Rebrand vs. Brand Refresh: which one is right for you?

Today we’re going to take a look at both of these options: what they are, how they differ, and when you should employ one or the other.

What is a brand refresh?

Think of a brand refresh as a facelift for your brand. You’re not changing the underlying foundations, but you are tightening up the features. A brand refresh is perfect for brands that are fundamentally strong but feel outdated or stale. While most brand refreshes center on an overhaul of the company’s visual identity, it can also affect systems, services, culture, or products. Giving your brand a spruce up can be a great way to inject new life into employee morale and business performance, after all. The typical brand refresh is a tactical maneuver, designed to ensure a company is keeping pace with the current industry and marketplace trends. Companies that stay put while their competition reinvents themselves can quickly lose their competitive edge. All of that said, a brand refresh can be a wide-ranging initiative that redefines your brand’s verbal and visual language across multiple touchpoints. It may even encompass the overhaul or retirement of outdated or underperforming offerings. Tactical moves like this are what makes a brand refresh so powerful. You’re not redefining your brand entirely, but you are breaking free from outmoded ways of interacting with your audience.

What is a rebrand?

In contrast to a brand refresh, a complete rebrand essentially repositions your company. It’s something of a reboot for businesses that are battling the systemic issues that accompany a business model shift, substantial growth, or a PR disaster. Think of a rebrand as abandoning your past for the sake of your company’s future. A rebrand is crucial when your current brand is no longer sustainable. For businesses on a downward spiral that can’t be corrected a rebrand is the only option. It’s a sign that tells the market that you’re throwing out your old strategies in favor of the new. Obviously, rebrands are more budget and time-intensive than refreshes, but the rewards they can reap are more profound as well. A rebrand allows you to ditch the current perceptions or associations with your brand. These elements needn’t even be negative, rather they represent a position you’re no longer committed to building upon. For example, a brand that has made its name as low-cost might need to recenter its positioning on quality rather than price consciousness. When should you concentrate on a brand refresh? There are a number of reasons you might be considering a brand refresh. Here are just two main indicators that a brand refresh might be right for you. 1. You look like every other brand in your industry There is any number of reasons why your brand identity might be blending in with your competition. If you’ve had your logo for a while you might find it starting to look like a standard for every logo in your industry. If you were a start-up, you might have had other priorities when beginning your business and your logo and branding took a back seat. Whatever the reason, it’s well worth having a professional take a look at your brand with a refresh. 2. You’re trying to connect to a new audience Whether you’ve realized you need to target a new audience or you’ve recently changed your offering, it might be time to look at how your audience identifies with your brand. You should compare your findings to your company goals and brand strategy. You want to ensure your brand offering fully aligns with your target customer base. This will go a long way to ensuring your brand is something potential customers will seek out and that your current audience identifies with. In the event of a changing customer base, your first port of call is to identify who your new audience is. Employing user research, you’ll be able to narrow down who you want to target and how. A great way to ensure you’re on the right path with your brand is to map out its tone. The brand tone isn’t just the copy you write, it also encompasses the imagery you use, the design style you employ, and what colors you use to invoke your brand. Once you have that locked down, you’ll be able to figure out how that tone speaks to your intended audience.

When should you perform a full rebrand?

There are a number of reasons why a full rebrand should be on the cards. Here are two big ones.

1. Your company has changed its fundamental mission

If your business has just changed its mission or focus, now is the best time for a rebrand. A rebrand allows you to build an all-new brand that’s fully focused on your new goals and values. Part of this process should involve fully understanding your new direction and communicating to customers what kind of offering you now provide and why. Ask yourself: why are you shifting your company’s offering? What do you want to achieve? Have you started offering different services or products? Perhaps you’re a market leader in some groundbreaking technology. Maybe your business has undergone a merger. Either way, you ought to make this change visible with a rebrand.

2. Your company has suffered a PR disaster

It’s an unfortunate reality that sometimes businesses miss a step and fall into a PR disaster. Sometimes, recovering from such an ordeal requires a clean slate. A rebrand is ideal when a company can’t recover from a bout of severely bad press. It gives you the power to create your new brand and associations from scratch, leaving behind any negative connotations attached to your old brand.

Spruce up your brand

Deciding between a rebrand or a brand refresh can be tricky but with the right knowledge and a bit of introspection, you’ll be able to make the right decision. Need help overhauling your brand?

Get in touch today to see how Akorn Studios can help you perform anything from a simple refresh to a full rebrand.