Reasons and Elements of a Successful Brand Refresh

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A successful brand revival does not happen in a single moment. There are no shortcuts. There is only a continuum of strategic, creative, and operational decisions that, if executed consistently, put a brand on the path to cultural relevance, consumer love, and business success.

Although change for change’s sake is seldom a good course of action, a well-executed brand refresh could be just what the doctor ordered — if the underlying rationale justifies such measures. Refreshing an overall brand identity should be rooted in strategy, and these are five legitimate reasons for doing so. Oftentimes more than one of them is at play.

5 Reasons for a Brand Refresh

1.??????Change In Leadership

As companies experience far-reaching leadership changes or smaller, privately-held organizations are acquired or otherwise absorbed, rebranding is a well-justified course of action. Such transformation serves three key purposes:

·????????It introduces new leadership/vision for the company.

·????????It demonstrates reinvigoration.

·????????It expresses a commitment to growth.

2.??????Changing Competition

Pressure stemming from a competitor's acquisitions or new product innovation is often a good reason to update a brand and reposition it in the market. Disruption such as this can be a double-edged sword. Doing nothing or maintaining the status quo may allow for your competition to pull the attention to them. Sometimes showing consistency and stability can be viewed as stagnant and short-sighted. Adding a refreshed look and feel can put a new spotlight on an existing business or product. The key is to have something worth refreshing.

3.??????Change Of Direction

Perhaps an organization is undergoing a directional change. Examples include outreach to an entirely new market segment or industry, expansion of a newly identified target audience, or an expanding geographic footprint. Promoting your brand to a new market is an opportunity to consider different ways to convey the unique value you can offer.

4.??????Change Of Offerings

The introduction of new or expanded products or service offerings may present an ideal time to refresh your brand identity. Not only will such an effort provide an opportunity to reintroduce core products, but it will also help to attract new audiences who may be drawn to the new offering yet were previously unfamiliar with the original portfolio.

5.??????Change Of Look And Feel

Sometimes a brand update is as simple as giving a tired-looking brand a facelift. Such modernization could be a result of antiquated graphics, fonts or colors. Or perhaps the brand is simply no longer resonating with the current marketplace. Such cosmetic changes are generally not as difficult as a complete makeover — however, the results can bring a faltering brand back to the limelight.

Things To Look Out For

Jumping into a rebrand can be an exciting time for a business, but there are some warnings to heed before proceeding too hastily. In particular, I have seen many brands fail because they changed too quickly or drastically, leaving the core brand unrecognizable and confusing to loyal patrons. If customers don’t see the brand they recognize, it's more likely they will opt for another. Retaining elements of what people know ensures consumers still recognize their favored brand.

One of the biggest mistakes any company can make is to implement a brand refresh halfway — perhaps conducting research but never acting on it, or making major changes without doing the required work to understand what would better position it in the market or how to best communicate the refresh to the market. Also, getting the entire organization excited and properly trained on the new positioning is all part of the strategy. For a rebrand to be considered successful, it involves much more than swapping out an old logo; it requires a shift in mentality.

For those who believe in the process, manage it well and do it for the right reasons, benefits will ensue for years to come.

Any company can refresh its brand and update how it looks, how it is described, and the products and services it includes. The dynamics of today’s fast-paced business environment underscores that brand refreshes and thoughtful changes are necessary in order to maintain and grow their market share.

4 Elements of a Successful Brand Reinvention

To successfully reinvent your brand, you must rethink your approach to product, story, culture, and customer. Brand rebounds often seem simple, logical, and inevitable when they are taught in business school courses and cited in the media. But few revival attempts are successful, and in the uncommon event that they do succeed, they usually take years or decades to yield significant results.

Notable brands, such as Apple and McDonald’s refreshed their marketing strategy and successfully renewed customer interest. Each of these companies succeeded by focusing on a new approach to product, story, culture, and customer. Powered by organizational and operational changes, these four elements have become the pillars of sustained brand turnarounds.

1.??????Start with the Product

Apple underwent product transformation. Shortly after his return to Apple in 1997, Steve Jobs called a meeting and criticized his employees. “You know what’s wrong with this company?” he?asked. “The products suck. It is not sexy anymore.” This meeting is rumored to have inspired the invention of the iMac. In the first five months of iMac’s existence, Apple sold 800,000 units, turning a profit of $309 million in 1998 and $601 million in 1999. The iMac marked Apple’s?return to profitability.?

These brand building blocks help to focus refreshes. Every brand, no matter the products or services it sells, should develop building blocks like these as it attempts to rebuild its brand.

2.??????Refine Your Brand Story

A clear and compelling brand story gives products context and narrative, which can help increase their desirability. When a brand sells products and services, it’s selling a story. When consumers buy products or services, they are buying into this story. The story internally unifies the organization and streamlines decision-making.?In addition to being a valuable brand currency, brand storytelling is also critical for customer acquisition and loyalty. Once consumers buy into a brand story, they are less likely to leave or switch than when they just buy a product.

3.??????Connect with Pop Culture

Cultural hooks reflect a brand’s role in the world and ensure its credibility with its target audiences. Although new and trendy connections to pop culture help to revitalize struggling brands, the fastest way back to cultural relevance is for them to deconstruct what made the brand successful in the first place. Brands must transport their heritage to new customers and modern values.

4.??????Know Your Customer

When Apple began their brand revitalization — they had a keen understanding of what their respective customers wanted. This isn’t always an easy undertaking. Companies have plenty of customer data, but they often lack customer insight. Customer data sits in different organizational functions that do not speak to each other, and when it’s presented, it’s usually hard to digest and act upon. To close this gap, brands should create a customer framework that is directional, actionable, and speaks to multiple internal stakeholders at once. This framework translates quantitative data into qualitative insights that are equally understandable to product designers as they are to media buyers and creatives.

The first step in the process of building an actionable customer framework is to focus on the core customer targets, and go in-depth on their motivations and interests, media habits and key influences, core purchase reasons, and barriers to purchase. Identify the main characteristics they value, including attributes like trendiness, functionality, and customer experience. This will be different for every brand, which is why it’s critical that any brand attempting a comeback should conduct this research before making critical planning decisions.