Navigating the Rebranding Maze: Successes, Failures, and Essential Strategies

The power of rebranding and why businesses do it

Rebranding is a strategic decision that involves changing a company's name, logo, visual identity, or even its entire corporate philosophy to better align with its evolving goals or target audience. It's a necessary adaptation for staying relevant in a fast-paced, ever-changing business landscape.

Businesses that nailed their rebranding

Petco

In Autumn 2020 Petco, the company whose initial mission was to sell pet supplies, decided to undergo a brand transformation and focus on the overall well-being of pets instead.

As American pet owners tend to treat their pets like family, this change was very sensible. By emphasising on pets’ mental, physical, social, home, and accessible health, the company took a holistic approach to animal wellness that helped them stand out in the market, and most importantly, resonated with pet owners.

To further support their mission pivot, Petco discontinued the production and sale of electronic “shock” collars as they cause extreme suffering and distress for the furry friends.

Additionally, Petco made significant changes to their brand identity, including colour palette, typography, packaging design and their brand mascot characters.

The colour change from bright red and bright blue has changed to navy blue which is very logical, considering the colour psychology of the colour red signifies strength, power, and excitement, whereas navy is the colour of trust, loyalty and serenity, and it aligns better with the company’s new values.

While there have been changes and updates, some elements from the original design have been preserved or incorporated into the new version.

In terms of typography, they’ve retained some of the soft corners on the ‘p’ and the ‘t’, and as for their mascot characters – they’ve removed them from the logo, and they have updated the colours to navy, aligning it more closely to the brand’s identity. However, they have retained the original concept of having a cat and a dog as mascots, promoting brand recognition among their existing customer base.

Dunkin'

In 2019, the well-known donut company announced its rebrand, and changed its name to “Dunkin’”. The change was inspired from their ambition to expand their product focus beyond donuts, including coffee, breakfast sandwiches, croissants and more. Dropping ‘Donuts’ from their name was an impressively brave move, considering their reputation is built on donuts.

The brand recognised that consumer preferences were constantly evolving and wanted to stay relevant and compete with giants from the food and beverage industry like Starbucks and McDonald’s, instead of playing it safe and continue identifying as a donut shop.

At the same time, ‘Dunkin’’ was consistent with the overall feel of the brand which is essentially joyful, delightful, and inviting. The brand achieved this by preserving the candy-like colour palette, as well as the typeface.

Learning from mistakes

Twitter's rebranding failure

Twitter’s rebrand from July 2023 was definitely one of the most controversial rebrands we’ve seen. According to Elon Musk, who is the current CEO of the company, Twitter has been acquired by X Corp “both to ensure freedom of speech and as an accelerant for X, the everything app”.

With this, he emphasised that this is not a simple rename of the company, but it is a fundamental mission shift, indicating Twitter’s plans to introduce comprehensive communications and financial capabilities.

In response to this announcement, there was an immediate backlash from the public, with 67% of Twitter users having a negative reaction to the rebrand and saying that the move “makes no sense”.

Musk sparked up discussions about the essence of the platform, and more specifically the connection between its name and the activities happening within it. “What is the name ‘Twitter’ then? And why should you ‘tweet’?” It is quite unlikely that people will soon be referring to sharing Xs or re-Xing.

Essentially, what went wrong was the lack of logical reasoning behind this abrupt change that caught Twitter’s users by surprise. Critics argue that the platform, which once boasted a loyal fanbase, has been transformed into something entirely unfamiliar and disconnected from its original audience, making it irrelevant to its core users.

What brands often get wrong

Lack of research

A big mistake can be underestimating the importance of research ahead of time. It involves understanding your audience, analysing where your brand is positioned in the market among competitors, assessing your brand's current perception, aligning your internal culture, testing and validating rebranding elements, and anticipating potential risks.

Research sets clear objectives, informs budget and resource allocation, and prepares for possible crises. Neglecting research can lead to misaligned rebranding efforts, missed opportunities, and damage to your brand's reputation. Remember that a company rebrand is not always the best solution and it is sometimes not even needed.

Inconsistent messaging

Leaving customers confused about the brand’s identity and values. It is important that the new branding is incredibly clear. To achieve that, you need to be fully aware of your brand’s DNA, including identity, mission, and vision. Rebranding is more than just changing your logo and your colours, it’s what your customers think and how they feel about your brand. Forgetting or miscommunicating who you are and why you exist can cause a lot of confusion and mistrust from your customers. You need to have a consistent tone to manage to retain your existing customer base and encourage brand loyalty.

Tactics for a successful rebrand

Know and engage your audience

Understand your current and target audience thoroughly. What do they value? What are their preferences? What do they like most about your brand?

Involve your customers in the rebranding journey. Be transparent about your intentions and ideas – this way your audience will trust you more and will feel valued. Not only that but they can give you valuable insights and feedback.

Make gradual changes

Avoid abrupt changes that can cause confusion in the market, as well as, alienate loyal customers who already identify with your original branding. It’s important to implement a smooth transition into a new brand image so that your audience doesn’t feel overwhelmed by all sudden changes.

In case you want to make drastic changes, try to keep certain elements from the original image, such as fonts or core colours. This will help your audience make an easy connection between what they already know and believe in, and what you want them to know about your company now. Still, be cautious about this because sudden changes can cause people to not recognise the new brand and alienate.

Time to rebrand?

Rebranding could seem like an intimidating challenge, but it can yield significant rewards when executed thoughtfully. Remember, the key is to stay true to your brand's essence while evolving to meet the changing needs of your audience.

These examples and insights are applicable to businesses across diverse industries and could serve as valuable guidelines for anyone considering a rebranding journey.