Ready for a re-brand?

Top 4 reasons to and not to re-brand.

Businesses sometimes feel a need to rebrand, and it can be a result of many reasons – some good, some bad.  Let’s talk about the top 4 reasons to and not to re-brand. But remember, a true re-brand is more than picking a new logo so choose wisely.

A good reason to rebrand might be:

1. New philosophy – your current brand no longer reflects your company’s Values or your Purpose, or maybe it never did match and now you are aligning it.
2. Acquisition or merger – your brand needs to reflect your new partnership.
3. New markets – your present brand does not translate properly for a national or international market.
4. Market reposition – your brand does not reflect your current or new product or service offering or has lost relevance to your audience or world.

Some reasons not to rebrand may be:

1. Tired of the look – often a brand may appear boring and worn. If you are looking at rebranding for this reason, make sure that your market also agrees with your sentiments. Do not take things for granted, your assumption may not hold water.
2. Crisis management – rebranding for this reason could backfire on you. Understand your market and customers, they may see right through this.
3. New leadership – when rebranding under this scenario make sure you do it for the right reasons – don’t allow ego or the need for the new leadership to leave their mark to drive the process.
4. Attention – maybe sales have been floundering, or perhaps brand awareness efforts aren’t picking up. At best, you’ll generate some short-term buzz, without the sales and marketing strategy to sustain it. At worst, you’ll lose whatever brand recognition you had and set back your sales and marketing efforts.

Regardless of the reason, a rebrand should be not be taken lightly and is more complex of an exercise than a new logo. A rebrand should follow the same guidelines as starting a new brand with the added complexity of dealing with the transition of the old brand. Extra research must be conducted to address (or not address) issues that have brought the existing brand to a rebrand solution.

Many successful brands have rebranded at some point in their life cycle. Brands such as Dunkin’ Donuts, IHop and AirBnB rebranded to successfully realign itself to more closely appeal to its customer base. Below are a couple of examples of visual rebranding.

Fever can help you in deciding whether a rebrand is right for your company. Reach out and we can perform a free quick assessment on your brand and lay out the advantages and possible pitfalls in pursuing a rebrand on your existing brand.