I recently went shopping for a new pair of jeans around the corner from our office. Jeans shopping is a tough task at the best of times, but for some reason I decided to get the job done in my lunch break.
As I rushed to the checkout, the shop owner asked what I did for work, and the conversation quickly escalated to her business – a gorgeous boutique she’d run for over 10 years. Then, as she packed my denim away in a crisp branded bag, came the inevitable question: do you think it’s time we did a rebrand?
It’s a question I get asked a lot. And the honest answer is: it depends. Not on how bored you are of your logo. Not because you don’t like your brand colours anymore. But on what’s happening in (and around) your business at the time.
Like a good pair of jeans to your wardrobe – your brand is one of your business’ most important assets, and it should closely align with and reflect not just what your business does, but why it exists, what it wants to achieve.
Getting your brand right can be one of the most clarifying and impactful things a business can do; while getting it wrong can be detrimental to perception and growth.
Here’s how to tell if it’s time for a brand refresh, rebrand or a total brand revolution.
When nobody can quite explain what you do
Try this one first, as it’s the easiest one to test. If your team gives five different answers to “what do we do?” and “why do we do it?” it’s a sure sign that it’s time to work on your brand.
A strategic brand process will uncover the answers to these questions, through deep research, stakeholder engagement, and team workshops – all culminating in foundational messaging that gets everyone singing from the same hymn-sheet.
If done well, a brand refresh should get to the core of who you are and what you stand for before any taglines or logos are even imagined.
A visual identity alone is not a brand, your brand is your story, and everyone in your organisation should know how to communicate it.
When something big shifts
Mergers, acquisitions, a change of strategic direction, new services, or products that have fallen by the wayside – these are all good reasons for a rebrand.
A brand built for the business you were, rather than the one you’re aspiring to become, will struggle to represent your offer and won’t resonate with the audiences you’re trying to connect with.
If you have multiple brands within a brand, for example, it might be time to look at your brand architecture. If you have services you no longer deliver, how does that change how you speak about your offer, and who you’re speaking to?
New ownership or new leadership also brings new vision, and with new ideas comes a refreshed story, and the need to express it in a different way.
Going through a brand review process allows new leaders to really consider how their vision will play out in the market, and gives new leadership a vehicle to articulate where they’re taking the business.
The same goes for your people. Key staff changes can shift a brand’s culture entirely, and sometimes taking your team through a rebrand process can be less about where you sit in the market, and more about internal reinvigoration and reinvention.
When your audience multiplies
If you’re finding you need to change your message for multiple audience segments – funders, stakeholders, government, customers, members, the media – it might not be your logo that needs a refresh, it could be your brand messaging.
For us refreshing your brand is more than just looking at your visual identity, it’s everything that leads up to it – and that comes from a strong foundation of key messaging that will encapsulate your brand aspirations.
When multiple audiences need to be reached, taking those foundations and crafting that content into messaging for key audience segments is crucial for clear communication.
This is a really valuable process to go through, particularly for large organisations where so many people are responsible for communicating a brand’s message, and so many different audiences need to hear it. It may lead to a visual refresh, but sometimes just getting the messaging right is enough.
When it’s no longer fit for purpose
Perhaps your last brand was crafted by a design agency that produced a beautiful logo and supportive imagery but gave you such niche secondary fonts that you’ve had to fall back on Times New Roman.
Maybe your brand guidelines are missing digital applications because your logo was crafted when letterhead was more important than Instagram. Or perhaps you have a strong visual identity but no story to go along with it, or tone of voice to guide it?
If you’re finding your marketing team is pulling their hair out trying to represent your brand – either in writing or visually – it’s definitely time to consider a rebrand or refresh.
A holistic brand process will audit your brand first, assessing gaps and highlighting strengths and opportunities – nothing needs changing unless it’s not working for your business or your team; and nothing should be created if it can’t be used.
When it’s feeling dated
While story and strategy is essential, your brand’s aesthetic does matter.
Brands date. Not always dramatically – sometimes it’s just a slow drift into the uncool. Like when millennials finally realised skinny jeans weren’t a thing anymore.
So, start by asking yourself: how long have we had this brand? Is it still relevant to the market we’re in now, or is it more reflective of the market we were in a decade ago?
Was it crafted in a style that speaks to a moment in time, or was it made to last? Does it feel like it’s built for now, or has it’s time (like my skinny jeans) long past?
If the answer is the latter, then it’s probably time to think about a freshen-up.
When the world shifts
Finally there’s the things that are out of our control.
Wars raging, economic uncertainly, AI infiltrating everything – for better or worse. These moments of major cultural and societal disruption are often the catalyst a business or organisation needs to pause and reflect on who it is, what it stands for, and where it’s positioned in the market.
A good brand process won’t solve geopolitics (sorry), but it will provide clarity for the road ahead. In difficult times, clarity, vision, a reason for being, and a fresh look might just be what your business or organisation needs to battle through the uncertainty.
Rebrand curious?
At the end of the day, if you’re feeling curious about whether a rebrand is right for you, the most useful question to ask yourself is: does our brand still tell the truth about who we are?
If the answer is “no” a rebrand isn’t vanity. It’s honesty – with a fresh pair of jeans.