Branding is among the most important things you need to attend to when setting up a business. However, when planning for long-term success, it is unlikely that you will be thinking much about rebranding. Unfortunately, even though a rebranding exercise requires a lot of effort and money to execute, it is something many businesses need to undertake from time to time to keep themselves relevant to their target audiences. Rebranding is a consequence of the brand identity becoming irrelevant due to changing market dynamics, including target audience composition and preferences. The rebranding exercise may include a new brand name, logo, and design that aim to create a new and differentiated identity in the minds of the target audience.
Compelling Reasons to Rebrand
Rebranding is a complicated and risky exercise, and it is easy to get it wrong or not achieve the desired results. Even big brands often get it wrong after spending a lot of money and time. For example, Uber was betting big time on its logo redesign, but it turned out that 44% of people were not sure what the new logo represented. According to Forbes, you need to ask yourself why you think rebranding is necessary. You need to conduct a thorough risk assessment of the rebranding exercise to decide whether you are going in for the rebranding for the right reasons and whether it will be worth the investment. For example, if you are considering rebranding because of poor sales or brand awareness, you may find it better to implement a new marketing strategy. You may conduct market research to identify the underlying reasons before a rebranding exercise. However, a rebrand may be the right decision if you discover that your brand no longer reflects the company’s vision and values or the market needs. Some of the top reasons for a rebranding exercise:
New locations: If you are expanding to new markets, especially to international markets with different languages and cultures, likely, your existing brand may not resonate with the new audiences. You may need to refresh your brand so the new target audiences identify with it better.
Market repositioning: The sole purpose of a brand is to establish a connection with the company and its customers. If the company is repositioning itself to address a new market segment or customer profile with different product attributes, prices, places, or promotional methods, you may need to undertake a rebranding exercise to ensure the brand remains aligned.
New philosophy: A brand reflects the company’s mission, vision, and values. If the business is changing these pivots, the direction and positioning of the business will also change. It will necessitate a revaluation of your brand, and possibly a rebranding exercise is needed to realign the brand with the fresh direction of the company.
Mergers and acquisitions: When one company takes over another or when two companies merge, the brands may need to come together to present a united front in the marketplace. Unless the company decides the brands occupy separate and unique niches, there might be a need to launch a new brand to prevent customers from getting confused and building trust. If you are launching a new brand, you should also look at the available 5 letter domains offering the required synergy.
Top Reasons Not To Undertake a Rebranding Exercise
Whenever sales lose steam or the brand loses visibility and awareness, some marketers think the best way of addressing the problem is to create excitement in the marketplace by rebranding their products. However, you must appreciate that a brand provides the much-needed emotional connection between a company and its customers, so it is possibly the last thing you want to do unless you are out of options. Some of the top reasons not to consider rebranding include:
Boredom: After many years of existence, some people may think the brand has lost its excitement because they keep seeing the same logo and slogan. If you are feeling bored because you see the brand every day, you need to remember that the average customer sees it far less than you do and might love what you have become bored with.
Crisis cover-up: Many times when the company has run into a problem with internal issues or crises that have done reputational damage, marketers may think a rebranding exercise is a solution. However, most customers are smart enough to see right through your ploy and recognize the tactic as nothing but a cover-up.
Ego massage: Sometimes, when there is new management, they feel compelled to show quick results to impress the stakeholders. A rebranding exercise is often the answer, but you should keep in mind that it is an institutional change that affects the core of the business, and there should be some very compelling reasons for the company to rebrand its products. It is important for the company not to lose focus and stop thinking about its customers.
Create a buzz: There are many reasons for sales and brand awareness to slow down, but a rebranding exercise doesn’t need to be a solution. If done for the wrong reasons, spending a lot of effort and money on rebranding will only result in some short-term buzz that is likely to die down quickly unless the company makes the necessary tweaks to the marketing and Sales OKRs to sustain the fresh brands. If the exercise misfires, you will have spent a lot of money and lost whatever brand awareness and credibility the brands had built.
Conclusion
The need for rebranding will depend on the outcome of a comprehensive and far-ranging study on what ails your brand, where the competitive environment is heading, and what customer profiles your company wishes to address. You must understand and find out if there are other less drastic methods, you can implement to address falling sales and brand awareness. Often, tweaking your marketing and sales strategy or your advertising strategy can work wonders. For example, running a sales promotion or going in for a new pack design can create a buzz around your brand and give it the vibrancy you are looking for. If you need rebranding, you should do it after careful thought and analysis regarding the potential advantages and risks.
