Brands evolve over time. They sometimes change to meet customer needs or when the scope of business expands or retracts. Maybe you’re finding that you haven’t succeeded at differentiating yourself in the marketplace and are getting lackluster results. All of these situations could lead to discussions about a company rebranding effort.
Outdated Branding
Sometimes, company rebranding is prompted by an outdated aesthetic. For example, if your last rebranding was three decades ago, the preferences, options and styles have evolved to a great degree. The colors you chose might have been perfect at that time, but now they’re looking outdated and don’t convey the image you want for your brand.
Modernizing your logo might be the key to start seeing movement on your competition and a new logo for your brand may be the start to rebranding your whole look.
Find a New Demographic
You may know about the difficulties, energy and expense that goes into targeting a new market, but rebranding can help you reach that new audience. Take Old Spice as an example. The brand long had an association with older males, which significantly limits its demographic. Their rebranding effort utilized an NFL player who uses Old Spice, representing a young, fun and attractive quality that everyone is drawn to.
Interestingly, the company rebranding didn’t involve changing the logo, which is fairly common in many rebranding efforts. Rather, the company focused on other areas of their image, focusing their spend on campaigns that changed the message Old Spice delivers.
Top Reasons for Company Rebranding
One thing to consider before you dive into a rebranding effort is that just because you’re tired of your current branding doesn’t mean your target audience is. Consistency is a good thing, so changing various aspects of your brand with frequency will be a disconnect with your target market. However, the following are some solid reasons to begin thinking about your rebranding strategy:
- Did you recently merge with another company? This action sometimes involves developing a new brand identity that combines elements of each brand. Other times, the decision is made to operate both under one existing brand identity. The option you choose is going to depend on what makes the most sense for retaining current customers and attracting new ones.
- Entering new markets is also a great reason to take on a rebranding project. What you’re doing is repositioning your brand to appeal to the new market. This almost always occurs when you expand to an international market.
- Public relations problems affect many companies, as it’s easy to slip up on social media posts and suddenly your brand is associated with something negative. If this has occurred with your brand on a large scale, it may be time to discuss if it’s time to do what Uber did and make the effort to distance yourself from the tarnished branding by developing new branding.
- It’s not uncommon for a company’s mission to change. Maybe it’s because of a shift in values, new market, changes in leadership or employee demands, but a mission shift may need to be accompanied by a rebranding.
At SJC Marketing, we’re uniquely positioned to assist you with a rebranding project. We would love to talk about our methods, offer examples of successful rebranding and how we can assist you with yours.