6 ways to *not* nail a rebrand

Last year, I took on a new role as Head of Brand at Honest Mobile , the challenger network on a mission to do mobile right.?

My first task? To lead a full rebrand, complete with a new website and app.?

It’s a good thing I love a challenge.

On a more serious note, a rebrand is a big deal. For starters, you only have one shot – for a few years at least.?

After all, nobody’s going to trust a brand that changes every six months. Your team probably wouldn’t be all that keen on the idea, either.

With two rebrands now under my belt, it’s safe to say I’ve learnt a thing or two about how – and how not – to make it a success.?

So here you have it. 6 ways to not nail your rebrand.?

1. Skip the research?

Rebranding a business is exciting. And, as with anything exciting, that makes it easy to get carried away. To dive straight in and start talking about a boat sailing down the Thames or a collaboration with Claudia Winkleman.

But that’s like sticking quirky vases and wall prints in your new living room, without bothering to sort the flooring or furniture.?

People might poke their heads in, but they won’t stick around for long.?

Before you get into the creative part of rebranding, you need to do the groundwork.?

How is your brand currently seen? What are people saying about you? What are they not saying?

Over at Honest, we immersed ourselves in everything – the market, our customers, our competitors, our team – to understand where we were and where we wanted to be.

We interviewed our team, spoke to hundreds of customers, and dug deep into market data.?

After all, we can say we’re the network doing mobile right all we want. But if no one else is saying it, it’s not true.

2. Gloss over brand strategy

A brand without a strategy is like a house without foundations. It might have kerb appeal, but it’ll probably crumble at the first hint of breeze.

The good news is, once you’ve done your research, you’ll have plenty of juicy insights to feed your brand strategy.

Why does your business exist? Who for? How will it make life better for customers? Why should they believe you? How are you better than the competition??

These might feel like simple questions, but your answers could mean the difference between a successful brand that everyone loves – and one that doesn’t exist a year from now. Take your time getting them right.?

This positioning statement should help:

To [target audience], our product is the [category] that provides [benefits] because [reasons to believe].

And don’t overcomplicate it. As the saying goes: ‘if you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.’?

Once you’ve pinned down your positioning statement, define your brand personality and tone of voice.?

If your brand was a person at a party, who would they be? The party animal throwing shapes on the dancefloor? The glamorous enigma sipping champagne? The gatecrasher helping themselves to the bar when nobody’s looking?

Nail this down and – here’s the crucial bit – get buy-in from your key stakeholders. Even the best rebrand is doomed to failure if your senior leaders aren’t bought into it.

3. Follow the trends

With your brand strategy in place, now – and only now – you can figure out your brand identity.

It’s at this point someone in the room is likely to start talking about Apple or Airbnb. Proceed with caution here.

While there’s no denying the tech giants and their peers have set the gold standard for branding, simply following suit won’t destine you for the same success. It’s more likely to do the opposite.?

The likes of Apple and Airbnb became global juggernauts by being original, sticking to their strategy, and cutting through.?

Similarly, the success of your brand lies in being true to yourself and making a mark that others want to follow, not just mimic. The best brands are the most authentic.

Think about your brand personality when carving out your identity.

That party animal wouldn’t be wearing a buttoned up business suit. The glamorous enigma wouldn’t be in a high vis vest with mud-encrusted wellies. The rebel wouldn’t be in a pristine uniform.

How you visually present yourself to the world tells your story just as much as your words and actions do. Whether we like it or not, people really do judge a book (read: brand) by its cover.

4. Revamp everything, everywhere, all at once

Full disclosure: we made this mistake at Honest.

As well as fully rebranding, we decided to build a brand new website and app from scratch while we were at it.?

Turns out, that’s quite a lot of work. Especially when those pesky tech bugs crop up and throw a spanner in the timeline.?

Don’t get me wrong: we managed it and are super proud of the outcome. But we also could have saved ourselves late nights and extra stress with a more phased approach to rebranding while updating our tech infrastructure.

5. Launch your brand and consider it done

Spoiler alert: a rebrand isn’t the kind of project you can cross off your list once complete.

As the business and world around you keeps evolving, so too must your brand.?

And part of what informs this evolution should be measurement.?

Sure, your rebrand might have got a lot of love on LinkedIn, but has it moved the needle on business growth??

Implement key metrics that link to your overall business goals, and track how your brand is performing against them. If it’s not hitting the mark, consider why (more research will help here).?

Continuously refine your brand, backed up by data, to make sure it’s landing.?

And keep your colleagues on the journey.?

Because despite what a title like mine might have you believe, I don’t own Honest’s brand.?

It’s owned by every single person at Honest.?

After all, the Marketing team can write the best emails out there, but if customer support sounds completely different, or our contracts are impossible to understand, it all falls flat.?

A brand has to live across every single touchpoint.

6. Think every rebrand is the same

This one’s a reminder to my future self. Just as no two people are the same, every brand is different. While the same process – objectives > research > brand strategy > visual identity > execution > measurement – applies, each rebrand will bring its own nuances and challenges. That’s all part of fun.

Before I end this piece, a big thank you to Steph Meyer-Scott , OTHERWAY , Gloria Shugleva , Simon Keane and the entire Honest team for bringing the Honest rebrand to life. It has truly been a team effort and every person involved has helped to create Honest as it is today.?

Here’s to a bright (lime green) future ??

What are your biggest rebrand mistakes and learnings? Let me know in the comments below.