What is Rebranding, and why your business needs it.
Index
Has the growth of your business slowed down in recent years? Now might be a good time to rebrand it.
Rebranding is a change of a company’s name, logo, or other identifying features. It can also refer to the actions taken by the company to change the way the market perceives it.
Rebranding might be necessary for a few good reasons:
- To remove negative associations with its old name or brand image and give the company a fresh start.
- To introduce new products and services that require a different branding strategy from the company’s current one.
- To give a new and modern look to the company.
Creating an effective Brand Identity with a Rebrand
Brand identity is a critical element of a company’s marketing strategy. It is the cornerstone of any company’s visual identity, and it can mean the difference between success and failure.
Branding is usually associated with your company logo or website, maybe a font and a color or two, but it involves much more. Your brand is a visual representation of how your company aims to make people feel. It always delivers the same message of ethics and belief within your company.
The goal of a rebrand is to update the company’s brand image to resonate more deeply with consumers and attract new customers.
What is the Process of Rebranding?
Rebranding involves changing the name, logo, or both of a company, product, or service.
There are two types of rebranding:
1) Re-positioning: The old brand goes through a process to adjust or completely change its perception in the market to better appeal to its target audience.
2) Renewal: The old brand is retained but refreshed by making changes such as updating logos and slogans
Here are some of the tools you’ll need in your brand toolkit:
- Logo Assets – In various file types, colors, and arrangements.
- Brand Guidelines – A document that acts as an instruction manual for typography, logo usage, photography style, illustration, and iconography used for marketing your business mission, values, and tagline.
- Flexible Typography – A well-designed and well-chosen brand typeface will contain numerous weights for various uses and be visually dynamic and unique to your identity
- Mission Statement – A clear mission statement is crucial to building consistency across marketing collateral.
- Defined Tone of Voice – Brand messaging and communication are both built using a tone of voice that represents your business and the people behind it.
- Core Values – A solid set of one-worded values to shape everything you do as a brand and a business
Planning a New Brand Identity or a Redesign
There are a lot of tools for creating a new brand identity or a re-design. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, so you need to find the best tool that suits your needs.
The first thing that you need to do is to define what your goals are. What do you want to achieve with the re-design? If you want to create a new brand identity, some tools will help you with this process. If you wish to make some changes to an already existing brand, there are some tools for this as well.
Another thing to remember when choosing the right tools is your budget and time availability. Some of these tools require more time and money than others, so it’s crucial to understand which tools will help you maximize the company’s growth for the right amount.
The expected results of Rebranding a business
Here are some of the top things that you can achieve by rebranding your business:
Attract new customers
After some time has passed, your company message may have become stale and irrelevant to your audience. It is necessary to keep moving forward. As your business changes according to your customer’s needs, your brand image should reflect this change. When you rebrand your company or target audience, you can help increase customer interest. This way, you can also offset most of the negative impressions that customers had of the old brand.
Achieve new goals
Rebranding can also be an opportunity to significantly shift the focus of your efforts, allowing you to achieve new goals. One of these goals may be, for example, to develop new products or improve existing ones.
Increase growth targets
Whenever there is something new or exciting – be it new products, services, or changes to the brand of your business – you have the opportunity to create a buzz. By rebranding your business, you can reach audiences who are very likely already talking about you through social media! These changes may concern some customers, but instead of worrying about them, you can reassure clients by outlining the reasons for making these adjustments. Plus, you can talk about why these improvements are necessary.
Streamlines messaging
Have you ever felt like your company has lost its unique voice among its competitors? A rebrand can help bring everything back to the main focus. If managing your online reputation has not been a priority before, now might be the perfect time to get started with it! Not only will you clean up your online presence, but you’ll get a head start on dealing with other foreseeable problems.
Here are 2 examples:
DUNKIN’ DONUTS → DUNKIN’
The company wanted to broaden their horizons and move away from being a specialized brand that solely focuses on donuts and coffee.
In their rebranding campaign, they got rid of the word ‘donuts’ and became ‘Dunkin’, allowing the business to be more diverse with their offerings.
Instead of being quite narrow and promoting just one of several items, the name ‘Dunkin’ allows them to diversify.
The main reason for this rebrand was the popularity of ‘Dunkin’s’ coffee. It was one of the most popular purchases at the food chain yet it was believed the name was causing confusion.
Would customers just think they could buy donuts?
In their rebranding strategy, the company will still appeal to its target audience and will remain recognizable. By keeping the same color palette and typography, this subtle change shows their understanding of the current market.
This is a great example of a brand that isn’t afraid of change. Customers are evolving, and so are their needs.
For brands to stay current, it is important they embrace these shifts and continue to improve user experience.
Airbnb
Did you know that the popular lodging company has now more than 10 years? Let’s see how it is one of the best examples of rebranding strategies.
The idea for Airbnb came into existence when founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia couldn’t afford to pay rent. The duo made their first $240 by renting out their loft to 3 people for $80 apiece.
In the 3 years after, Airbnb grew rapidly. By 2011, they secured around $112 million in funding and hit the 1 million mark of nights booked.
Branding Blunder
Later in 2011, Airbnb had a marketing disaster when “EJ”, a host’s house, was vandalized. The company offered no compensation for the damages and stated that they do not insure against losses. The cold response went viral, and many hosts openly bashed the company online.
In addition to this, in 2013, a renter was fined $2,400 for renting out a room in his apartment in New York. The man challenged the fine in court and the legal battle between the City of New York and Airbnb dragged on for a full year.
This PR crisis could have potentially proved disastrous and Airbnb needed new messaging to overcome the difficulties. One of many rebranding examples fueled by a PR crisis.
The Turning Point
After immense pressure, Airbnb changed its tune. They eventually compensated “EJ” for the damages done to her property and now offer a $1 million guarantee to hosts. Airbnb also won the $2,400 court case, which was very fortunate because if they had lost, they would have had to shut down their business in one of the biggest tourist capitals in the world.
With the legal disputes behind them, Airbnb made the decision to redesign their brand in a way that went beyond rooms. They enlisted the help of DesignStudio to craft a rebranding strategy. This was their “welcome home” campaign.
The Airbnb logo and color were also changed to reflect the sense of belonging. The company chose the Belo symbol as a representation of people, places, and love (the 3 corners) that form into the shape of the alphabet “A”. They also dropped the blue and white colors in favor of a vibrant red that is supposed to be reflective of passion and love.
