Does my company really need a rebrand?

Rebranding your company is a major step – best not to make any rash decisions.

It’s not just about a new logo but really looking at how your customers feel about your brand and how to maintain a positive feel through the rebranding process.

In a super small nutshell, rebranding is when your brand goes through a visual transformation.

• It may or may not mean a name change. In most cases, it doesn’t.
• It may bring about a complete change in symbols, fonts, colours – everything.
• It may bring about a contemporary change in the current look and feel, but nothing particularly drastic.

Why should you approach rebranding with caution?

• People have a connection to what’s familiar, to what they know. They don’t naturally gravitate to change and need to be gently eased into it.
• Often a brand has a “heritage”. When some rebrands wipe out the heritage, loyal customers can feel isolated and alienated. Yep, it sounds silly, but imagine all those people who line up outside an Apple store when a new product is released and how they might feel if Apple decided to have a neon-coloured logo: #awkwardturtle.
• It’s bloody expensive. Imagine a fresh print of your stationery, signage, brochures, invoices and of course, a website overhaul, new e-signatures, basically everything. Some companies are well and ready for this. It’s a move that is going to take them into new markets and generate growth for their companies, best avoided on a backpackers budget.

Why should you still go ahead and rebrand?

• A dated brand is NOT good for a growing business. READ: detrimental. Sure Coca-Cola has maintained the crux of their brand, but their logo has still evolved and so has their marketing. Think BP, Apple and Ernst & Young.
• Change is inevitable. You’ll have to do it sooner or later. Like a software update, you can only run from it for so long.
• It’s the leg up you need to change perception of your brand. Our agency brand went from Miss Kish to Kish+Co and since then we’ve never had to explain our rates to new clients, it’s like they expected much higher rates when they saw the new branding. (Of course, we transitioned our clients at the time, read about this transition here).
• Often there is an ideal time for rebranding – change in management, evolution in the company’s core offerings, creating new collateral for marketing and sales – it’s like a change in the air, you just know it’s there.

Not sure about how to handle a company rebrand?

• It’s kind of like telling your friends you’re getting married. They already know you were at that stage in a relationship cause you casually mentioned it. Then you announced your engagement and the wedding date. Of course you send out the invites,
  and you have a grand celebration and share the photos afterwards.
• Not making sense? You tell your clients and champions you’re thinking about rebranding and engaging a design agency to take you through the change. Get their thoughts on your current brand, then tell them that you’re going ahead with it and you start sharing the story of your brand’s history and merit and what value it holds. Of course you give them a rough date when they can expect this change to come thru. Then you send your clients an invite for a little drinks night or a massive launch party to celebrate the change… and share the photos afterwards.
• Have an iconic brand? Then for heaven’s sake, make sure there is a nod to that icon! You can read about rebranding debacles here, here and here,
• Make a firm decision on a phase-out date. Often a clean sweep is most ideal, but if you’re phasing it out, just chuck out the old stuff within 3 months tops.
• Have a vision. If Jim is leaving the company – who’s the new “Jim”? What’s he like? Why am I going to like him more than the old Jim?

Is rebranding on your mind? Would you like our thoughts on rebranding?

Want to know about our processes?

Get in touch! Call us at our Melbourne studio on +61 (3) 9020 4156 or email design@kishandco.co.