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Everything is changing around us — from the technology we use to how we communicate to the way customers engage with brands. And when that happens, it’s only natural for brand leaders to reflect and ask, “Should we be changing too?”.
The answer isn’t always simple. It depends on whether your current brand serves as a bridge to your business goals. But if there’s a disconnect between your brand and your customers (or your business direction), it might be time for a refresh. Reinvention can be a powerful way to regain relevance, realign with your goals, and re-energize your audience. And it can drive real results, too.
A report found that 78% of executives say rebranding positively impacted their company, and 81% said they experienced a positive ROI.
Another study even linked rebrands to an average 2.46% increase in stock prices. If you get the sense the world’s moved on and your brand hasn’t, consider these five steps as your guide to mastering a rebrand.
Know Your Why Before You Redesign
Rebranding can be tempting, especially when it feels like every brand is doing it. But a new look won’t fix an identity crisis. For a rebrand to be successful, it needs to be intentional. That starts with understanding why you’re rebranding.
A recent survey identified four key factors that drive organizations to rebrand. Here’s a look at each, paired with a brand that made it work.
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Updating brand identity. Mailchimp updated its look in 2018. The marketing platform transitioned its visual suite — from logo to typeface to illustrations — to be more playful, bold, and weird (but lovable).
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Repositioning in the market. Facebook famously rebranded as Meta in 2021 to bring all of the company’s apps under one parent company and signal a pivot toward the metaverse.
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Reflecting a change in target audience. Hims launched in 2017 as a DTC brand focused on men’s health. One year later, it introduced Hers—a sister brand targeting women’s health—to broaden its reach.
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Addressing negative perceptions about the brand. After a series of catastrophes, Malaysia Airlines underwent a comprehensive rebrand to regain customer trust. Folks are tipping their hats to the airline for bouncing back.
studioID tip: Whatever your reason for rebranding, ensure it ladders to larger business goals. A rebrand should do more than look good—it should work hard for your business.
Make Your Brand Feel Familiar
Well-defined brands present a cohesive experience, whether you meet them in a feed, a store, or a subject line. As you reimagine your brand, aim for consistency across platforms. Think of it this way: you want the reaction to each interaction to be, “That’s so on brand”.
Plus, a strong look and feel pays off— brand consistency can increase revenue by up to 23%. But that goes deeper than sticking to a color palette.
To nail this step, consider the Brand Identity Prism, which outlines six key elements that work together to shape a brand’s identity and ensure cohesion across all expressions of your brand.
Source: ResearchGate
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Physical Facet: How your brand appears — from your logo and color palette to your packaging
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Personality: How your brand sounds and behaves — your tone of voice, style, and character
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Culture: How your brand values shape your brand’s internal and external actions
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Self-image: How your customers see themselves by aligning with or using your brand
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Reflection: How your brand portrays its ideal customer — the image you project of who uses your product or service
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Relationship: How your brand interacts — from customers to employees to the public
A successful rebrand doesn’t mean rebuilding all six elements, but it does mean ensuring that any changes are cohesive with the elements that stay the same.
Go From Internal Buy-In To External Buzz
Most people hear “change management” and think of M&As, IT overhauls, or restructuring. But rebranding is a fundamental shift, too, deserving the same level of attention and buy-in. Because if you want your end customers to embrace your rebrand, your internal stakeholders need to believe in it first.
Branding agency BLVR, known for guiding purposeful transformations, recommends a rebrand-specific change management approach that includes:
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Identifying all stakeholders — from executives and project owners to process owners, department heads, and trade partners.
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Mapping stakeholders based on their interest and influence using a matrix model.
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Reducing resistance by involving stakeholders, from interviews to focus groups to collaborating on messaging, based on their level of interest and influence.
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Creating a transparent communications plan that includes key messaging, addresses potential concerns, and offers a clear timeline.
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Celebrating milestones throughout the process to motivate stakeholders and boost morale.
And securing internal buy-in won’t just improve your output. It lifts your culture, too.
Over one-fifth of employees don’t identify with their organization’s vision and mission, but the ones that do are 3.71 times more likely to be engaged.
Launch It Like You Mean It
If you’ve made it this far, you’ve already tackled the heavy lifting. Now comes the fun part: showing off your shiny new brand. And that reveal should start with your employees. They’re some of your strongest brand ambassadors, and giving them an early look can do more than gather feedback—it can empower and motivate them to spread the word.
Consider throwing a special event to show off the new brand and have a leader walk through the brand story. Encourage feedback and questions. Then, put the new brand in the employees’ hands. Got new merch? A new brand style guide? Assets to share on social? Make sure employees know what’s available, and leaders encourage using it.
From there, prep your launch materials — from press releases to marketing newsletters to videos. Create promotional content for every platform your brand touches. Optimize assets for individual platforms. Make sure all stakeholders know the launch timeline.
And once the time comes, press GO… But don’t go anywhere.
Monitor reactions, engage, and answer questions. Keep up the momentum with post-launch content. And most importantly, reinforce your brand by showing up as you said you would.
Brands That Got the Assignment
Get inspired by brands that nailed the rebrand so well you nearly forget what came before.
Burger King’s Retro Brand Identity
studioID takeaway: Sometimes, the best way to take your brand forward is to go back. For Burger King, shifting to their retro branding did more than hit on the public’s love of nostalgia. It reinforced the fast-food chain as a classic.
Kia’s New Logo Unveiling Show
studioID takeaway: Kia’s sleek rebrand and move toward EVs has moved the public perception of the automotive company from budget car to car of the future.
PayPal’s Modern Brand Identity
studioID takeaway: Simplicity wins, and Paypal’s rebrand was a winner. Aiming to make PayPal more accessible to “everyone, everywhere,” the brand refreshed its identity to feel simpler, cleaner, modern, and optimistic.
Airbnb’s Mission-Focused Logo
studioID takeaway: Airbnb’s new logo, the Bélo symbol, unified their mission of belonging into a single, scalable mark. Airbnb also successfully used content and storytelling to emphasize its mission further.
Gusto’s Brand Refresh
studioID takeaway: A redesign can signal more than a change in tone. For Gusto, their brand refresh was an avenue to highlight how they redesigned their product to further delight their customers, making it more usable, accessible, and delightful.
Zendesk’s Rebrand
studioID takeaway: One of the most impressive parts of Zendesk’s award-winning rebrand is their post-launch activities. They even featured their favorite “mean tweet” from launch day and featured it across their social channels — a great way to keep the conversation going.
As you reinvent your brand, give yourself and your team time to get it right. Research shows most brand transformations take 12-18 months from ideation to launch.
Don’t rush the refresh, and use your time wisely to launch your new legacy.
