The recent example of Elon Musk rebranding ‘Twitter’ to ‘X’ has sparked discussions about when a re-brand is the right thing to do. Re-branding becomes crucial when changes occur within your business, meaning your offerings no longer align with your current brand identity. Let’s delve deeper into the main reasons that might prompt a re-brand:
- Outdated Branding: While good branding can endure, even the best branding eventually needs updates. This doesn’t always mean a complete overhaul; sometimes, subtle adjustments can suffice. If your branding looks out of touch with the present decade, it’s likely time for a refresh.
- Targeting a New Audience: There are several scenarios where this might be relevant. If your customer base has evolved over time, your branding might not resonate with the new demographic. Similarly, if you’ve introduced a new product for a different audience, your existing branding might hinder engagement with this new group.
- International Expansion: Venturing into international markets introduces new considerations like diverse audiences, regulations, and competitors. Adapting your brand to suit these unique contexts might necessitate a re-brand.
- Standing out From the Competition: Whether this oversight occurred during the initial branding or due to a saturated market, distinguishing yourself from competitors is essential. This can be a pivotal factor in capturing your audience’s attention.
- Company Restructuring: Changes like mergers, acquisitions, or shifts in ownership signify a new chapter for your company. A re-brand can mark this transition and reflect any altered direction or offerings.
- Strategic Shift: If your current brand doesn’t effectively convey your company story, values, or mission, a re-brand becomes imperative. Your brand should succinctly communicate your essence and purpose.
- Reputation and Perception Makeover: Instances of negative publicity or a tarnished reputation may warrant a complete brand overhaul to rebuild trust. However, this transformation should align with concrete improvements in the underlying issues.
Your brand represents what people say about your business when you’re not in the room. Done correctly a re-brand can lead to increased customers, sales, better talent attraction, higher perceived value, and improved employee satisfaction. Nevertheless, a re-branding effort requires thorough research to ensure it’s not a gamble.
Hermes became known for late, unreliable deliveries, with customers losing trust in the brand. Therefore in 2022 they scrapped their identity and re-imagined themselves as ‘EVRI’. With a new name, logo, colours and messaging, they focused on emphasising diversity in the UK in an attempt to re-connect with their communities. For this to be a success, however, they needed to ensure the issues facing the previous brand had also been fixed.
Conversely, some companies that initially think they need a re-brand, discover after thorough research, that it might be counterproductive, as was the case with Lyle’s Golden Syrup, where heritage held more value than change. After 140 years Lyle’s naturally thought they were well due a re-brand. However, after working with an agency that specialised in brand strategy, they were advised that it would have been detrimental and that their heritage was what gave their brand substance. Therefore they used the money to invest in a new brand campaign “Absolutely Golden” focused on what a drop of golden syrup meant to different people. This achieved the mission of re-aligning their brand with their audience without losing their USP.
In essence, a well-executed re-brand aligns external perceptions with your intended image. Making this happen requires careful and thorough research and thinking, but the potential benefits are significant. To discuss how 21 Degrees Digital can support you with a re-brand please get in touch.
