There are several reasons why a brand would opt for a rebrand, but how do you successfully rebrand your company?
Why do companies rebrand their visual identity?
Acquisitions and mergers
Many businesses rebrand after acquisitions and mergers. This allows them to make it clear that a transition has occurred. Sometimes, the logo and branding of one of the companies is used or incorporated into a new logo. Other times businesses choose to completely rebrand themselves. A lot of thought often goes into rebranding.
When Just Eat merged with other food delivery brands their logo was changed. Instead of making major changes to their old logo, they chose to change the colour and make it orange instead of red. Orange is a noticeable colour which was ideal for the rebrand, since it would catch the attention of customers.
Repositioning
When a company wants to alter the perception of their brand, they may choose to rebrand themselves and reintroduce customers to their services or products in a new way. There are many examples for a repositioning. Prepaid cards provider Suits Me decided to rebrand after they experienced major growth.
“With a pop of energy and colour, the dynamic swoosh is created from elements of the new logo. One way we’ve done this is by replacing their traditional blue colour scheme with bright, gradient colours against a fresh white background that better reflects our unique and diverse customer base.” Kim Roberts, Marketing and Communications Director at Suits Me says.
Outdated logo or branding
Sometimes a logo just doesn’t work. Businesses starting out may not have the resources to pay professional designers to work on their branding. Once the business becomes more successful, it may become apparent that the logo doesn’t work as well as originally intended. Other times it simply needs to be modernized.
When the company Slack redesigned their logo in 2019, they explained that their first logo ‘was extremely easy to get wrong. It was 11 different colors—and if placed on any color other than white, or at the wrong angle (instead of the precisely prescribed 18º rotation), or with the colors tweaked wrong, it looked terrible. It pained us.’ They teamed up with some of the best designers in the industry – Michael Bierut and Pentagram – and created a whole new visual identity that helps them stand out today.
Reaching a new market
A brand identity may be changed if the company is planning on reaching a new market. In some cases this may be to reach a new customer base in another country. For example, Lay’s crisps acquired Walkers in 1989. Today Walkers crisps in the UK show almost the same logo as is used by Lay’s. In Egypt the same crisps are called Chipsy, in Mexico Sabritas and in Israel Tapuchips! In Australia, Burger King is called Hungry Jack’s.
Image change
A good example of this is Pfizer, who rebranded itself in 2021 after becoming one of the few brands worldwide to successfully develop a Covid-19 vaccine. ‘Pfizer has become much more than a pharmaceutical company. Our new logo signals this shift from commerce to science. We’ve unlocked the pill form to reveal the core of what we do: a double helix, spiralling upward’, Pfizer explains on it’s website.
How to rebrand your visual identity
- Redefine your target audience
If you are rebranding your logo for a different customer base, it’s imperative to closely study the new market and design your logo accordingly. Study the competition in the country and analyse what would work best for customers.
- Update your mission, vision and values
When your company’s vision changes for any reason, your logo and visual identity needs to reflect it. The example of Pfizer’s image change mentioned above demonstrates this. Pfizer’s identity changed, which made a redesign necessary. Write down your new mission, vision, goals and values in order to clearly understand what needs to be changed and how.
- Redesign the brand identity
The best brands tell a story. Incorporate your brand’s persona into the visual identity and answer the question, why your brand exists. What is its purpose? In 2019 Pizza Hut brought back its old logo which has a retro style and by doing so it reflected on the long history of its brand. The logo itself is still very similar to the previous one, but it manages to tell a story. When YouTube changed its logo it included the play button into the logo, just like the one seen so many times when clicking on a video. Instagram’s logo used to show an actual camera. Its updated version is a modern, flat design which suggests the shape of the camera.
Sometimes a logo is just simplified and modernized. Redesigns can reflect this through small changes.
Redesigns are not always successful. Even big brands can receive negative reactions when introducing a new logo. By carefully analysing all the details before attempting a redesign it is more likely to be a success.
