How to work out when it’s time to rebrand

• The MOO Team
• 6 min read
• July 31, 2019

The MOO Team

• 6 min read
• July 31, 2019

Looking to shake up your brand, but not sure if the time is right? Here are some of the reasons you might change your company’s look, feel or even name, and how to decide whether a rebrand is right for you.

Find your rebranding strategy

A rebrand, however successful or rewarding, is a major business decision that comes with lots of hard work and its share of risks, too. That’s why it’s important to have a strategy in place for when, and how, you will change your branding, and what you want to achieve by doing it.

The starting point is to think about why you might want to rebrand. Of course every business is different, but there are some common landmark events that make companies change their logo, name or visual identity, each with its own underlying business challenge that rebranding can help solve. We’ve put together a list of five key factors that go into the rebranding decision.

Learn more about the rebranding strategy and process.

5 reasons to rebrand

1. You’re out of step with your customers or your market

Things change. People, culture, technology, aesthetics, and consumer trends are always developing and moving forward, and sometimes, so should your brand. After all, your customers are what keeps your business afloat. If they’re changing, it makes sense for you to change too. 

You might recognize that your current branding no longer reflects your company values. Maybe the kind of people interested in your brand have changed – or their goals and priorities have. Sometimes it’s a shift in culture, like the growing market for vegan products or sustainable business practices. 

Insights from data and market research can be the trigger for this kind of change, as they give you a clearer picture of what your customers think and feel. For example, if your customer data shows that your products originally designed for kids are being bought primarily by young – or even not-so-young – adults, you could rebrand them to capitalize on the newly discovered audience.

Rebrand for your audience: McDonalds

McDonalds decided to overhaul its image and brand in 2014, when a shift towards healthy eating and away from high-fat, high-sugar foods started to push its profit margins down. As well as upgrading its restaurant facilities with stylish furniture, free WiFi and a more sophisticated color palette for the decor, the brand began marketing itself on its responsible business practices and sustainable supply chain. The golden arches of its logo are still there, but what they stand for has definitely changed.

2. You need a fresh start after past events

A rebrand can be a way of marking a major change in your business, such as coming under new ownership or expanding into a new territory. New brand positioning can also help shake off negative or simply out-of-date and irrelevant media coverage that crops up in search results, especially if the brand name has changed.

Rebrand to change perceptions: Ryanair

Budget airline Ryanair used a rebrand to help promote a change of policies and a new emphasis on customer service. In 2014, the brand’s profits and share prices were suffering as customers tired of the extra charges and inconvenient experiences that came along with its rock-bottom prices. As well as a marketing campaign that announced ‘We’re Changing’, the airline updated its brand colors from bright blue and yellow to more toned-down hues of navy and lemon.

3. To step up to the competition


A rebrand can be an effective way of reasserting your position in the market and drawing focus to what you have to offer – especially if competitors have been expanding into your target market, or you have an eye on theirs. A brand identity that seems old-fashioned, out of touch or set apart from what others are doing can be a strong sign it’s time to rebrand.

Rebrand to compete: Kapten

Chauffeur-Privé, a French ride-sharing business, rebranded itself as ‘Kapten’ in 2019, a move that helped bring it into line with sector giant Uber and achieve a new appeal for Uber customers. The new name is more international and modern, with a distinctly techy, app-style flavor. The company also brought its minimum ride cost down to make them in line with Uber’s pricing.

4. You want to consolidate your different sub-brands


Having different sub-brands within your business portfolio can be a helpful strategy for zeroing in on specialist markets and highlighting your expertise. But there may come a time when you decide to pull everything together under one umbrella brand that’s consistent across your whole portfolio.

A rebrand can achieve this while delivering the extra benefits of more publicity and a fresh perception of your company. 

Rebrand to consolidate: FedEx

FedEx is an internationally-recognized leader in postage and logistics, and it’s kept the same iconic logo since it rebranded from Federal Express to FedEx in 1994. But in 2016, the company realized that its many sub-brands weren’t adding anything to the business image. In fact, the color-coded logos for its different operations such as freight and business services were just confusing. So to simplify and strengthen the overall brand, the company replaced all of them with its best-known purple and orange logo.

5. You’ve suddenly grown


Start-ups that have rocketed to major success may find themselves with a brand or logo that suited fine when they were starting out, but no longer fits with their current scale and market.
A rebrand can help bring this kind of business into line with their competitors and cement the fact that they’ve ‘arrived’.

Rebrand after business growth: Airbnb

Airbnb is one of these super-speedy success stories. Their original 2008 branding was a very basic wordmark with simple colors, spelling out ‘Air Bed & Breakfast’. Soon, the business soared into new markets and grew at a breakneck pace, and what was a niche alternative to traditional bed-and-breakfasts became a major travel company. They adopted a sleeker lock-up with the newer ‘Airbnb’ name alongside a heart-shaped business logo, much better suited to their major-league success.

What’s your rebrand rationale?

Often, the reason for a rebrand is a mixture of all these factors, and maybe others unique to your business as well. Whatever the situation, it’s worth making a detailed analysis of your current brand and its strengths and weaknesses before you take the plunge and hire that branding agency. After all, a rebrand is an involved process that will take some time and effort, and if you’re not doing it for the right reasons it could have limited benefits to your business.

Here are five crucial questions to help you evaluate whether it’s time for a rebrand.

1. What’s changed since your last branding?

Make a list of key changes to your business, including any leadership restructuring, new products or services or retiring of old ones. Think too about your messaging and marketing strategy. Are you targeting the same customer needs, and promoting the same brand promise? A rebrand may be worth considering if you’ve moved on substantially from where you were.

2. What’s changed with your customers?

Are your customers the same kinds of people with the same needs and desires? Take note of any new demographic groups who are buying more from you, or any decline or shift in your traditional customer base. If the answers aren’t obvious, some customer surveys or other market research tools could help you to take stock.

3. How has technology impacted your business?

Tech is such a driving force in modern business that it’s almost certainly had a transformational effect on you or your customers, whether that’s a growing tendency to shop via mobile, a new social media strategy or a data and privacy overhaul. These changes may not be seismic enough to trigger a rebrand, but they could be a contributing factor worth thinking about when you’re weighing up your decision.

4. What does competitor branding look like?

Even if you haven’t changed your branding in a while, your competitors probably have. Customers will always be comparing you to the competition, so if your brand image looks out-of-date or sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of your market niche, a rebrand may be a valuable move.

5. What are the risks of not rebranding?

A rebrand should never be done on impulse or without a clear strategy in mind. To help test out your need for rebranding, try flipping the question on its head and thinking about what might happen if you keep everything the same. Will you be overtaken by the competition? Will negative perceptions follow you for longer and have more of an impact? Will you lack credibility in a new market and miss out on sales due to outdated branding? As negative as these questions are, they can help you figure out whether a rebrand is truly business-critical.

Rebranding explained

This article is part of our rebranding guide series. For more tips, check out How to promote your rebrand and The rebranding process

See how one business managed their successful rebrand in our Bluewolf case study

From brand values to business cards, you’ve revamped your brand and it’s time to unveil it. Here’s how to introduce your rebrand to customers and employees.

Launching your rebrand

You’ve been through the research phase, you’ve hashed out a fantastic new visual identity and messaging strategy, and you’ve worked out the logistics of putting your new brand everywhere it needs to be. You’re finally ready to show your rebooted brand off to the world. So what’s the best way to go about it? Tick all the boxes with our brand rollout checklist.

How to communicate your rebrand internally 

A successful rebrand rollout starts with the people who work with your brand every day – your employees. They need to be fully on board with the whole story of the rebrand, from the reasons behind it to the details of your new messaging and brand values.

That way, they’ll be as effective as possible in communicating the new brand, both in an overt way when talking to customers and suppliers, and in their behavior and attitude by making it a part of the company culture. That’s why your internal brand launch is key.

Here are some tools and techniques for embedding your new brand within your business and nailing your rebrand announcement.

• Get senior buy-in
  Business leaders should be whole-heartedly behind any rebrand. But they can do more than just supporting it behind the scenes. Enlist senior leaders to promote the rebrand to staff by making statements, sharing blog posts and intranet updates, or directly addressing staff at a whole-company meeting. A clear vote of confidence from the top level of the business will encourage employees to get behind the rebrand and embrace it fully.
• Head off uncertainty with clear communication
  Staff will be aware that a rebrand sometimes happens when a company is in difficulty, and they may start wondering if the rebrand signals a change in their job security. Be completely transparent with staff about the reason for the rebrand project – even if it’s not a completely positive one. Make sure there’s a clear route for people to have their concerns addressed on a one-to-one basis, whether that’s via someone in HR or their team leader.
• Offsite events and workshops
  Need rebrand launch ideas? Dedicate time and space to communicating the rebrand to your staff. A team away-day can be a great opportunity to announce the rebrand and walk staff through the different elements of it, explain how they fit into the roll-out plan, and answer any questions they have in a small group setting. A rebrand workshop in-house can serve the same purpose, but takes up less time and resources.
• Explain the business case
  As well as telling staff what’s happening and what they need to do, include some background to the rebrand strategy, like market research and quotes from customer feedback that shows why a rebrand was needed. Understanding how the rebrand fits into the company’s wider journey will help staff embrace the decision and make them better able to communicate it to customers and other stakeholders.

How to promote your rebrand externally

Your team is briefed and your new brand is embedded within your business, which means it’s time for phase two – going public. Here’s how to communicate a rebrand to your customers with some strategies to help your public rebrand marketing go as smoothly as possible.

• Build excitement with teasers
  In the run-up to rebrand launch day, let your loyal customers and followers in on some of the excitement by teasing the big changeover with emails and social media posts. You don’t have to give away much, just pique their interest with mentions that a big change is coming up. You can also use imagery and video to offer behind-the-scenes hints of the rebrand rollout preparation while it’s underway.
• Engage the media
  PR can be one of the most effective parts of your rebrand marketing strategy. A rebrand makes for an interesting news story, so help journalists and commentators make the most of it by being proactive with your outreach. Issue press releases for the rebrand announcement, and have comments ready to share for publication. It’s also a good idea to have someone lined up to do interviews if requested – it could be the brand founder, head of marketing or someone on your creative team to support the rebrand rollout. You can loop in your rebranding agency, if you worked with one, to add their quotes and share the PR benefits.
• Show brand ambassadors love
  Your brand ambassadors are the customers most passionate about your brand, the ones who are likely to talk positively about you to their friends, family and followers in a spontaneous way. They can be fantastic allies in spreading the word about your rebrand, and you can encourage them to do that by giving them an early update on the news. Or how about incentivizing them to talk about it by providing a discount or referral code to share with their friends?
• Have lots of answers to customer questions
  If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that a rebrand will spark lots of customer questions. Have your customer service team briefed and ready to field lots of enquiries about the rebrand and what exactly is changing. You can also prepare an FAQ article or video for your website and share links to it in your promotional posts, emails and ads.
• Tell your rebrand story
  Behind every rebranding process is a story about a business. What made you want to rebrand, how you went about doing it, and what your hopes are for the future now it’s done. On a more detailed level, what stories can you tell about the design of the logo, or how the new name was developed? Storytelling is a powerful way to market your business, as it adds a human element to the news and gets people engaged with you on an emotional level. Use the stories of your rebrand to add punch to your email marketing, social media and even above-the-line advertising if it’s the right fit for you.

Keep the customer’s point of view in mind

You may be full of excitement about your rebrand and looking forward to showing it to the world. But for your launch to be successful, it’s essential to be prepared for a range of reactions from your customers. Humans are programmed to be wary of change, so it’s almost guaranteed that some people won’t embrace your rebrand with open arms – even though the decision was the right one. Here are some tips to help offset any worries or complaints about your rebrand.

• Make your launch quick and decisive
  Change everything at once, rather than phasing in changes. This will help your customers adjust to the new identity and minimize any confusion or sense of disruption caused by the change.
• Transparency is key
  Provide a rationale for the rebrand, so that people who might have preferred the old brand know that the change is happening for a good reason and doesn’t reflect a lack of consistency in your business.
• Explain their role
  Let customers know if there’s anything they need to do as a result of the rebrand announcement – for example, to follow a new social media account or change their login details. Or even better, reassure them that they won’t need to lift a finger as you’ve taken care of everything for them.
• Invite feedback
  Customer feedback, good and bad, is really valuable after a rebrand. It can help you gauge how successful the rebrand has been and whether your original rationale for rebranding was correct. It also builds trust with customers who will feel they are being heard and their views are important to you.

Rebranding explained

This article is part of our rebranding guide series. For more tips and rebrand rollout examples, check out The rebranding process and How to work out when it’s time to rebrand

Looking for some creative branding inspiration? Take a look at our guide to choosing your brand colors

A rebrand is a total overhaul of your business look, feel and positioning. Exciting? Absolutely. Daunting? It doesn’t have to be. Here’s how to plan and execute a rebrand.

1. What to think about 

Before you can roll out your beautiful rebranding campaign to the world, there’s lots to be done behind the scenes to make sure your approach is on point. Businesses rebrand once every 7-10 years on average, so it’s worth taking your time and planning every step in detail. 

Why are you rebranding? 

From positive reasons, like stratospheric growth or a successful merger, to problem-solving rebrands following negative coverage or a dip in engagement, there are many situations that prompt a corporate rebrand. 

One thing is for sure though – because of the effort involved and the impact a change of brand can have, a rebrand should always be a strategic move that’s carefully considered. Before deciding if it’s the right step for you, it’s a good idea to dig deep into the reason you want to rebrand and explore other approaches to make sure a rebrand is the best solution.

For many businesses, a brand audit is a worthwhile exercise. It can help you to take stock of the strength of your brand and pinpoint which issues you want your rebrand to address. It can help you come up with a clear set of goals and indicators of success for the rebrand.

Rebrand vs. refresh

A total rebrand isn’t the only way to sharpen up your brand identity and stay up to date. If you’ve weighed up whether you need to rebrand and decided it’s not an urgent necessity, a brand refresh could be right for you. 

• Rebrand: A new identity for a business which may include a revised name, slogan, visual identity or brand values.
  Rationale: becomes necessary after major changes to a company or its business model.
• Refresh: Changes to an existing color palette, logo or font style that are subtle improvements on your brand.
  Rationale: keeps visual identity fresh, up-to-date and appealing.

Not just a name

It may be new names or revamped logos that grab attention when companies rebrand, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot more work to be done in changing all of the smaller, less-obvious aspects of your branding. This is worth considering when you plan your rebrand, as it will impact how much time the corporate rebranding process will take and what the cost implications might be. 

Your rebranding checklist will probably include digital assets:

• Web domains (including those for different territories)
• Social media accounts (including migrating content over to a new account if your handle can’t be changed)
• Digital ads and campaigns, including PPC (pay per click) and social
• Email templates
• Recruitment ads and marketing
• SEO and metadata on web pages
• Internal document templates like PowerPoint decks
• Your app, if you have one

And for offline branding, your rebranding checklist should include:

• Print marketing material like flyers and posters
• Office or retail store decor
• Personal stationery and business cards
• Product packaging
• Vehicle signage
• Staff uniforms
• Trade show stands and booths

The brand personality itself, including:

• Your brand values
• Brand manifesto
• Tone of voice guidelines
• Brand style guide 

In short, just about every touchpoint, your business has with the rest of the world may need to be updated during the company rebranding process.

2. Steps to rebranding your business

Once you’re clear on your goals for rebranding and you’ve decided on the scope of the project, it’s time to get started on making it happen. Here’s the rebrand steps you need to follow.

Choose your rebranding agency

It’s one of the most important steps of rebranding. A creative agency can be your biggest rebranding ally, as they’ll be able to help you plan the strategy as well as carry out the creative execution and the promotion of your new brand. Here are some tips for finding a great rebranding agency to partner with. 

1. Compile a shortlist
   To narrow down your choices, ask for recommendations, look up campaigns you admire or successful rebrands you know about, and find out which agencies were involved. Find out how the agency charges for its services and whether they’re considered expensive or low-cost. It’s also worth finding out what the scope and capabilities are, to make sure they offer everything you need.
   .
2. Invitation to pitch
   Invite the most promising agencies to pitch for the rebranding project. You’ll need to issue a brief for the work to help them decide, and be available to answer any questions. 

Your brief should include some background to the project, including your business story to date, the reason you want to rebrand and what your expectations are for the rebranding process. In this step, you should also give the agencies a clear scope of the deliverables for the project, as this will help them match their in-house capabilities to your requirements. 

3. Meet and greet
   This rebranding step might seem superfluous, but it’s actually essential. You may want to hold a brief meeting with each agency before the pitch day to test out the fit of personalities and whether their company culture and ethos is in tune with yours. Getting this right can help enormously with communication and collaboration during the rebrand process.

4. Know what to expect from a pitch presentation
   A pitch is the agency’s chance to show that they understand your business challenge and that they have the right experience and talent on board to come up with a successful solution. Remember they probably won’t come up with new creative at the pitch stage, as this depth of work needs to be paid for. However, they should show an understanding of your current brand and your challenges, and have a process in mind for how they’ll get the rebrand done.

5. Engage your new rebranding agency
   With the pitches delivered, hopefully you’ll have a clear idea of who you want to work with. All that remains is to agree on financial rates, sign a contract – including agreements on timeline and deliverables – and then get the rebranding process started.
   

The rebrand design process

No two businesses are the same in their approach, but there are some core building blocks to a rebrand that are nearly always present. It’s likely to follow this rebranding steps: 

1. Discovery phase

This period helps your agency or brand team get totally immersed in your current brand, while carrying out valuable research to give you a deeper understanding of your business context.

• • Competitor research
    A rebrand should set you apart from the competition while staying in line with broader trends in your market niche. It’s a delicate balancing act, as you’ll want it to be clear that you’re part of a specific industry and up to date with its trends, but not that you’re just like everyone else. 
• • Market research
    An important part of the discovery phase is a deep dive into your customers’ perceptions of your business and what they want and expect from you. This can help update any existing market segmentation to incorporate new audiences. It can also point towards negative perceptions that you want your rebrand to counteract. This process might involve social media listening, surveys, focus groups and data from your loyalty program, if you have one.

2. Creative phase

• Messaging approach

Once you’ve got a handle on where your brand currently is and where you want to be, you’re ready to develop a messaging approach. This is how you’ll position your brand, and it will be the starting point for things like your brand tagline, tone of voice and brand values. Your core messaging can include:

• • An elevator pitch
    A short statement that sums up your brand and what it offers
  • User personas
    Detailed profiles of imaginary people who represent your main audience groups, including their motivations, backgrounds and what they want from your brand
    

• • Key features and benefits
    The things that your products and services offer, and how those add value for your customers. For example, ‘made of fiberglass’ is a product feature, while ‘tough and long-lasting’ is a benefit.

• Visual identity

This is the part most people think of first when they hear the word ‘rebrand’ – design. It’s the color palette, logo, fonts, artwork and illustration and any brand marques that will be updated or introduced. 

3. Execution phase

• Rebrand design and review

Your rebranding agency or team should now be ready to come up with some suggested approaches for messaging and visuals, as well as new candidate brand names and taglines, if applicable. It’s one of the most exciting steps to rebranding.

The final contribution the business stakeholders need to make is to feedback on these. Here are some tips for giving your rebrand designers useful and successful feedback: 

• Collate feedback from different stakeholders
  To avoid conflicting suggestions or an overload of comments, assign a single point of contact who will deliver the feedback to the creative team, after resolving any contradictions between comments and removing any duplication. 
• Refer to the brief
  The creative brief is the agreement made between designer and client about what will be done, so it has an important role to play when it’s time to review. Check that everything on the brief has been covered to your satisfaction and that the revisions you ask for are within the original scope of the work. 
• Be clear and specific
  Give feedback that can be acted on, rather than overall judgements like ‘it feels dull’ or ‘it’s not really us’. Explain what it is about the suggested design or creative that triggers your reaction, such as ‘the pale colors don’t make enough visual impact’

Once the feedback has been resolved, you’ll start receiving the final deliverables. These might include a new logo, rebranding guidelines, color palette or design assets. Congratulations – you’re ready for your rebrand rollout!

Rebranding explained

This article is part of our rebranding guide series. For more tips, check out ‘How to promote your rebrand’ and ‘How to work out when it’s time to rebrand’.

Looking for more branding inspiration? See how to choose a name for your new business