Five Signs it’s Time for a Brand Refresh

A recent study found that 75% of U.S. companies plan to refresh their brand within the next five years. What’s driving the need for three quarters of businesses to rethink or even completely reinvent themselves? In a word: Change.

Today’s pace and magnitude of change are unprecedented. Consider that it took about eight decades for telephone coverage to become ubiquitous in America. About a decade later, six billion people had a mobile phone . . . and today fewer than 40% of households have a land line.

All businesses face change because change is inevitable. What happens with most companies (particularly those in the technology arena) is they evolve beyond their original core business. And yet, perceptions about who they are and what they do fail to change with them. They remain fixed in the past. Customers, partners, analysts, and talent can have jaded, out-of-date perceptions about a company that depress the brand’s value and ability to compete.

In the last 10 years, our agency had helped about 75 B2B technology clients update their brand. To be clear, the majority of these projects didn’t center around creating a new logo, advertising campaign or tagline. Those are often components built into a comprehensive, message-first brand strategy that’s rooted in a fundamental, data-driven evaluation of the brand itself, its customers and its competitors.

Looking back on our audits of these brands, which included organizations ranging from small businesses to multi-national corporations, we’ve identified five common and recurring driving forces behind the need to rebrand or refresh a brand.

Competitive Pressure and Commoditization

Competitors eventually catch up and market parity becomes a cold, hard reality. How do you create brand differentiation when a slew of competitors more or less do the same thing? The approach many companies take is to workshop it out, taking a deep inward-facing look at the product portfolio — desperately trying to identify features or functions that are different or more advanced. These efforts often prove futile as “me-too” competitors eventually will close those gaps, too.

Rather than trying to find elusive points of difference, smart brands in crowded categories instead seek distinction over differentiation. They own a position in the market that’s based on a higher purpose that resonates with audiences — and express that purpose through sharp messaging and unique look, feel and tone. By shifting your brand story from “what you make” to “why you make it” and “why customers should care,” you can regain lost ground.

Mergers and Acquisitions

According to Harvard Business Review, 70-90% of all mergers and acquisitions fail to accomplish the objectives they set out to. As businesses are absorbed into a corporate brand or brands merge to become something new, understanding the power of the collective assets is essential.

In any integration of brands, there’s a bumpy period during which the two organizations become one. Unfortunately, many organizations remain stuck in a we/they cultural mindset. Any brand strategy that’s driven by the need to merge multiple entities into one, must begin with a well-articulated mission, vision and set of shared values.

Technology Transformation

Technology is constantly evolving. New innovations, product developments and solution launches can completely shift the strategic direction of a brand. As tech-driven businesses incorporate machine learning, IoT and artificial intelligence into their solutions, it can radically alter your go-to-market strategy and messaging.

When products and technologies evolve, brands also may see an opportunity to reach into new adjacent markets or regions. This requires research into new competitors, personas and messaging strategies. Relevant data, strategic insights and stakeholder interviews across functional leadership roles is the best path for alignment and a successful outcome.

Leadership Change

Business leaders come and go. According to a 2022 study, the average tenure for an executive is 4.9 years. New leaders bring new ideas and strategic plans for how the company should compete and grow, which directly impacts the brand.

CEOs and CMOs, in particular, are often eager to put the brand under the magnifying glass. They will want to understand what’s working and what’s not. Rather than seeking agency partners that are narrowly focused on logo and identity refreshes, new leaders will be better served by firms that provide a more holistic framework for brand revitalization that starts with brand messaging and positioning and provides a modern design aesthetic that is true to the brand’s history.

Complexity and Confusion

Complexity is an unavoidable byproduct of growth and change. New products are developed. New divisions are created. New markets are pursued. Over time, the brands and messages coagulate into garbled mess that confuses customers and distorts how they perceived the company as a whole. From a visual perspective, the company’s identity often veers from its original design intent to become noisy and inconsistent.

A comprehensive brand strategy will assess all the products, services and sub-brands within your portfolio. It will create a logical taxonomy and ultimately distill your complex product or service offering into something that is clear, simple and resonant with customers.

If your business is going through any of these five situations involving change, contact us today to discover how we can help you navigate your brand transformation. Or to learn more about how to get started with a message-first brand strategy, download our ebook.