A Simple Guide to Rebranding & Launching A New Brand

There are many reasons why you might consider rebranding and launching a new brand. Whether you’re trying something new or starting over, the steps in this guide can help you with the process. It’s important to understand your reasoning behind the rebrand before you dive into the process. If you need help figuring out the reason for the rebrand, this guide can help you understand and then go through the main steps of the process of launching your new brand.

Let’s talk about the reasons for a rebrand. Before starting the process, it’s important to know why you’re considering this rebrand. You may be considering a rebrand because your vision, mission, values, and market are no longer reflected in your current brand. Other reasons may be:

New locations: You might be moving your headquarters or wanting to expand into international markets. By looking into these markets, you’re able to rebrand to fit their culture and identity more closely.

Market repositioning: If you’ve changed your target audience, then you’ll have to change your brand to suit these changes in needs. In this case, it’s helpful to have the research and data to back up your rebrand.

Philosophy change: Something about your brand’s main message (vision, mission, values) has changed, and now you need to rebrand to reflect this. This can often involve a total rebrand of your company to make sure your new messages are reflected in your brand.

Mergers and acquisitions: Bringing two companies together means having to rebrand to align correctly with your target audience. A lot of changes can happen when two companies join, meaning a total rebrand might be the best option in this case.

There are a few reasons why you should not rebrand. These include boredom, covering up a crisis, impact, or attention. In these cases, it’s better to address the underlying issue instead of covering them up with a rebrand. It’s best to keep up with the brand you have and work on evolving it to match your needs.

Now that you know the reason why you want to rebrand and know that it’s the best way to move forward, it’s time to actually work on rebranding.

First things first, decide if you want a partial or total rebrand.

Partial vs. Total Rebrand

Bear in mind that when you rebrand, a lot of customers will no longer recognise you. If you overhaul your brand and choose the total rebrand route, you may be losing a lot of those customers. The more established you are, the more you can lose. In this case, it’s a lot better to choose a partial rebrand. If you’re still in the earlier stages and need a total makeover of your company, then a total rebrand is the better option to choose from.

Once you’ve decided, it’s time to set up a plan. Here are the steps to take into account:

• Re-establish your audience and market

It’s time to dig deep into who your audience is. After careful research and consideration, this might be different than what you once thought. Make sure you have the data to back up your research so you know exactly who your audience is. This will help you best tailor your new content to this market.

• Redefine your goals and mission

Your vision is your “what” – it’s what your company stands for. This will affect everything from branding to company culture and hiring processes. Your mission is your “how,” so how will you accomplish your vision? This is your company’s roadmap to success and achieving your vision. Lastly, your values are your “why”. These are the reasons why you want to accomplish your vision and why your company is founded on that.

• Rename your company

If you can rebrand without changing your company’s name, then it’s best to keep it so your past customers have some recognition. But if you’ve changed to the point where the name no longer makes sense, then it’s time to start the process of renaming your brand. You can do this by making up new words, using an old word in a new way, looking at different languages, etc. There are so many ways to brainstorm a new company name and it might be helpful to include your staff in the process!

• Rebuild your brand identity

Now comes the fun part. Once you have your roadmap and target audience, you can work on building your brand identity. This includes logos, colours, and typography that will be used across your visual materials to create unity within your brand. Whether you have the capacity to create these in-house or have to outsource to a design company, these will become the new front of your brand.

Examples of major company rebrands

There are many major companies that have gone through a rebrand. Notably, Uber rebranded in 2018 after hiring a new CEO and finding themselves in the midst of some scandals. They spent over 1,000 hours interviewing people all over the world to see how their brand was perceived and to re-establish their market and audience. This helped them understand where the disconnect was between users and their brand which led to a new logo, colour palette, typeface, and improved in-app experience. This goes to show the importance of keeping your brand up to date with your core values and mission as an organisation. Wolff Olins assisted Uber with this process and you can read more about it here.

Another big rebrand was Dunkin’ Donuts in the USA changing their name to just Dunkin’. They invested $100 million into this rebrand which goes to show that something seemingly as small as a name change can have a massive impact on business and brand.

So, while a rebrand isn’t something to take lightly, we can see how effective it can be to reposition yourself in your target market. With the right mindset and roadmap for success, a rebrand can elevate your business to new heights while keeping its loyal clients.

Whether you’re rebranding or creating a new brand, you will need to update your website and gain an SEO boost, there’s a lot to consider before you begin.

From budgets to business goals, discover the 6 key steps to successfully redesigning your website.

Need more support? 123 Internet Group also offer expert web design and development services to drive more traffic and engage customers with quality branding. Book a free consultation today!