When launching a brand, it’s common to overlook processes such as establishing a brand identity and researching the target audience. After being established for some time, a brand has likely gained more critical insights since this stage, which can lead to rebranding, which will involve more than just a logo update.
Weak brand recognition can indicate a more serious problem with positioning than just identity – additional brand awareness may be essential in addition to a rebrand. Being unsure where to start is common; this guide will give you the essential elements while helping you avoid typical mistakes.
What Defines Rebranding
The purpose of rebranding is for a company to be able to meet its current goals more efficiently; this can include modifying core brand elements, changing the visual identity, and altering messaging to connect more strongly with audiences.
The power of an effective rebrand is that it can convey a brand’s updated values and purpose, attracting new audiences while staying up to date with shifts in the market. Additionally, a rebrand can communicate an evolving mission.
A rebrand must be guided based on data and not just aesthetic taste. Customer perceptions, preferences, and customer engagement all must be taken into account for a successful rebrand.
The process of launching a successful rebrand begins with competitive research and insights into consumer discussions about the product or service, what your brand is associated with, and customer sentiment after interacting with your brand. Your brand’s identity should guide every aspect of the rebranding, ensuring that logo redesigns, messaging alteration, and any other changes that come with the rebranding reinforce the core values of the brand.
The Process of Rebranding
Once a new brand identity has been established, it’s important to make sure the team is on board to communicate the changes to customers, whether face-to-face or virtual. The goal of a successful rebrand is to attract new audiences while not alienating existing loyal customers. More broadly, a rebrand should support the goal of sustainable, long-term growth in an ever-changing market.
What Are the Types of Rebranding?
Rebranding can take several forms, and brands may choose one of these or combine them:
- Brand Refresh: This rebranding process is more subtle and usually involves slightly altering the color palette or messaging while not drastically changing anything about the core identity.
- Visual Rebranding: The most common type of rebranding, visual rebranding, focuses on updating the visual identity, which comprises the logo, packaging, or other design elements.
- Strategic Rebranding: This type of rebranding is more deeply involved and involves a bigger brand restructuring; this may include new product categories, new markets, or enhancing customer service protocols. This process requires extensive research to guide the choices made.
- Positioning Rebranding: The goal of this type of rebrand is to change the way customers perceive a brand; it requires customer sentiment to be analyzed and strategic adjustments to be made in terms of brand association.
- Cultural Rebranding: This type of rebranding aims to change the way the internal team and broader community understand the company and connect with it; this may involve diversity initiatives or social responsibility initiatives.
The Elements of a Total Rebrand
When undergoing a total rebrand, a company is making changes to its entire identity, including its mission, values, and visual experience. This type of rebrand is often paired with a significant structural change, such as a merger, acquisition, or a major shift in direction. The goal of a significant rebrand such as this is to attract a new audience, and establish a stronger brand presence.
An example of why a rebrand such as this may be necessary is when two companies merge, for example, they will require a mix of the two identities that encompass both companies’ values and a strategic, cohesive visual presence.
What Is The Purpose of a Rebrand?
Though rebranding can be a powerful and beneficial tool, there can be risks involved to consider before embarking on the journey, to decide if it is truly necessary.
The most important aspect to consider when deciding to rebrand is the gap between your original target audience and the customer base you currently have, and if a rebrand is necessary as part of the broader strategy.
In the worst-case scenario, poor quality rebranding, which is the wrong direction for the company, can damage a company’s reputation and can be difficult to rebuild from.
Typical Reasons to Rebrand
Mergers and Acquisitions
When two or more companies combine, rebranding will likely take place to strengthen the new company’s identity, representing both. The goal is to enhance market presence, expand company offerings, and become more efficient while reaching new customer segments. If a rebrand is successful, cultural clashes or misaligned expectations can be avoided.
Reframing A Damaged Reputation
A bad reputation can make it difficult for a brand to grow despite making some changes to fix the systemic issues. If consumer association is negative, a public perception reset may be necessary to reinforce trust within its key populations.
To deeply repair image issues, brands should take into consideration customer concerns, acknowledge past failures, and implement clear steps to improve experience. Areas of improvement could include changing customer service policies, launching new market initiatives, or increasing transparency.
In order to get the most out of these efforts, a brand must communicate them through social media, ads, and other channels.
Stay On Top Of Market Trends
Because consumer preferences and trends are constantly evolving, this means that most branding will eventually become outdated – in order to remain competitive, a brand must consistently assess its positioning to meet market demands.
A successful rebrand will allow a brand to align with the preferences of the modern consumer while still staying true to its core values – elements that may change include logos, marketing methods, or packaging.
As always, consistency is a core element of branding – updating the digital presence, including a brand’s website and social media, is key to reflecting the new identity.
Overall, a successful rebrand tows the line between appealing to new audiences while retaining loyal customers and helping a brand stay competitive.
Important Considerations for Rebranding
Reimagining A Logo
Because the logo serves as the core visual reference for a brand, it is a key component in the rebranding strategy, and a strong rebrand modernizes while maintaining recognition among current audiences. A team should be clear on how they want to be perceived by audiences when defining objectives for a rebrand. The logo should be simple, easily recognizable, and able to be used uniformly across all platforms. A good way to start is to research competitor logos and analyze industry trends to create something distinct and impactful.
A Brand’s Evolving Personality
Rebranding is about more than just aesthetic – it’s about crafting a new personality for a brand that resonates with the brand’s target audience. Evaluating core messaging is a critical part of this to ensure alignment in terms of the audience’s values. Often, this process involves refining tone, voice, and positioning to evoke the desired emotions and associations with the audience.
Ultimately, customer feedback and research will be shaping these changes, as these expectations are the most important aspects of success. Consistency across all consumer experiences, from virtual interactions to face-to-face, is what will ultimately reinforce a successful rebrand, maintaining trust and recognition.