The Perils of Vanity Rebrands and How to Avoid Them

I still consider myself as a marketer at heart. With that said, I’ve found the last few days fascinating, with various branding and rebranding faux pas hitting the headlines.

I’ve been lucky to have witnessed (and been part of) some excellent rebrand projects, specifically at McGrath and Macquarie Business School. I’ve also witnessed at close quarters some absolutely disastrous projects that made no sense at all (either at the time or when I think of them now), and damaged the businesses that they were trying to improve.

Having witnessed the highs and lows of rebranding firsthand, I’ve noticed one common denominator in the failures that I’ve seen, vanity. Such rebrands are often driven by aesthetics rather than strategy, and subsequently do more harm than good.

What Is a Vanity Rebrand?

Vanity rebrands often confuse change with progress. They prioritise surface-level updates, like logo design or even the company name, over meaningful improvements to a brand’s positioning or customer experience.

A rebrand should ideally address a tangible need, such as shifting marketing conditions, a new vision, or required repositioning as a result of competitive pressures. History shows that challenger brands do this more often than power brands (think about the rock solid consistency of Coke versus the almost ever morphing Pepsi brand).

Vanity rebrands are, sadly, more common than they should be. They focus exclusively on a visual change (almost always logo tweaks) and lack a deeper strategic alignment. Scarier still, they’re almost always driven by senior leadership’s desire for a “fresh look” rather than audience or consumer needs.

Vanity rebrands almost always lack market research. The result is that the project often shouts into an internal echo-chamber and ignores consumer sentiment and a brand’s heritage. As a result poorly executed rebrands are sometimes confusing or even alienating to existing stakeholders.

By way of a topical example, Jaguar’s recent logo update was considered to be pretty sleek visually, but has left many asking the key question, WHY? Has the logo change added value or served to dilute Jaguar’s heritage? Many think the latter.

In short, vanity rebrands fail because they lack research into customer perceptions, lack a purpose or narrative and fail to tell a story.

How to Avoid a Vanity Rebrand

1. Start with strategy. A rebrand must always address a real need, a specific challenge or goal. Rebranding for the sake of it will be expensive and will almost always damage the equity of the brand unnecessarily.

2. Research is non-negotiable. So many rebrands occur in a vacuum that consists of a handful of senior leaders (non-marketers), one senior internal marketer and an (often very expensive) agency. This, again, is an all-too-common story that dooms a rebrand to failure. A wide spectrum of stakeholders MUST be involved in the project, existing customers and clients, past customers and clients, “nearly” customers and clients (those potential consumers that got away), employees and brand fans. Cast the net wide and listen carefully to their views.

3. Focus on the why. Brands live in people’s minds as stories. A well-executed rebrand always has a story to which it can anchor itself, and you must seek to define the story of a rebrand and communicate it clearly. A rebrand without a clear narrative risk leaving consumers to guess the story, fill the vacuum, and invent the story themselves.

4. Test before launch. Focus groups and test groups are a valuable part of the process, and any rebrand project should factor in the use of tests, focus groups and qualitative research sessions to test your thinking and seek genuine feedback.?

In conclusion, regardless of the shape and size of your business, and the sector within which it operates, your brand is a precious commodity. Treat it with care, and if you’re a business leader thinking of rebranding first ask yourself why. If you can’t articulate that through a strategic lens, you’re probably walking towards a vanity rebrand disaster.

If you do choose to rebrand, the project should be purposeful, data-driven, informed by facts, and stakeholder informed.