Before jumping into a rebrand, it’s important to take a step back to evaluate why and develop a thoughtful strategy. We’ve seen a lot of organizations undergo a rebrand with great success, and we’ve seen others fail to achieve the return they expected.
The successful ones all have this in common: they knew why they were rebranding and they understood the implications. They’ve taken the time to research, define their goals, seek expert advice, understand potential impacts, and understand what a rebrand involves. There’s strategy and deliberate thought behind the project.
A lot of people think a rebrand means a new logo and a website revamp. That’s more of a brand refresh. A rebrand requires a more holistic approach and involves transforming aspects of the entire brand experience.
Below are several strong cases for a rebrand. Companies often face a combination of these challenges.
New Target Audience: Maybe a company wants to reach a new desired target audience or engage a new demographic. Buick and Old Spice are two examples of companies that rebranded in recent years to attract younger generations.
Brand Reputation & Public Perception: A current example of this is Kia. Long seen as a budget brand, their recent rebrand aims to change that. They want to move away from “basic” and “cheap” and reposition themselves as modern, reliable, and forward-thinking.
Increased Competition or Loss to Competition: As the market and customer demands change, the competition may introduce itself or gain an edge. A rebrand may help an organization keep up with new customer demands, stay relevant in the market, and differentiate itself.
New Mission, Values, and Priorities: Maybe an organization shifts gears to focus on a new mission or new values. This is common among companies that have a large environmental or socioeconomic impact. It’s also common among companies adapting to a changing industry.
Expansion into New Product/Service Offerings: For example, in 2021, payment processing platform Square Inc. was rebranded to Block Inc. to account for expansion into new technologies. The Square brand was built for sellers—but the larger company, Square Inc., was starting to enter new territories, so they rebranded to accommodate for future growth.
Significantly Outdated Branding: Some companies fade into the background with outdated logos, marketing strategies, or business models. Perhaps they’ve never updated their brand, or maybe they’re struggling to meet changing customer demands. Bed Bath & Beyond is one example. They were successful for a while but failed to update product offerings and differentiate themselves as people started to shop online and at stores that offered up-to-date products.
A Merger, Acquisition, or Spinoff: These always involve some element of rebranding. With a newly formed company, there are structural changes, culture changes, new or updated products/services, and often a growing customer base. Just one example is Marathon Oil, which became independent from Marathon Petroleum in 2011.
Problems with M&A rebranding: Companies run into problems when they don’t rebrand after a merger or acquisition. When nothing changes, people in both companies still identify with the old entity, creating inconsistencies and an “us vs. them" mentality. Worse, it spills over to the market. We’ve seen companies where salespeople from each entity called the same prospects. They each gave different prices for the same product. A situation like this can be detrimental, leading to a loss of customers and reduced trust in the brand. A single, unified brand reduces strife and allows people to be on the same team.
It’s important to avoid rebranding for the sake of change or just because the competition is doing it. A strong case should be made for any rebranding efforts, because it involves changing significant areas of the business that impact customer retention, new customer attraction, employee engagement, and ultimately the bottom line.
It’s important to have a strategy going into it. These are some key steps to guide your strategy and help you decide if a rebrand is the best move forward.
Why rebrand? What’s the purpose? There should be a clear and justified reason behind the rebrand, or the entire project will lack direction and waste time and resources. Be specific here. For example, if the reason is to reach a new audience, why is that? Who’s the desired target audience? Will reaching this new audience grow your business? If so, how?
Sometimes a rebrand might not be the answer. Suppose a company's sales are declining and they aren't attracting any new customers. A rebrand might seem like a good solution, but it's crucial to look at the root issue. Maybe sales are down due to an inferior or lower quality product. Maybe they aren't attracting new customers due to poor advertising. A rebrand alone isn't going to make a low quality product better.
Take RadioShack, for example. After a few successful decades, the company started to struggle with poor product selection, tiny and outdated stores, declining sales, increased online competition, and even changed CEOs seven times in 10 years (from 2005-2015). They attempted a rebrand to "The Shack" in 2009 to draw in younger customers and focus on mobile phone sales, but they failed to address underlying operational and product issues. Sales continued to decline and the company lost to the competition.
Rebranding alone is not sufficient to turn around a struggling company if fundamental issues with the business model, product quality, and market strategy are not addressed.
Consider how the rebrand will help you reach business goals now and in the long run. Consider the rebrand’s impact on customers—will it help or hurt them? It’s important to weigh out the positive potential impacts and potential risks. Key points to consider include impact on customer base, cost, time investment, competition, and impact on sales and the bottom line.
This includes time, cost, and people. Who is involved with the project? Hiring experts can be an investment, but if you don’t have anyone in the organization with proven branding experience, it’s best to seek expert advice. A lot of companies say, “We have a marketing department, we can do it ourselves!” However, marketing and branding are two distinct things. There’s also the legal and logistical side of things, which may necessitate outside advice as well. Also consider who should have a voice in the rebrand internally. Sales is often overlooked in this area, but they have a relationship with customers and can provide valuable insight.
Think about what you want your organization to become—not what it is. A rebrand should have staying power. The market changes over time as do customer demands, and companies must pivot, but that shouldn’t trigger a new rebrand every five years. It’s important to have a realistic vision for the future of your organization.
Rebranding is a process that requires strategic planning. This step should be done after defining the “why,” establishing goals, identifying resources required, and an overall thorough evaluation. Define roles and responsibilities, set a timeline, and map out stages of the process, including launch and brand maintenance. This allows companies to move forward with confidence and a clear view of what needs to happen.
A poorly executed rebrand or jumping into a rebrand too hastily can cost you. When considering the steps above, remember that branding is more than visuals—it’s the entire customer experience. It includes every interaction someone has with your company, whether it’s a conversation with sales, a visit to your website, or even the ordering and purchasing experience.
If your organization is seeking advice regarding a rebrand or going through a merger or acquisition, our team can help guide you in the right direction so you’re set up for success. Reach out to us anytime at info@trenegy.com.
