How to Know When to Rebrand

When to Rebrand

Deciding when to rebrand can seem challenging, because it has a massive impact on your company’s success and future. But what it comes down to is simple: Change.

When changes to your organization or certain market factors alter how you want your company to be seen, it may be time to rebrand.

Internal or external shifts can result in a disconnect between your company and your brand. That’s where rebranding comes in: It closes the gap between who you are and how you are perceived. 

Rebranding gives you the opportunity to design better. Good design optimizes your brand experience across platforms and touchpoints, ultimately to boost results and support business growth.

Update your sales and marketing collateral with world-class, strategic, engaging designs that work.

The extent of the rebranding will vary; it may involve a complete overhaul—with a fresh look and feel, updated messaging, and a completely new set of brand guidelines—or it may simply entail updating a few elements, such as your logo and tagline.  

A part of this process is thinking about aspects of your existing branding that you’d like to retain—for example, things your target group appreciates and those that add to your unique brand image. 

When you rebrand, what you retain and what you change should help differentiate yourself from the competition and represent your unique mission, vision, values, and brand personality. To help you decide when to rebrand, we’ve compiled a list of 10 scenarios in which updating your target audience’s perception of your company may be beneficial. 

To help you decide when to rebrand, we’ve compiled a list of 10 scenarios in which updating your target audience’s perception of your company may be beneficial.

10 scenarios to help you decide when to rebrand:

1. Your company has expanded, scaled up, or is part of a merger and acquisition

Knowing when to rebrand can depend on changes to your offerings: When your company increases the output of its current products and services (scales up), or adds new products and services (expands), there may be a need to rebrand, to change the way your company is viewed. 

Keep in mind that your competitors may also be experiencing similar changes, so changing the way your company is perceived can help you compete better in the current market. 

Rebranding is especially important in the case of mergers and acquisitions. For example, when L’Oréal acquired Kiehl’s, it promoted the original identity and values of Kiehl’s and included them in its own larger identity, marking L’Oreal’s entry into the niche beauty market. This helped Kiehl’s do well even after the acquisition. This move involved a slight rebranding on the part of both the organizations.

2. Your products and services have changed significantly

Because your brand tells people about the work you do, it makes sense that a change in what you do should prompt discussions on when to rebrand. 

When Hutch changed its business from providing customer care to selling sim cards, it made many changes. This involved changing their name to Vodafone, along with modifying their logo, design, color, catchphrase and mascot among other details. They ran a ‘Hutch is now Vodafone’ campaign solely for this transition. When Starbucks expanded their offerings from just coffee to include serving food, they changed their logo, removing the word “coffee”, as below:

Image source: ‘Starbucks’ 2011 Rebrand’ by Brandsonify

 Their objective was to begin marketing Starbucks as a space in which people could spend as much time as they wanted to, comfortably. 

3. You have changed location or added new locations

If your company has changed its location, rebranding can help reflect this by including the regional language, values and culture appropriate to that area. You can also update the look and feel with visuals considered pleasing and appropriate by the people in your new location, i.e., taking their culture into consideration.

When Amazon—an American company—launched Amazon India, they ran advertisements relevant and appropriate to the region. This included showing family shopping in the context of Indian festivals, suggesting shared values and culture.

Updating your branding to include aspects of local culture may help you do well in the new regions you are present in. It will make it easier for your new or expanded target audience to connect with you, and recognize you as a company that’s well-suited to serving them.

Deciding when to rebrand after a change in location can also be influenced by new staffing needs. Rebranding can help you attract new employees from your new location, so you can acquire the skills and region-specific knowledge you are looking for.

4. Your product’s cost of production is increasing, but its price is not

For some products, deciding when to rebrand is a matter of pricing. 

Rebranding can be used to emphasize the high quality of your product/service, as compared to your competitor. It allows you to highlight the unique ways you can add value to your customers. 

If your new branding encourages people to view yours as a quality offering, it can enable you to raise the price of your product/service successfully. This can be a solution when material costs and other business costs are rising, but the price of the product you are selling has remained the same in the market. 

Starbucks was able to charge a higher price than their competitors by highlighting how their coffee is higher quality. In addition, because of its unique brand identity as a space where people can spend a lot of time working or socializing, Starbucks can charge more for a cup of coffee than its competitors can. They used customer surveys to modify their products and services, which helped please the target group, and sustain the high price.

As you raise your prices, you may also need to communicate that your company has long-term financial stability and can be trusted. Warranties can be a good way to do this.

5. Your name or logo is outdated

Looking into whether your name, logo, or brand design is still serving you well can help you decide when to rebrand.

The name and logo of your company should adequately represent your brand. When the meaning of your logo has changed in society, as consumer preferences and your industry landscape evolves, it may be time to rebrand with a new logo.

A logo change may be needed for other reasons, such as when products and services have been modified or when the logo no longer represents the vision of your company well. 

When the iPhone was launched, Apple changed their logo from a multicolored one to a grey one (see below), to represent their minimalistic and modern design. It also more accurately symbolized the experience people get from Apple products. 

Image source: ‘From Fruit to Fame: The Evolution of the Apple Logo​’ by Tailor Brands

6. Your website is out of date

When your website is not as user-friendly as your competitors’, it may be a good time for your team to discuss when to rebrand. You are likely to present your company more accurately by using a better and more modern website design that:

  • Addresses what your target group is looking for
  • Has updated, relevant content and messaging
  • Has a good, user-friendly interface that creates a pleasant, seamless experience 

For inspiration, read ‘Latest Website Design Trends: Our Top 10 for 2022’.

Corporate videos, business cards, and social media pages can also be created/modified to tell people about your company and the work that you do in a more accurate, engaging, and aesthetically pleasing way.

Similarly, updating your company’s basic information, such as contact details, is important and suggests to people that the information you are giving them about your company is up-to-date and reliable. It helps establish trust.

7. There is a shift in market demand

Deciding when to rebrand could be a question of meeting new expectations.

When you modify your products to suit market demand, rebranding may communicate this change to the target group, and earn you more appreciation. 

With more people becoming nutrition-conscious, McDonald’s came to be seen in a negative light for its high-calorie and unhealthy menu. To overcome this, they started serving salads as well as other healthier food. They have also redesigned their spaces and updated their menus to offer nutritional information—all with the intent of drawing attention to the healthier food options and building trust through transparency.

8. Your brand story and goals have changed

The story of your company and its goals form an integral part of your brand. When to rebrand may depend on when your story and vision change. When MasterCard expanded to a more global space, its goal changed to advancing commerce worldwide using a three-tiered business model as franchiser, processor, and adviser. Its logo for certain contexts was changed to one that had three circles that represented these three tiers.

9. The need to disconnect the brand from bad press

If you’re wondering when to rebrand, think about whether your customers or target audience are viewing any aspect of your business, products, or services negatively.

When a company comes to be seen in a negative light because of their immoral practices, for example, they must take action to rebuild trust. These could be positive changes within the system to modify their functioning. 

Once these positive changes are seen in everyday functioning and output, rebranding can help communicate them to the target group. 

Nike was notorious for treating its workers badly, which reduced its sales and ate into its profits. The company created a department dedicated to improving working conditions, created a non-profit fair labor organization, and then changed its advertisements to emphasize its efficient use of materials, and highlight its other environmentally friendly practices. 

The Tata Nano first used the tagline ‘World’s Cheapest Car’, which was viewed negatively. To address this, it was relaunched as a ‘Smart City Car’ so as to be viewed more positively. That’s how powerful rebranding is as a way to change negative reception into positive brand perception.

10. You’re looking to expand your target group

If you’re considering a change in your target audience, it’s a good time to look into when to rebrand. 

Rebranding can help your product and services become appealing to new target groups, say from different demographics. 

Airtel changed its logo and tagline in order to make it more attractive to the younger generation. It emphasized friendliness, with the “Har ek friend zaroori hota hai” catchphrase. This helped them expand their customer base.

So, how do you know when to rebrand? 

To start, look at whether there have been any internal or external shifts that have impacted various aspects of your business and caused your company to change, grow and/or evolve. These changes may include adding or changing your business offerings. To update the way in which you represent yourself to your target audience in light of these changes, you may need to rebrand. 

Rebranding can also support raising your prices successfully, by assuring your target audience that you are trustworthy and that your price increases are justified. By rebranding, you can also expand your target group, while updating your brand communication and corporate identity, and ensuring that your brand is perceived positively.

At Chittlesoft, we have helped many of our clients update their sales and marketing collateral in line with their new brand guidelines successfully. Ask us how

Content Marketing Consultant
12+ years of experience in Content Marketing.

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