We have all seen it before, a company has changed their name, symbol, logo, design, entire concept, or something else; regardless, they have rebranded. With one of the largest social media platforms recently making a change of their own, you may find yourself wondering, “What is the purpose”? Companies rebrand themselves for various reasons, we are going to look at some of the most common reasons below and help you decide if you should rebrand your company.
What is Rebranding?
Rebranding is when a company changes the image of the company or a product or service. During this process, a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof, is created for a brand, with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors, competitors, and other stakeholders. Often, this involves changes to a brand’s logo, name, legal names, image, marketing strategy, and advertising themes.
Your brand is what makes you unique. Your brand is your business’s identity. It creates the image that you wish to portray. Branding is one of your company’s most valuable assets and is one of the things that is easiest for you to control. When it comes to rebranding, a brand does so to change their characteristics. This happens for various reasons: to raise awareness, change the public’s perception, simply get up to current times, or more.
Why Rebrand?
Before you can decide if you should rebrand your company, you should get a better understanding of why other brands may choose to rebrand. If you decide to rebrand, it is critical that you know the reason behind it, so you can solve for whatever you are trying to achieve. On average, brands and organizations change their corporate identities and rebrand once every 7 to 10 years.
Below are some of the reasons companies decide it is time to rebrand.
- Repositioning: If you want to reposition your brand in the market, rebranding may be right for you. Companies often choose to rebrand to shift their brand and make it stand out more to those they are trying to interest. Think about if you need to attract new customers and become more appealing to your ideal audience.
- New Leadership: When companies have a change in leadership, it can change the overall vision for the organization; therefore, making rebranding a good solution. New leaders can bring new perspectives and ideas and want to put their own mark on the company. This can also occur if a company goes through a merger, acquisition, or de-merger.
- Outdated: Things change over time, and to keep your brand relevant, you may need to as well. Your logo, slogan, images, etc. may be outdated if they no longer represent your products or services, just simply look old, or you have a new target audience you want to appeal to. When it comes to branding, what may have seemed like a great idea years ago, can easily become unaligned with what your brand is now trying to accomplish.
- Bad Reputation: One of the most common reasons that a company may rebrand is because they have a bad reputation and want to change the view about themselves. Rebranding can help a company to start fresh and create a new perception about them and their products and services.
- Defining Corporate Identity: Perhaps, as an organization, you have not done the best job at having everyone throughout your company use the right fonts, logo, colors, etc., making your brand jumbled and hard to decipher. Also, maybe at some point you started to offer products and services that don’t embody your brand. It may be time to rebrand your company if you want to take back your brand and set it right. This time, be sure to get everyone within the organization using the correct branding.
- Similar to Others: If your brand is too similar to others, whether your competition or just another brand, rebranding could be right for you. Companies that have branding that are somewhat alike can cause confusion, lead to legal issues, and could make you look unoriginal. No one wants their brand associated with another brand, especially if that other brand has a bad reputation. Branding should make you stand out from the crowd and be unique.
While rebranding may seem like a scary thing to undertake, it shouldn’t be. If your company needs to rebrand, you should embrace it and make it fun. Think of it as a fresh start. Large companies rebrand all the time, recently Facebook (Meta), Papa John’s, Dunkin’ Donuts (Dunkin’), Weight Watchers (WW), and more large and well-known organizations have taken on a rebrand.
If the thought of a rebrand for your company crosses your mind, that is usually the first sign that it is time for a rebranding.
At Water Bear Marketing, we can help you with all of your marketing needs. Whether you recently rebranded or simply just want to up your marketing game, we are here and offer a free consultation. Contact us to learn more and get started today.
