7 Reasons to Rebrand: Part 1

Changing your corporate identity can be a big move and can range from small tweaks to an organisation’s logo, to a full identity makeover, or even a change of the company’s name.

Whatever the scale of the change it is often is a result of a combination of reasons. In this series we want to explore some of those reasons.

Needing an update

Whilst designers will aspire to avoid harnessing a brand identity on the trends of the day, advances in technology and society are unavoidable and are going to impact on even the most thought through and well executed brand identity. If a brand fails to evolve it will soon appear old fashioned and failure to gain traction amongst new customers outside even the most loyal customer base will inevitably result in loss of revenue.

A brand update may involve reimagining or redefining any imagery, as well as palette, typefaces or reevaluating the formats in which they appear and whether they work for that context.

Another consideration for today’s socially conscious audience, is a brand’s tone of voice. Once widely accepted marketing messages can easily be seen as out of touch or even offensive. This is particularly the case for brands which have a large marketing presence and have traditionally been aimed at specific genders.

Even the best-loved brands and household names are not immune from the passage of time. For well established and successful organisations this can present its own tightrope to walk; updating and modernising to reach a younger or new marketplace without diluting a potent, recognised brand, or even alienating a loyal customer base.

We explored these challenges in our analysis of the Formula 1 rebrand.

Repositioning

A new brand strategy incorporates the values and promises a company makes and the goals it sets for itself. Repositioning can mean a refocusing of resources, and changes to both the internal and external experience of the company or organisation in question. This can mean a different corporate identity, a change in HR Policy, a shift in user experience for customers, or indeed a change in the actual products or services provided.

An example of this is the company Staples. Having recently sold of its UK high street stores and print services (sob) Staples have now launched a new logo and identity in the US. With a new focus on its direct sales to businesses, they have modernise and slicked up their look, incorporating new swag for the store teams to give a cohesive look across their stores and online. In addition they have introduced a new product range of office supplies ‘trured’ in order to capitalise on the business to business trade fully.

A clear direction for any company is important and having your position mapped out in your visual identity and approach is useful across the board.

Changing Marketplace

Changes in the marketplace can force change in a brand and in some cases it's a choice of evolve or face extinction.

The most obvious marketplace change over the last few decades has been the online onslaught against high street stores and entertainment platforms alongside the rise of social media.

Whole sectors have been forced to reinvent themselves and their services. We can find effortless examples such as the many changes made to BBC iPlayer, in order to keep up with undisputed champions of the box set binge, Netflix.They now offer tailored user experience with program suggestions and profiles across multi-devices so you can pick up where you left off.  

Point of Sale has also taken on a huge importance in the retail sector. High Street Stores are struggling to compete with the ease of online shopping. A great online presence is key but large retail brands such as John Lewis also emphasise their in store experiences in order to differentiate themselves and make a trip to their brick and mortar shop fronts more appealing.

Keeping your brand applicable and cohesive is important in this restructuring in order to not only keep your original identity intact on new platforms but also to help clean it up for new platforms or diversify into new services and areas.

More reasons will be explored in the second part of this series of blog posts, so keep your eyes peeled for updates!

If you feel like any of these reasons are already chiming with you, your business or organisation, we would love to work with you to assess your brand and see if there are any areas that we can help you address. Whatever the scale we are happy to help.