Blog, Brand, 6 min read
Five honest signs you need a rebrand, and three that you do not
Rebrands get done for the wrong reasons all the time. Here is how to tell the difference.
Rebrands are expensive and disruptive, and about half the ones we get asked about are solving a problem that is not a brand problem. Here is the honest split.
Good reasons
- What you sell has changed. If the name and the look describe a business you no longer run, everything downstream has to be explained rather than understood.
- You are consistently mistaken for something cheaper than you are. Price resistance that shows up before the price does is usually a brand signal.
- Nobody can use it. If every person who touches your logo has to ask for the file and guess at the colour, you have a system problem that a rebrand fixes properly.
- You are entering a market where you look wrong. A look that works in one country or sector can read as amateur in another.
- Legal or name conflict. Not a choice.
Bad reasons
- You are bored of it. You see your brand a thousand times more than your customers do. Boredom is not a signal.
- Sales are down. Rebranding while the real problem is the product, the pricing or the pipeline is an expensive way to avoid the actual conversation.
- A new person arrived and wants to make a mark. Happens constantly. Ask what the customer problem is.
The cheaper thing that usually works
Most businesses that think they need a rebrand need a brand system. The logo is fine. What is missing is the rest: a palette that works on screen and in print, two typefaces and rules for using them, templates for the things you make every week, and a document that lets anyone new get it right.
That is a fraction of the cost of a rebrand and it fixes the thing that was actually annoying you, which is that everything your company produces looks like it came from four different companies.
If you do rebrand, do the application
A rebrand that ends with a logo and a PDF of guidelines does not change anything. The change happens when the deck template, the site, the invoice, the social templates and the email signature all move across. Budget for that from the start; it is the majority of the work and the only part your customers ever see.