The business world is ever-changing, and it is important to maintain your company’s relevance to maintain success and potentially achieve a higher level of it. A company’s survival needs to be able to adapt, so when you find the market is changing or the company’s identity is changing, it might also be time for a rebranding.
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There are different reasons why a company might choose to rebrand itself. Perhaps it is to adapt to a changing market, the current state of the world, and the demand of the customers. For whichever reason you might choose to rebrand your business, some considerations are useful to keep in mind.
Top 10 Reasons Why Your Business Needs Rebranding
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Repositioning
Changing brand position can have a major impact on a business. When everything is adapted in line with an organization’s strategy, commitment, products, services, HR policy, and more, rebranding helps make these changes visible for stakeholders. One of the biggest examples of brand repositioning is Amazon. If you could remember, Amazon started off as the “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore,” selling new and used physical books in 1995. However, gradually it repositioned itself as the world’s most dominating global e-commerce brand by selling goods, branded products, and more.
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Changes in business ownership are one of the biggest reasons behind rebranding. Whether it is mergers, acquisitions, or demergers, it leads to business rebranding. The aim is not only to make the change visible but also to adhere to legal requirements. Before selling it to Facebook, the Instagram founders named the application Burbn. However, soon after its acquisition by Facebook, the brand was rebranded as Instagram.
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Market Shifts
Changes in a market situation also bring changes in the company name. Here is how. For some companies, market changes reflect a potential threat to their very existence. Different requirements of a market or customers call for different products, compelling businesses to reinvent themselves. This reinvention also causes a change in the brand name, logo, or appearance. In 2019, Dunkin’ removed “Donuts” from its name to change its identity and demonstrate its shift toward beverages. This change was influenced by the profitability of beverages as witnessed in the global market.
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Internationalization
Internationalization is another reason why a business might need rebranding. This could be because the brand name is country-specific, and in certain countries, that name may conjure up wrong associations. Companies that sell the same products in several countries, but under different brand names, are also adopting one international brand. For instance, the household cleaner brand that is known as Jif in the UK rebranded itself to Cif in other European markets to ensure global brand recognition and easy pronunciation.
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Reversing Reputational Damage
Any damage to brand reputation can often be reduced through rebranding. Whether it’s a data breach, a sustainability scandal, or any lawsuit, brands can fall into the trap of a damaged reputation. In this scenario, rebranding can reduce or, in some cases, eliminate the negative associations with the brand. At present, transparency is extremely valued in the business world, and rebranding does not limit itself to changes in the brand name or logo; it may include internal changes implemented throughout an organization. In 2021, Facebook rebranded its parent company to Meta due to the intense scrutiny regarding the spread of misinformation, data privacy, and its prioritization of profit over user safety.
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Changes in Executive Leadership Positions
A new executive leader often turns over a new leaf for an organization, leading to major organizational changes and rebranding as well. Apple changed its logo after Steve Jobs’ return as the CEO of the company to survive. Steve chose the logo himself, shifting from the rainbow-colored apple to a metallic one.
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Stakeholder Conflict
Developing a new brand also causes rebranding, as often the new brand style can be too similar to an existing brand. Such similarity could cause a lawsuit and negative responses from internal and external stakeholders, restricting organizational success. For example, the global fashion brand Gap rebranded itself with a new Helvetica-based logo, resulting in huge social backlash, compelling it to revert its rebranding strategy within six days of its launch.
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Digitalization
In the modern-day business environment, digitalization is the new driver of rebranding. Earlier brands were developed with limited digital involvement in branding, and corporate identity consisted only of a logo, a primary color palette, and typography for offline representation. However, today, companies are rapidly adopting digital changes, which in turn is fostering rebranding, including changes in name ideas for business, changes in logo, color, and other branding aspects for long-term success. Twitter rebranded to X in 2023 to signify its shift from a social media platform to an “everything app.”
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Modernization
Modernization is one of the most common reasons behind corporate rebranding. Over time, brands can be considered old-fashioned if not updated. Modern brand designs are moving toward using more color and shapes. For example, the globally recognized design tool, Figma, underwent a rebrand to modernize and expand its appeal beyond professional designers.
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Ensuring High ROI and Cost Savings
Running an extensive brand portfolio for organizations’ marketing under different brands can result in higher costs for promotion and maintenance. In such a case, returning to one strong monolithic brand through rebranding can help reduce costs and increase business returns. Coca-Cola announced a “One Brand Strategy” after following years of marketing Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Life, and Coca-Cola Sugar, taking all these variants under the umbrella brand Coca-Cola.
Adopting A Visual Change
You might already know that visual identity is an extremely important part of rebranding a company. However, you should be careful to avoid overlooking important aspects of visual identity, as many businesses tend to do. The visual identity entails several different elements that should all be aligned in some way.
The colors, the logo, and the website design are all part of the storytelling about the company. How a business expresses itself through these different media will also attract or deter potential customers. A potential customer’s decision to do – or to continue doing – business with you can be affected by the first meeting with your new visual identity.
To Ensure Unique Selling Point
In the rebranding process of the company, it might also make sense to invent new, unique selling points. Perhaps you would like to reflect a greener approach in producing your products with sustainable sources, which will appeal to environmentally conscious customers. Whichever unique selling point you focus on, make sure to research the current demands in the marketplace.
It is challenging to develop the company’s brand, but it can be helpful to see how companies brand themselves. Rebranding a company very much has to do with the story it tells about itself. Stories are everywhere, and just like figuring out which values are important to the company, it is important to know which story you want people to subscribe to.
Rethinking and Prioritizing Company Values
In the initial phase of the rebranding process, it is important to discuss and establish the company’s values, as they will reflect the rest of the important decisions. Understanding the values of your business is fundamental to, for example, determining how you want to communicate with your customers, employees, and stakeholders.
As part of the rebranding strategy, it might also be necessary to change the name of the company. It is vital to choose a unique name for the business, not only to make the business stand out but also to reflect the new company identity, the redefined values, and to tell the world what type of business you are running. A name is like a business card: A good one will stir someone’s interest, whereas a bad one will get discarded.
To find a new and considered name, it is a good idea to start a brainstorming session where you throw your ideas up in the air and reflect on what values your company is based on and how a potential name in line with the values may sound. If you’re having a hard time getting started with brainstorming, various tools can help you kickstart your creativity. For example, it may be worth trying a so-called business name generator, which is designed to generate business name suggestions. All you have to do is enter keywords related to your business, and then it automatically generates suggestions. If you don’t like the suggestions, you can just use the generator as a source of inspiration.
The reasons a company chooses to rebrand matter, but the way the rebranding takes place is equally, if not more, important. Changing the name, the visual identity, or the unique selling point are just some of the many ways to rebrand your business, but they can be necessary changes to adapt and stay relevant as a company in a modern climate.
