The Many Reasons to Rebrand and the Right Way to Do It

Have you ever thought about changing some elements of your brand but you haven’t been able to figure out when is the right time or the right way to do it?

When a brand decides to rebrand, it can be for many reasons: changing product lines, creative lines, expanding in a market, internationalization, among others. This process, as the name implies, relaunches your brand to the market but with a base audience that supports you. That is why I believe it is important to carry out this change smoothly so that your existing audience does not resent the change and adopts it with pleasure, while your new audience is impacted by getting to know your brand. 

Rebranding can also be a strategy to change the elements that identify a brand. This can include changes in typography, brand colors, logo or even modifications in the brand name. 

Rebranding versus Restyling

It is important to highlight the difference between rebranding and restyling. Rebranding usually refers to a total change of the brand and even the name, while restyling means to change some elements of the brand. 

When does a rebranding happen?

• When the company is in decline: Often, the initial branding worked at the time, but due to social changes, modernity and competition, it is necessary to update it. If we add that you may be going through a moment of low sales, it would not be bad to think about how your brand is positioned in the market and against your competitors. A rebranding can be that lifesaver or a part of the lifesaver of a company in decline. 

• When objectives change: If due to modernization, competition or any other reason, the company's objectives change and it is necessary to communicate in a different way, rebranding is an excellent option. Remember that the brand provides the guidelines regarding how to approach and communicate with our clients, how they perceive us and how they will approach us. 

• When there is no connection with the public: Especially at the beginning, it is important to measure how well or poorly the brand is received. If you see that the public does not connect with your brand, there are doubts about the product or service you sell and, in fact, you get customers asking for everything but your product, it is time to reconsider your branding and all that it helps us to communicate.

• When you need to expand: Whether you want to expand geographically or reach new audiences, it is necessary to evaluate if your branding is adequate for the new market you want to reach. If it is not, then your option is rebranding, analyzing the new audience or the new countries you will reach so that you will not make mistakes with this new face of your company.

• After a controversy or image problems: In addition to a rebranding, this change has to be accompanied by a good public relations strategy, analyzing the mistake and from there thinking about image:, What would be best for this new stage of the company?

• When the image of your competitors is very similar to yours: Definitely, no one wants to look like anyone else; we all want to be unique. Imagine a company that competes for sales with others. The last thing you would want is for your brand to be confused with your competition. Of course, legal elements are involved here, so my advice is to always register your trademark, colors, logo, slogan, among others. 

• When companies merge: Even if the companies are moving in the same direction, it is important that when they merge they acquire a neutral but totally new image that communicates what they both want to express.

Some Examples of Rebranding 

Apple

This company has had several changes around its brand over the years.  We can see that it underwent a radical change from its first to its second logo, but after, there were  were only slight changes.

Nike

At the beginning it was called Blue Ribbon Sports and three years later, it changed its name and logo. Although it has gone through several changes, today we recognize the brand with just the famous (in Mexico) "Nike's little dove".

I would like to close by mentioning some points to keep in mind when rebranding. 

1. It is not only a change of logo, colors or image. This change should be reflected in the way you communicate with your clients, the content in your social networks, among others. 

2. Don't forget the cost of your rebranding, and by cost I don't only mean what the graphic designer will charge you, but also rebranded uniforms, stationery, web site, decoration of physical spaces, among others. 

And you, what other tips would you add to effectively carry out a rebranding process?