Appearance is the soul of a company. First impressions count and you naturally want to convey the values that your company stands for in the best possible way. But what drives companies to carry out a rebranding? I would like to start this article with the following question:
Which of the two companies do you associate with modern and innovative electrical appliances?
Let me guess, they choose the right company. The funny thing is that it's one and the same company. Only the Branding has changed significantly over the years. Everything around us is changing, everything is evolving - by everything I really mean everything - including the appearance of companies!
Over the years, companies often come to the point where the question arises as to whether the brand image still conveys the values it should.
Design is the silent ambassador of your brand - Paul Rand
Why does a rebranding make sense?
Many companies invest in future technology and continue to develop, but forget that the external appearance must also match this. It is not uncommon for companies to wonder why their competitors are doing better, even though they essentially offer the same or even worse services. One of the reasons for this may be that the competition also takes care to constantly adapt their image to changes over time. They take care to convey the values of your company to the outside world. Even industry giants are rethinking their brand: Pepsi has already changed its logo ten times, Apple four times and Google six times.
Reasons for rebranding
Realignment
While your goals and mission as a company may have evolved over time to meet the unique needs and challenges of your customers, your brand may no longer clearly reflect this. By changing or evolving your image, your corporate personality or your target audience, you can attract new customers and generate new interest from your existing customers with a customised look and feel.
Stand out from your competitors
Rebranding can be the most effective way to differentiate your company's exclusive offerings and approach from the competition. Differentiating your brand shows potential customers that your services are unique and that you are the experts.
Stay up to date
Rebranding often has a simple goal: to keep your brand up to date. Design trends play an important role in how potential or current customers perceive your business and all it has to offer. Making sure your look is always up to date shows your customers that you're paying attention. But beware: don't follow every trend. Constantly changing your appearance can lead to a reduction in your recognition value and make you less credible.
Standardise your brand
Over a period of time, inconsistent designs often creep into the various advertising materials. Perhaps the design has been changed from time to time over the last few years, but never consistently. The design manual was ignored or never created. A standardised and consistently adhered to Corporate Design can set the record straight.
Added value for your company
Good branding has been proven to add value to a company. People are generally more likely to pay for a branded product than for something that is largely unbranded or has a cheap-looking brand.
A possible new beginning
In business, things don't always go according to plan. A company can get bad press for small mistakes, or when an employee makes a bad decision that affects the entire organisation. It can be very difficult to shake off this reputation. A corporate rebrand with a new image and new messaging can provide the fresh start a company needs.
Disadvantages of rebranding
As nice as the whole thing sounds, rebranding does not only have advantages. Of course, there are also disadvantages. If the rebranding is too radical, the whole thing can initially be confusing for regular customers - after all, they have associated your company with the same look for many years. Press releases and announcements in social media can help prepare regular customers for the change and give you the opportunity to explain your decision in detail - and demonstrate the benefits.
Rebranding can also be very expensive. Depending on how long you have been on the market, there are many details that need to be replaced and redesigned. Every changed element needs to be carried across all marketing channels (website, social media, signage, workwear, business cards, etc.) to keep the new brand image consistent. The decision to rebrand should therefore not be taken lightly.
Examples
Apple
I would like to show you a few examples. The first example is the Apple logo I mentioned at the beginning. The first Apple logo was created by Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne in 1976. He was already dissatisfied with it in 1977 and hired a designer. Since then, the logo has changed several times.
Amazon
We continue with the example of Amazon. While the first logo of what was then the "world's largest bookstore" is still appropriately reminiscent of a book cover, today's logo has an arrow pointing from "A" to "Z" - which is intended to indicate that you can get everything "from A to Z" at Amazon. A great example of how the branding has adapted to the development of the company.
GAP
As a negative example, I would like to show you a failed rebranding. The company in question is GAP. GAP changed its logo virtually overnight without prior notice in the middle of the 2010 Christmas season. Customers reacted with a violent shitstorm and it took less than a week before the company decided to keep the old logo.
Merck
Another good negative example is the rebranding of Merck. The world's oldest chemical and pharmaceutical company has developed a new logo as part of its reorganisation. "Merck has changed fundamentally over the past ten years," was the background to the whole thing. Unfortunately, the logo was not well received and was heavily criticised. The logo in no way conveys the experience and standing that a company founded in 1668 should have.
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Microsoft has also changed the logo of its Internet Explorer browser several times over the years. In 2015, Internet Explorer was even replaced by Edge. Was this due to the browser's outdated image? Regardless of this, a new logo was introduced this year after 4 years. If you invert the logo and rotate it 180°, it strongly resembles the logo of the Firefox browser, one of its biggest competitors. Pretty stupid. There were plenty of memes on the Internet making fun of it. Will Microsoft back down here?
wirkungswerk
I would like to conclude this article with what we think is the best rebranding of all time. This is our own logo. After a few versions in which the logo became simpler and more minimalist, it was time for a more radical rebranding. We have developed a completely new logo for our 5th anniversary - you will soon find out more about the background and meaning in a separate blog post!
Closing words
Now is the time to consider whether and how you want to carry out your own rebranding. Does your image still convey the values you stand for? Transfer all the points mentioned to your company and consider whether a rebranding makes sense. Of course, we will be on hand with help and advice!