TAC to be Schneider Electric

DALLAS--Long-time building control and security provider TAC announced this week it will change its name and logo and fully become Schneider Electric by October of this year. Schneider Electric, a global company specializing in energy management, bought TAC in 2003.

According to distributed materials, “TAC will be a foundational cornerstone within Schneider Electric focusing on energy management and security for buildings. The new role recognizes TAC's expertise in the energy, security and solutions arena. This expertise complements Schneider Electric's integrated solutions, which are designed to make energy safe, reliable, efficient, productive and green from plant to plug.”

Schneider has gone so far as to trademark the phrase, “from plant to plug.”

Anita Olsen, TAC manager of corporate communications, called TAC's transition to Schneider Electric “part of a global companywide initiative.” However, she emphasized that Pelco would not be part of this rebranding scheme. Instead, Pelco will be an “associated brand,” presented as “Pelco by Schneider Electric.”

While Olsen admitted “when it comes to security, perhaps Schneider is not a very strong brand,” she said, “I'm not even certain, to be honest, that TAC is a very strong brand.” She noted that this is the second rebranding for TAC since Schneider bought the company in 2003. For a while, the company was known as Tour Andover Controls after Schneider bought Andover Controls.

“When we do big significant acquisitions,” said Olsen, “the way to maintain the brand equity is to include it in your name,” which is what was done with Andover. Once there has been a period for the market to get used to it, that name can go away. This, she said, is essentially what is happening with TAC, which for the past year has been known as TAC by Schneider Electric.

“We're not starting from scratch in terms of migrating the brand,” she said. “So many of those normal concerns that happen after a merger and name change - how am I going to be supported, who will I be working with - I don't think you have those things to deal with in the same way here, because it will be the same people and products. We're not getting rid of products or offerings. We're going to expand and add to our portfolio.”

TAC has been meeting with important customers and partners since June to prep them for the name change, and the name change won't become official until October. “The feedback we've received from the Americas was not a big surprise or scare from anyone, because we've already been going to market together and have worked on joint solutions. We just need to be better at it.”