Part of evolving as a business is periodically considering your brand – and undertaking a rebranding project when the time and circumstances call for it. This may seem like a daunting prospect – understandably – but it doesn’t need to feel frightening. Instead, you should anticipate it with excitement!
Key Insights
- Rebranding creates a fresh, differentiated identity for an established brand.
- A partial rebrand may involve keeping the existing core identity but updating your website, logo, or other elements.
- A full rebrand is a comprehensive overhaul of the entire brand from identity to strategy. It may even involve a completely new business name.
- You need to understand why rebranding matters, the core aspects of the rebranding process, and how to go about a successful rebranding strategy, but not lose old customers in the process.
- Twelve12 is here to help you with every step of the rebranding process.
Every business needs to evolve if it’s going to remain competitive and succeed. This is true no matter what industry, sector, or niche your business occupies, regardless of its size and scope.
You do need to beware of not alienating your existing customer base as you rebrand – after all, finding out a company or brand they love can be unsettling, and there are so many competing alternatives out there for them to explore.
So, how do you pivot as a brand and take your customers on the journey with you?
You need to understand why rebranding matters, the core aspects of the rebranding process, and how to go about a successful rebranding strategy.
Twelve12 is here to help you with every step of the rebranding process.
What is Rebranding?
Rebranding is a marketing strategy that creates a fresh, differentiated identity for an established brand. It may include:
- New name
- New logo
- New visual identity (color palette, typography, symbology, imagery)
- New website/app/social media presence
- Redefined target audience and/or market position
- New company values/mission
- New content
- New messaging and communication strategy
Rebranding can be as simple or as complex as you feel it needs to be. A partial rebrand may involve keeping the existing core identity but updating your website, logo, or other elements. A full rebrand is a comprehensive overhaul of the entire brand from identity to strategy. It may even involve a completely new business name.
The need to rebrand may be triggered by:
- A new business model or strategic pivot
- A bland or outdated visual identity
- Ineffective or outdated content, messaging, or communications
- Significant company growth
- Fresh innovation
- Merger/acquisition
- Major market shifts/fluctuations
- Evolving consumer expectations and needs
Why Is Rebranding Important?
Rebranding a business or other entity is the key to alignment as it evolves. It helps it:
- Maintain relevance and connection
- Increase brand value
- Generate new leads and attract new customers/clients
- Shift within the market
- Differentiate and compete more effectively
- Address and overcome negative perception
- Signal change or modernize
- Support growth and expansion
- Align and unify internally
Where to start? You need to understand how to rebrand a company without losing your existing customers.
You need to:
- Know why you are rebranding
- Know your audience and what they need and expect
- Plan by auditing your brand value, aligning your team, and developing your new identity and story
- Announce your rebrand early
- Ensure consistency across all touchpoints
- Track and analyse results
- Listen, acknowledge, and respond professionally
DON’T!
- Be silent
- Be inconsistent
- Neglect emotion
- Ignore the existing legacy of your brand
- Ignore your team
- Ignore your customers
- Make radical changes too quickly
Five Powerful Rebranding Tips to Retain Customers
- Communicate. Successful rebranding requires transparency, and you must keep your clients and customers in the loop about changes you’re about to make to your vision, mission, values, operations, identity, and anything else thatis being reimagined. Use emails, newsletters, social media posts, in-store advertising, and personal correspondence (especially for B2B companies) to make sure they feel valued, included, and can join in the excitement of what’s going to be fresh and new. This includes letting them know why and how this is all going to unfold. Sneak peeks and updates help build excitement and foster loyalty. Once you’ve launched, seek feedback!
- Address Concerns. Most people are resistant to change. Some of your customers may have concerns about your rebrand. Address these directly, promptly, patiently, and with clarity and empathy.
- Reward Loyalty. Provide your existing customers with incentives to remain loyal to your business. By demonstrating that you value their support and ongoing patronage to date, survey and ask them how they feel about your brand. What do they love? What could you do better? What would they like to see from you in the future? Update your loyalty or rewards program and ensure this coincides with your rebrand, taking them with you.
- Explain. Tell your customers why you’ve rebranded and make sure this is done in a way that resonates with them. What this means is highlighting the positive impacts for them that your rebrand will deliver – enhanced services, better products, value alignment, etc.
- Be Consistent. The rollout of your new brand needs to be fast, efficient, and seamless across all channels. You don’t want your old brand and your fresh brand to be in use concurrently, so make sure you get rid of the old once the new has been launched.
The Most Successful Rebrands Ever
Just a few notable, transformative rebranding examples include:
- McDonald’s McCafe. Traditionally, McDonald’s was all about burgers, fries, kids’ birthday parties, and vibrant, silly characters (Ronald, Hamburgler, Grimace). The introduction of McCafe, however, to the Melbourne, Australia CBD McDonald’s in 1993, changed the brand and the game. The design brief at the time for marketers was to “Make McDonald’s more like Starbucks” – and it worked. While the traditional fare and the kids’ parties remained, the fast-food restaurant (and ultimately its empire) became significantly more upscale and appealed to a much wider demographic. McCafe is now a global phenomenon with more than 1000 McCafes in Australia and thousands more in 60 countries worldwide.
- Wal-Mart rebranded to become Walmart in 2008; this barely made a blip on the consumer radar at the time. But time was of the essence in this rebrand, and that new brand identity has stood the testof time. The “Walmart Spark” is now recognized worldwide as the slogan change from “Always low prices” to “Save money. Live better.” Was truly inspired.
- This 2011 rebrand was about stripping back and simplifying its identity. From Starbucks Coffee to Starbucks, the initial response to this rebrand was negative, but it aligned perfectly with the company’s need to introduce new products, nod to environmental responsibility, and appeal to a wider customer pool. The new brand added diverse, exciting new product lines, introduced a loyalty scheme, and made the coffee-buying experience more personal and like a community.
Other incredibly successful rebrands include Airbnb, Barbie, LEGO, Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC, LinkedIn, Duolingo, Facebook to Meta, Apple Computer to Apple Inc, and Dunkin’ Donuts to Dunkin’.
Embark on a Successful Rebranding Strategy with Twelve12
2026 is going to be a huge and exciting year in life and in business, and there is no better time to refresh, revamp, or rebrand for new opportunities, unparalleled visibility online, and a dynamic launching pad for your business’s growth and evolution.
At Twelve12, we know branding and marketing inside-out – and we are your ideal partner for creative, savvy, effective rebranding!
Whether you are a large corporation, a government agency, a local restaurant, an attorney, an insurance company, a doctor or dentist, a car dealership, a nightclub, a beauty salon, a builder, an electrician, a veterinarian, a place of worship, an ecommerce retailer, a hotel, a local food truck, or anything in between, we can and will deliver successful rebranding processes for you!
Take the first step – Get in touch with us now!
+1 (949) 288 6790 +1 (844) twelve12 [email protected]