T, a $50 billion telecommunications services company; NCR, a computer firm; and an unnamed $20 billion "Systems and Technology" company that designed, built, and delivered a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, consumer and business telephone systems, and microelectronics components. Given that AT&T was one of the largest, oldest, and best known corporations in the world, the new "S&T" company's management was faced with a series of strategic issues which had to be resolved quickly. Presents the process used by the company and its corporate identity consultants to identify corporate values that were important in the marketplace, to create a name for the company, to design a logo and identity system, and to implement the strategy. Also provides an opportunity to follow the process used by a company at the time of change in its identity and positioning in the marketplace. Such change may come as the result of a merger, acquisition, new alliance or, as in this case, the result of a spin-off. Comparing this process to the one generally followed in the formation of a truly new "start-up" venture; analyzing the effect of business, financial, and regulatory pressures on the process; and examining the role of consultants and research in the development of a name and visual identity for the company. Comparisons to current publicized examples of identity change can foster meaningful debate in the classroom.