Time For a New Look?

Rebrands can refresh a business but are not to be undertaken half-heartedly or without a solid strategy, says Melissa Chevin.

Business is a high-stakes game at the best of times, but never more so when it comes to the rebrand. Get it right and you can revitalise a tired or fading brand, connect with new audiences and increase profits. Get it wrong and you may be left with utter confusion and alienated loyal customers.

But how do you measure the success of a rebrand? I think it depends on how successfully the operation fulfils its brief, since companies rebrand for many different reasons.

I thought it might be instructive to look back at some of the rebrands of the past, and try to draw some lessons from what worked – and what emphatically did not.

Different Class

Let’s start on the credit side. By 2009, traditional luxury brand Burberry had become burdened with an association with ‘chav’ culture. It undertook a massive overhaul of its designs and marketing to get away from that space, and re-establish itself as a top luxury brand. The company underwent further modernisation in 2018 by adopting a minimalist logo and shifting to an emphasis on sustainability.

On a rather humbler note, in 2019 Dunkin’ Donuts became simply Dunkin’ as it sought to position itself as a modern, fast-paced coffee destination to compete with the likes of Starbucks. And although donuts remain firmly on the Dunkin’ menu, their removal from the brand at a time when everyone was becoming more health-conscious was probably a smart, timely move.

Brand Gap

It doesn’t always go well, though. Remember Consignia, the brand adopted by Royal Mail for about three seconds before bosses realised no-one had the faintest idea what it meant?

Another rebrand which left many scratching their heads was Elon Musk’s decision to rename Twitter as ‘X’. The single-letter name does nothing to convey the platform’s identity and purpose, and the rebrand’s success can probably be judged by the number of media outlets still referring to it as ‘X, formerly Twitter’.

Even simple things can come back to bite you. When GAP attempted to modernise its logo in 2019, the change was met with an immediate backlash, forcing the company to revert to the original just six days later.

The lesson seems to be, by all means embrace change – but be very careful how you step forward.

Melissa Chevin is BPMA Board Director & Marketing Consultant with GF Consulting – mchevin@gf-consult.co.uk