There’s a seasonal bug that seems to catch the iconic brand and the emerging one alike, and once bitten, “it’s time to rebrand” they say. At the start of a new year, after the brand health checker results decline for a third straight year or perhaps when a new location is ready. Indeed, running a business and brand management in practice can lead you to a point of realizing, whether by data or desire, that you need to freshen things up to improve your sales or as part of a bigger plan to change the face of your company or brand.
However, there are two critical elements that I believe we should always ask before we make the decision to “rebrand”: 1. Do we need a rebrand or a brand refresh and 2. Are we willing to make this effort so intrinsic that it materializes beyond a new dress on a donkey? While abstaining from the temptation to bore you with academic definitions and musings from other marketing experts, allow me to share my thoughts on these critical elements.
Now let’s come to an agreement on the difference between a rebrand and a brand refresh, shall we? So, say you have a car you love and decide it is getting too old for the road. You buy a new engine, spray the car the same colour, change the tyres and have some high-end detailing done. It’s the same car, but it looks fresher.
Everyone sees it and still knows it’s your car but has a refreshed look; that’s what a brand refresh is. Visually, your brand logo for instance, looks quite the same but with minimal changes, details that are removed or added to bring a sense of newness while maintaining a level of familiarity. In recent day international brands like Stella Artois and Pepsi have refreshed themselves; all pun intended here.
A rebrand on the other hand, would perhaps be the polar opposite of the brand refresh; you got rid of your old car, bought a completely new one, maybe the same colour, maybe not. Your friends like it for you; you hear comments like “it’s so you” even though it is unlike your previous car. You have rebranded yourself in that sense.
With a rebrand, your entire brand takes on a completely new look, while some may make a connection to your previous image due to similarity in name or in colours, if you choose the same ones again, a completely new set of visual assets are now associated to your brand; a new logo along with new elements that tell everyone that this brand is not what it used to be. You are completely new, or so we hope.
And that brings us to the second critical element here; does your rebrand really come with an intrinsic change to who you are beyond your visual identity? Because in reality it should, if it’s going to be worth the money spent.
What I mean is, perhaps a real issue has necessitated a rebrand – sales issues, compliance issues or maybe just a strategic change in direction of the business – and that’s all well and good but is this rebrand going to reflect an improved change in your product or service offering? A rebrand in your physical evidence? That is your retail or service centres? Your factories and other facilities? Are your staff going to be as friendly and savvy as your rebranded self insists it is?
Sometimes when a company undertakes a rebrand, all focus and effort is put on the promotional aspect of things, ensuring that this part of the marketing program is well executed and this new brand is well out-doored to the public.
However, too often consumers are left to interact with the same poor service level that probably caused the decline which the company believed necessitated a rebrand. The irony. You can see now how a visual rebrand may not be the silver bullet your business needs if things are not going well. Dare I say that sometimes what you need is a reorientation of staff or a refresh of systems and process rather than a rebrand of image? Worth thinking about.
So, at the next board meeting or perhaps in the restaurant where entrepreneurs meet to discuss strategies, ask these questions before the memo about a rebrand is sent on Monday and certainly before a design agency is hired to get the job done. As a business, do we need a rebrand or a refresh and are willing to make this happen throughout the DNA of the company in order to achieve the full benefit of such an effort? If not, well then let the old dog carry on.
>>>the writer is a creative consultant with expertise in marketing strategy, brand management, creative services management, marketing communications and creative direction. She’s the lead consultant at SMC Consulting, focused on creating, producing and elevating ideas for emerging and iconic brands worldwide. She can be reached via [email protected]
