When’s the best time to order a rebranding?
From small tweaks to the corporate logo or product line to a whole new brand identity, there are many reasons to order a brand refresh or rebrand. If any one of these get your stomach rumbling, it might be time to consider asking a friend whether a rebranding project will be the perfect thing to hit the spot.
1. Suddenly everybody looks just like you
You were an innovative, stand-out-from-the-pack brand once upon a time but now you look around and you’re just one of many. You scratch your head and wonder, “When did we start looking like every other brand in our sector?” It might be time to differentiate yourself through a brand-new look.
2. You just look plain old
Your whole corporate identity was cutting edge in 2003. But visual design trends have moved on and you’re still stuck in the past. If you want your brand to keep pace with the cool kids it’s time to think about dusting off the cobwebs and applying a bit of branding expertise.
3. You’re all grown up and you want the world to know
The last ten years meant a lot to your business and you’ve gone from the spare room in your house to the full 10th floor office suite. You might feel young at heart, but you’ve got the muscles and maturity of an experienced brand. It’s time to trade in the All-Stars and torn jeans of your original brand to something befitting who you are now.
4. Your branding is a hodgepodge of elements added over the years
You’re good at what you do, but branding was not your strong point ― and you hardly could conceive of all the ways your brand would be used. You’ve added stuff as patchwork and made modifications as you went to make sure, say, your logo was legible on on tiny mobile formats or social media. It’s time to reshape it all with one coherent vision.
5. You want to define yourself by new products or services
You’ve developed innovative new products and services but your current client list keeps thinking you’re the same old you. To sell these new services, you’ve got to show your clients that you’re not the same old company.
6. You need to change hearts and minds inside your organization
Your new products or services aren’t selling, but this time it’s not the clients that are the problem: the belief barrier is all internal. If you want to help convince your employees that you’ve changed, a rebrand might be just the thing to make them feel proud of working for the same-old whole-new company.
7. You’ve got a new boss. Not the same as the old boss
New management might signal a new company direction or just simply fresh new leadership. And a brand refresh might be the right signal to send that times have changed.
8. You made a mistake ― and you want to put the past behind you
Whether you’ve caused an unnatural disaster, hosted a major scandal or just had a massive PR failure, sometimes the best way for the public to forget and move on is if you forget about your old brand identity. Hopefully you’ll never find yourself in this boat but if you do it might be the right time for a whole new you.
9. The world has finally woken up to what you’ve always valued
Sometimes the world has changed and suddenly values something you’ve always just taken for granted. Think, for example, of locally sourced raw materials. Maybe your company has always sourced its products locally, but it’s only recently in an too-easily-globalized world that sourcing locally is recognized as a huge marketing asset ― and something to shout about. So a brand refresh that advertises your long-cherished values in a whole new way might be just what you need to keep your edge.
Ready to order a brand refresh or rebrand?
The decision to refresh or rebrand your company entirely shouldn’t be taken lightly ― it’s an investment in time, money and energy that will take commitment and buy in from employees and clients. But if any of the above situations is true for your company (and it may be more than one) then you’ve got to ask yourself: is now the right time to order your company a brand refresh or rebrand?
