What is the purpose of rebranding?

What is the purpose of rebranding?

The purpose of a rebrand is to close the gap between the business you’ve become and the one people still see.

Most B2B businesses don’t rebrand because they’re bored of their logo. They rebrand because something has changed. They’ve grown, merged, moved into new markets or changed what they sell, and the brand is still describing the old version.

That gap costs money. People price you on what they see, so if you look smaller or older than you are, you get left off shortlists you should be on, and nobody tells you why.

A rebrand done properly fixes the gap at the source: who you’re for, what you stand for and how you say it, and then how all of that looks.

What a rebrand actually changes

A logo is how you’re recognised. A design system is how you’re trusted.

Plenty of people think the logo is the brand, and that a new one will change how people see the business. It won’t, on its own.

A rebrand that works changes four things, in this order:

1. Your positioning. Who you’re for, what you sell them and why they should choose you.
2. Your messaging. Your value pillars turned into words your team can use, with what to say to each audience.
3. Your identity. Logo, type and colour, but more importantly the system behind them: how the brand is applied to everything, so it always looks considered.
4. Everything it touches. The website, proposals, decks, templates, signage and the rest, rolled out so it all says the same thing.

The consistency across all of that is what builds trust. It’s never just “we want the colour pink or blue”. It’s also why we don’t take on logo-only projects. If the logo is changing, there has to be a reason, and it has to be part of a bigger picture.

Why do companies choose to rebrand?

The good reasons all start with a change in the business, not a change in taste.

These are the reasons we see most often in B2B businesses:

• You’ve outgrown it. The brand was built for a smaller business and now makes you look smaller than you are.
• You’ve merged or acquired. Two or more brands need to become one, or need a clear family structure.
• You’ve changed what you sell, or who to. New services, new sectors or a move upmarket, and the brand only describes the old offer.
• You’re losing to firms that look more credible. Your work is better than your presence, and the shortlists say so.
• New leadership, new direction. The strategy has changed, and the brand needs to say where you’re going rather than where you’ve been.

The reasons that don’t justify a rebrand

A rebrand won’t fix a problem that isn’t about the brand.

Some reasons sound convincing but rarely end well:

• “We’re bored of it.” You see your brand every day. Your buyers don’t. Recognition you’ve built over years is worth more than a change of scene.
• “A competitor just rebranded.” Copying their timing doesn’t give you their reasons.
• “A new logo will sort out sales.” If the message is muddled, a new logo carries the same muddle in a nicer typeface.
• “We just need a logo.” This usually comes from start-ups that need something from scratch and don’t yet have the budget for the thinking behind it. That’s a fair place to be, but a logo on its own won’t do the job you’re hoping it will.

When should a company consider rebranding?

When the business has changed and the brand hasn’t caught up.

A few signs it’s time to look properly:

• You apologise for the website before you send the link.
• Sales has quietly rewritten the deck because the official one doesn’t fit.
• Nobody can find the right logo file, and three versions of the same document look unrelated.
• Ask three people what you do and you get three answers.

Sometimes the answer is a refresh rather than a rebrand: you keep what you stand for and update how it looks. Sometimes it’s neither, and the problem is the messaging. Finding out which costs very little. Getting it wrong costs a lot. Our rebrand audit gives you a straight answer, or you can start with the free 9-step rebrand audit yourself.

What makes a successful rebrand?

The thinking comes first, the design second, and the measuring never stops.

• You audit before you design. You find out what’s working and what people recognise before anyone throws it away.
• Positioning and messaging are agreed first. Design gets judged against a decision instead of personal taste, and sign-off stops being a fight. We won’t design anything until the strategy is done.
• You get a system your team can run. Every file, and guidelines written to be used rather than admired, so it stays consistent after the agency has gone.
• You know what you expected to change. Launch day isn’t the end of a rebrand. It’s when you find out if you were right. More on that in how to measure a rebrand.

How much does a rebrand cost?

It depends on how much needs to change, which is why the audit comes first.

A refresh of an identity that’s broadly right costs far less than a full rebrand with new positioning, messaging, identity and website. What drives the cost is the number of things the brand has to work across, how many audiences or divisions it serves, and how much of the thinking is already done.

We quote rebrands rather than list a price, because the audit decides how much needs to change. If you only need a new identity, brand identity starts from £5,555.

We set out what’s included and what it costs on our rebranding services page. If you need to get it signed off first, here’s how to build the business case for a rebrand.