What is Rebranding? Strategies and Processes to Rebrand Your Company in 2025

Rebranding can be challenging but may also be critical to ongoing success. A company must have a good reason for it. Rebrands are complex and can introduce some risks, especially for established brands with a strong brand image. Even large organizations can make rebranding mistakes. All you may need is a brand refresh to help your company grow. In other cases, you may need more comprehensive rebranding.

What is Rebranding?

It is the process of changing a brand’s identity. It may involve just changing a logo or a slogan. It may also involve rethinking the whole brand image. Many different elements combine to create the perception of a brand.

The amount of rebranding a company requires will depend on various factors. One of these is the size of a company, and the other is the reason. A rebrand can give a company new impetus but must complement its overall business strategies.

Why Do Companies Rebrand?

A company may decide to rebrand for a variety of reasons. It may be to revitalize a brand image, promote new products, or reposition it in a changing market.

• A company may have outgrown its branding. What worked in the past may not connect as well with customers anymore. It may need a more modern, professional look to appeal to a new generation of consumers.
• Current brand messaging may not resonate with a new target demographic. Repositioning of the brand may be necessary to appeal to a different customer segment.
• Rebranding may be necessary to change negative brand perceptions. In the event of a public relations crisis of some kind, it can help to restore public trust.
• The company may have acquired or merged with other businesses. Structural changes may necessitate rebranding, which will include visual integration to create a more cohesive identity.
• The company may be shifting its product or service offerings. Product branding helps to draw attention to new products and ensure customers start talking about them.
• A company may need to respond to changing market needs. Digital transformation has led many companies to completely change the way they operate. Online stores have different branding needs than physical ones. Their visual identity is very important.

Tiffany’s & Co. is an iconic brand, but it needed revitalization to appeal to younger generations. This shows that a large, successful brand can suffer from an outdated brand image. Tiffany’s successfully rebranded and is still going strong today.

Key Considerations Before Rebranding Your Business

If you don’t have very clear reasons for rebranding, you should not do it. You should only change what definitely needs fixing. You may only need to adjust your visual identity to suit new markets or offerings. A total rebrand may be necessary if you have a complete identity crisis. The first step is to conduct a brand audit to determine what strategy you should follow.

• Understand your current brand perception – Assess the current positioning of your brand and perceptions about it. You must fully understand its current position to decide where you want to take it. In some cases, a full rebrand may confuse customers and negatively affect your brand equity. A brand audit will provide information about the measures you need to take and help you plan the scope. How long the rebranding process takes will depend on the scope of the project.

Defining a clear brand archetype can also guide the rebranding process, ensuring that all elements align with the core personality of the business. 

• Establish specific goals – What is the core purpose behind rebranding your business? Do you want to modernize the look of your brand? Or do you want your company’s brand design to be more representative of the essence of your company? Do you want to appeal to a new audience or re-engage existing customers? Is your goal to stay relevant in a changing market? When you identify your goals, it helps you to stay on track. If you don’t have goals, it is hard to measure how successful the process was at a later stage.
• Set the optimal time for all processes – A detailed implementation plan will include the steps and timeline for rollout. Without this, you may encounter delays and setbacks. The plan should include internal communications, digital channels, marketing materials, and more. You must define key milestones and decide who will take on different responsibilities.

When You Definitely Need Rebranding: Common Reasons

In some situations, your company will need a complete rebrand. You will need to rebrand if your customers have lost their trust in your company. It may take some creative strategies to restore their loyalty.

• Keep up with social changes

Social changes influence markets and consumer preferences. The relevance of your brand depends on how you respond to social changes. Ignoring social changes can be a big mistake. If some elements of your branding are no longer acceptable, you need to change them. Aunt Jemima needed to change its name due to accusations of cultural appropriation. It now has the name Pearl Milling Company and is working on empowering and uplifting black women. Some of the public outcries may seem petty, but brands can’t afford to ignore consumers, especially when they relate to race or social inequality.

• Overcome negative perceptions

You may need to rebrand to shed bad connotations and promote a new brand story. Environmental scandals or data breaches are some reasons. BP’s oil spill necessitated work on a rebranding strategy due to negative public perceptions of the company. Burberry’s was a luxury brand famous for its trench coats. It had to undergo rebranding to shed negative perceptions of being ‘a brand for gangsters’. It successfully embraced a modern aesthetic and extended its product range with some youthful designs. It also used extensive digital marketing to promote the changes.

• Avoid confusion with competitors

As there are so many brands today, it can sometimes be difficult for customers to distinguish one from another. If branding is generic, brand recognition can be hard. If customers often confuse your brand with a competitor, the confusion isn’t good for your brand reputation. It can cause damage to your brand and confuse it with another brand, especially if it’s one you would rather not be associated with.

You will need to evaluate the similarity of your logo, colors, and other elements of your brand’s visual identity with those of others. To differentiate your brand, you may have to change certain elements and make sure you tell a different brand story. A distinct message unique to your company can help to distinguish your brand from others.

Rebrand Your Business Successfully: The Best Strategies

Discovering what makes your brand different from others can take time. You need to take this time if you want a rebrand plan to be successful. What helps is getting the perspective of your customers. You can use polls and surveys to find out exactly what attracts them to your brand. This can give you a good foundation for your rebranding strategy.

If you go without a plan, you can waste plenty of time and money. You need to approach the process methodically. It isn’t just some design exercise. You can’t just create a new logo and think that is enough. If you can’t come up with a brief that outlines your direction, brand positioning, and your key messages, it’s better not to go ahead at all.

Do a Competitor Analysis Before Rebranding

Understand what differentiates your brand from competitors. You need to know what makes your customers want to buy your products or services. If they can’t see why they should buy from you rather than your competition, you have a problem. You may need a rebrand to show customers reasons to buy from you. You may have a perspective or vision that others don’t have. Your prices may be lower for the quality you offer. Your values, such as a focus on sustainability, maybe what will attract customers.

Also, evaluate your website design and compare it to your competitors before rebranding. To do this, it’s necessary to conduct a comprehensive website design audit.

Do Rebranding Similar to Brand Values

Keep your brand values in mind. They should always be consistent and clearly visible. You may outgrow certain values and want to prioritize new ones, but you have to be very careful if you decide to change them. Customers who relate to your brand values are often the ones most loyal to your company.

Weight Watchers was well known as a weight loss company but decided to change its emphasis to wellness rather than weight loss. The intentions behind the decision weren’t bad, but the company failed to execute the change. It misjudged the emotional connection customers feel when it comes to their weight loss journey. The company’s customers felt confused and lost due to the change.

Refresh Visual Elements

The homepage design of your website can improve or detract from brand awareness. It is critical that each element showcases your brand identity and tells your brand story. This includes visual elements such as your images, brand colors, and typography. You may need to refresh visual elements such as your color palette or imagery if they don’t provide the impact you want. Creating a visual style guide will help you to maintain a consistent digital presence. All creatives can use this guide to implement visual identity changes in a consistent manner.

Logo Rebranding

The main element is changing a logo. The main reason to change a logo is to match up with a new brand identity. Large competitive companies like soft drink companies or burger brands will sometimes spend millions on changing a logo. A new logo can symbolize a new era for a company. It can impact growth and profit when it is done successfully. Go Daddy updated its logo from an outdated style in 2020. The bold, modern new design reflects the tastes of its customers who pushed for the change.

Update Brand Messaging and Communication

You will need to revise your brand messaging to align with your new identity. Your brand voice may have to change in terms of its tone and even the vocabulary you use. You may want to make it more casual than before so it resonates with a younger audience. Your brand personality informs your brand voice and design language.

Rebrand Your Online Presence

You may have to redesign your website and change certain aspects of your visual branding. Your strategy needs to be comprehensive so you can apply it across every online touchpoint. It should cover everything from the user interface (UI) on your website to the tone of voice in your messaging.

Every online platform, including your social media profiles, has to reflect your new branding. Too many companies fail to roll out new branding across all their online channels. This affects the consistency of the customer experience.

Make a Loud Statement After Rebranding

You need to use every avenue to ensure that all stakeholders know about your efforts. This may involve running advertisements and making announcements on your website and social networks. It’s essential that everyone, from your brand employees to your customers, knows about your new brand image and why you made the changes.

Step-by-step Rebranding Process

The rebranding strategy will look a little different for every company based on size, what needs changing, etc. However, the basic process takes five main steps.

Current Brand Analysis

You will need to conduct some objective research rather than just going on a whim. This will involve some market analysis to collect information about developing industry trends, market gaps, and the habits and preferences of consumers. If you want to move into a new market, include research on your new target market. You will also need an objective perspective on the current perception of your brand. You can’t just go on internal perceptions. Otherwise, you could rebrand using incorrect assumptions. A grasp of the current market, an analysis of customer perception, and your brand’s position will help you shape your approach.

Goal Setting and Strategy Definition

The goal is to increase your connection with your target audiences and their trust. You need to decide on your specific goals for the rebrand and what message you want to convey. These will depend on your reasons for rebranding, such as improving your market position or revitalizing your brand image. You should base your branding strategies on research, careful assessment, and planning. By taking time to find out what makes your brand memorable, you can leverage its best points in your branding strategy.

Developing New Brand Concepts

You will need to decide whether you need to develop new brand concepts. If there are aspects of your current branding that work, there is no reason to change them. Outline what aspects of branding you think you can improve on. It will help to work with an affordable web design company. Designers can help establish a visual identity that reflects your brand personality. Your website will reflect your new brand concepts. You will also have guidelines that can help you implement them across all the platforms you choose.

Testing and Feedback

Testing is essential to ensure you get it right. It’s helpful to test your ideas with a small pilot market before rolling them out on a large-scale basis. Otherwise, you may risk a rebrand having the opposite effect to what you expect.

You should test different elements, such as logo variations, with selected audiences. This allows you to gather useful feedback. You can identify areas where you can make improvements. Iteratively refining all the elements will help ensure they resonate with your customers. When you create new products, you must undergo a prototyping process. Developing them may involve much testing to ensure customers will be happy with them. The process of testing all the branding elements is similar. You need to make sure you impress customers rather than alienate them.

Finalizing the Brand

It usually takes some time and plenty of revisions to finalize your ideas. You should contact stakeholders and investors ahead of time. You will need to inform them about rebranding meaning, the advantages, and how it fits with the long-term company goals. Their input and feedback can provide new perspectives. It also ensures they will be on board when the changes roll out.

Everyone in your company should be aware of upcoming changes and why you are implementing them. Employees may need training and materials to help them implement your new brand identity. Ensuring they have guidelines to adhere to will ensure consistency in execution.

Implementing the New Brand

When you implement your new brand, you should consider factors such as market readiness before you launch. You should also make sure you introduce your rebrand in a way that respects your customers.

You will need to implement brand changes across all your channels, from your website to your social media channels. If you can do this all at once, it will help ensure a smoother transition.

You can use a combination of media for the promotion of your new brand image. This can include email campaigns, website announcements, webinars, press releases, and even paid campaigns on social media.

What to Avoid During the Rebranding Process

Knowing how to rebrand a company isn’t always straightforward. There are times when it can backfire and have a negative effect on your brand image. You can’t just start because you feel it’s the right time. Coming up with a new philosophy doesn’t mean it will resonate with customers. You can’t afford to lose touch with what your company is all about and send mixed messages about who you are or what you do. It is a process that requires a clear vision and strategic thinking. Careful planning ensures a company’s current customer base receives it well. Here are some of the reasons why it may fail.

• Ignoring your brand’s core values

When you ignore your core values or your core audience in your rebranding strategies, you could be in trouble. Applebee’s is known as a family-orientated restaurant. When it rebranded as a more modern, sophisticated establishment and added dishes to attract millennials, it missed the mark and alienated its core audience. You need to make sure you retain brand equity in the process.

• Blindly chasing trends

Your rebranding strategy shouldn’t be based on chasing trends. Trying to keep up with trends can lead to generic and forgettable results. For a while, many brands have been doing away with complex logos and opting for more minimalistic ones. However, it could be a mistake for some complex to embrace simpler, more abstract logos. Their customers may not appreciate a change away from a logo with which they identify strongly.

• Lack of a clear plan with rebranding stages

If every stage isn’t carefully considered, it may scare your current customers away. In 2010, GAP decided to change its logo for no apparent reason. Execution was haphazard, and the new design was more generic than the old one. Customers who had a bond with the logo voiced their disapproval. GAP realized its mistake and quickly went back to the old design.

• Overcomplicating new design

Making drastic changes to company rebranding strategies isn’t always a good idea. Altering elements such as packaging can affect brand recognition. Tropicana decided to adjust its packaging design to appeal to a younger audience. It replaced its familiar image of a juicy orange with a more abstract design. Customers were dismayed, and the brand decided to return to its original packaging.

Key Factors to Measure Your Rebranding Efforts

After you introduce a rebrand, you need to measure its impact. You must keep your initial goals in mind to see whether you have achieved them. Is there a change in brand awareness or customer engagement? Monitoring changes can help you to gauge success. You may also identify areas that need even further improvements.

The example of metrics:

Let’s get into detail!

Monitor Customer Inquiries and Interest Levels

Customers’ interests and inquiries can give you insights into how they are responding to changes. Using brand management tools, social listening, and analysis can help you measure sentiment following a rebrand. You can also look at key performance indicators and check for metrics such as an increase in the number of followers or more conversions.

Conduct Brand Tracking Surveys Before and After the Rebrand

Brand tracking surveys can help you evaluate customer sentiment pre- and post-rebrand. With a custom brand tracking survey, you can even segment an audience and get the perception of a specific group. For example, you may be able to discover how younger audiences are reacting to changes. You may use product tracking surveys to identify customer perspectives on new products.

By using surveys and focus groups, you can gather customer feedback. You can ask customers directly about your brand messaging and what they think of it. Overlooking customer feedback and sentiment can lead to a lack of trust. Paying attention to metrics that matter and tracking them over time is the only way to find out whether your efforts are successful. It also enables you to adapt quickly to any negative reactions to changes.

Compare Competitive Positioning pre- and post-Rebrand

Brand tracking also helps you to compare how you are doing in relation to your competitors after rebranding. You may find that perceptions of your brand are improving, and customers are beginning to rate it higher than competitors. You may even find your website starts ranking higher after a rebrand. You will need to re-evaluate your strategies if you don’t see the changes you expect.

Evaluate Web Traffic and Online Conversions

Google Analytics is useful for analyzing the performance of your efforts. The data gives you insights into how your campaigns resonate with customers and how successful they are in terms of conversions. You can see whether website views increase and whether clicks are from a new audience demographic. You can see how a rebrand affects your revenue and if it leads to upselling or cross-selling.

It helps to wait about six months or so and then revisit metrics. At this time, you will be able to clearly identify more website traffic, customer demand, and other forms of engagement.

Examples of Successful Rebranding

Zoom is a video conferencing platform that became very popular during the pandemic. It grew organically to include a whole suite of visual communication tools. It wanted to rebrand itself as more than just a messaging app. The rebrand included an animated logo. It shows its evolution from a chat app to a platform with communication tools like Zoom Whiteboard and Zoom Contact Center.

At the start of 2019, Dunkin’ Donuts changed its logo. It dropped the ‘Donuts’ in the name because it realized it was coffee rather than donuts that drove business. The new name paid homage to its heritage but was simpler and more modern. It kept the same colors and iconic font so long-time customers would still recognize the brand. The company still offered over 50 types of donuts but managed to attract a wider demographic with other offerings like coffee, sandwiches, bagels, and muffins.

Uber launched a rebrand in 2018. The company had tried rebranding unsuccessfully before and listened to feedback from drivers and passengers. It wanted to be more relatable and accessible to consumers and steer away from its reputation as a luxury rideshare app. It changed its logo, typography, and tone of voice. The rebrand meant that Uber now appeals to a wider target audience than just business professionals.

In 2009, Domino’s was regarded as one of the worst pizza companies. It focused on changing what customers didn’t like about its pizzas. By 2016, its rebranding was so successful that it went from owning 9% of market share to 15%. Today, it is one of the only companies that uses chatbots to take customer orders via social media.

Rebranding by Duck Design: Crafting and Refreshing Your Brand’s Look!

Duck Design offers brand identity design services to help your company enhance the customer experience and build trust. Before you even think about rebranding, you need to ensure your brand strategy is strong. A good brand strategy not only guides visual identity but gives you a clear roadmap for building perceptions of your brand.

In a rebranding campaign, Duck Design will ensure that visual elements line up with your brand’s personality. When your brand’s visual identity is outdated, consumers can form the impression that your processes and other aspects are outdated, too. A new brand design can signal search engines that you’re innovative and attract new customers.

Duck Design pays attention to more than just aesthetics. Our seasoned outsourced designers will not only pay attention to the details of a logo design but also assess how it will represent the brand in the marketplace. Top-tier specialists from across the world offer consistent, quality graphic designs that improve the user experience (UX).

With so many touchpoints to consider, a full branding package from Duck Design will ensure that all visual elements work well together. It will capture your company’s identity, mission, values, and personality.

Conclusion

Rebranding is not about making a few quick cosmetic changes. It should be a proactive process with a clear strategic goal. Poor planning and execution can affect loyal customers and diminish brand equity. Executing the process seamlessly can give your brand new relevance and uncover new prospects for differentiation. The success of the process depends on thorough research, testing, and strategic implementation to ensure changes resonate with target audiences.