As the world begins to shake off the pandemic, businesses are looking for ways to gain an edge back into the marketplace. It may feel tempting to rebrand as a way to start fresh and gain relevancy. However, rebranding is equally risky as it is opportunistic. When done poorly, it can do more harm than good and set you back even further.

What Is Rebranding?

Rebranding is more than just designing a shiny new logo. To understand rebranding, you need to first look at ‘branding’ on its own. A brand should represent a vision or a philosophy that your audience can identify with. A successful brand ‘sells itself’, so you don’t need to work hard to find the right customers.

Therefore, ‘rebranding’ is a marketing strategy that involves changing and updating the brand’s visual identity, look and feel of your business – you are essentially influencing how the brand is perceived by your customers.

Why Rebrand?

Generally, there are three reasons when considering the use of this strategy:

  • Re-entering an existing marketplace

Rebranding can provide the fresh start you need to seem like a new entrant, and it can also be used to rebuild a business reputation, especially if there has been controversy or bad public relations in the past. Sometimes a brand may feel stale or ‘out of touch’, and rebranding allows you to be noticed again as relevant and up-to-date with trends.

  • Mergers or Acquisitions

When a business undergoes changes in ownership or management, rebranding is an ideal strategy to combat the uncertainties that are often associated with mergers or acquisitions. This is perceived as a progressive move with a positive tone that encourages participation internally, as well as reigniting interest and excitement externally among stakeholders and potential customers.

  • Gaining Market Share

Rebranding can also be useful when you are launching a new service or product, or if you want to gain market share by expanding the demographic of your target audience. This allows you to break away from an existing image and gives your business a boost, especially if you are losing market share or have been attracting the wrong customers.

Case Insight

Here’s an example of a rebrand that created a fun, relevant, and confident image.

Tupperware has been around since the 1970s, and is synonymous with “home parties” that most of our grandmothers and mothers eagerly participated in. However, it became clear in recent years that the brand is struggling with increased competition and being ‘outdated’.

With a successful rebrand, Tupperware’s updated look and feel also came with a new message: “Confidence Becomes You”. This allowed the brand to break away from the “Tupperware parties” image and associate it with a much more powerful and relevant movement in global female empowerment. It portrays a confident tone while remaining iconic, connecting with people in a simple, consistent, and recognisable way by updating visual identity elements with bold and vibrant colours. Tupperware then expanded this across their product line to reinvigorate sales.

Case-Insight

Source: https://rebrand.com/distinction-tupperware/

3 things to remember when rebranding

 

  • Brands Have a clear reason

Rebranding is a significant project which requires a committed investment of time and money. Before you proceed, it is important to identify the reasoning and understand why rebranding is necessary. It may be one of the points mentioned above. Whatever the reason is, having a clear direction will guide you in planning a successful rebranding strategy.

  • Brands Look to the future

Where do you want your brand to be in the future? Developing your new brand message involves planning ahead with goals and objectives that align with the rebranding process and the business outcomes. What do you wish to achieve in the long term and will your rebranded business still stand for your core values?

  • Brands Have All hands-on deck

To ensure a smooth and successful rebranding process, your team must be fully onboard and embrace the new identity. How will you get employees to be on the same page? It is important to look internally, start by gaining the support of every staff member, and address any concerns they might have. Communication is critical and allows the team to feel engaged and excited about the change in a positive way.

One point to note is that rebranding for the sake of it, or because you’re bored is never a good reason to rebrand at all. In this case, you’re better off doing a deep dive into the anatomy of the brand, and uncover the source or asset that is not congruent with the brand’s soul or philosophy.

Here at Brand for Brands , that’s what we do. We help you dig deep and find your vision and message that connects with people, and translate your vision into effective branded communication.

Get in touch to find out more today.

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