What founders get wrong about rebranding

For much of my youth, my uniform consisted of red Etnies, baggy jeans held up by a black studded belt, and a well-worn Dangerfield canvas tote stuffed with whatever I needed for the day. The look was finished with enough eyeliner to make Avril Lavigne proud and my mum hide all the white towels.

Safe to say my look has evolved since then. My 13-year-old self probably wouldn’t recognise the middle-aged woman standing here today, dressed almost entirely in neutrals, with no eyeliner or studs in sight.

But that’s the point.

Just like people, brands aren’t meant to stay frozen in time. They are living things that need to grow, shift and evolve to stay relevant. 

The brands that thrive aren’t the ones that cling to who they used to be. They’re the ones brave enough to evolve into who they’re becoming.

There's a saying, if you're not embarrassed by the first prototype of your brand, you launched too late. And this is very true in the case of both my businesses. If I look back at where Willow & Blake and frank body were when we first launched, our brands look very different today. They sound a bit different too. 

But our purpose and our values; they have always stayed consistent. And this, I believe, is the key to a strong brand evolution. Change to stay relevant to your audience and environment but don’t lose site of who you are and what you stand for.

Over 16 years at W&B we’ve rebranded countless brands- from full 360s to subtle evolutions. And we’ve learnt a few things.

How to know when it’s time to rebrand.

A simple question to ask yourself is- does your current brand represent who you are as a business and what you do?

If the answer is no, it’s time for change.

A more annoying answer is; it depends. 

Some parts of brand evolution will occur naturally; you add a new SKU and need a new colour or you’re shooting a new campaign and your old art direction is looking tired so you try something different.

Some will be more practical and require more thought and rigour. Maybe your old brand guard rails are no longer serving you. Your hero colour poses a legibility issue or your typography isn’t readable across multiple formats.

And some will be a lifeline. Your sales are declining or flat, you're failing to acquire new customers and your competitors are taking your market share.

The way to approach a rebrand or a brand evolution is very different to how we approach creating a brand from scratch.

The first stage is deciding what the objective is. This should be a strategic decision not an emotional decision. Then we go into research and strategy. 

Be strategic, not emotional.

As a founder I recognise that often a brand is very tied to a founder's personal brand and history. There’s a lot of emotion that can come from a rebrand.

“I don’t want to lose what makes us, us.” Is a phrase we often hear. And often we are completely aligned with this approach. Our goal isn’t always to change the brand but to amplify the brand's essence. 

Take Showpo for example. We kept the essence of the 15 year old brand; playful, empowered and a self-assured energy. But we evolved the look and feel to be more modern, relevant and grown up. A key tactic to ensure the brand continued to attract a new younger audience. The founder, Jane, was open to change and it paid off with a statistically significant 7% uplift in “investigation” among 18–34-year-olds a clear sign that younger audiences are now actively seeking out the brand.

Other times emotion can get in the way of the right strategic decision. When I’m advising clients in this scenario I remind them that a brand is so much more than a logo or colour palette and that the founders who succeed are the ones that are able to take risks. Sometimes it’s also my job to be blunt and say they need a rebrand and any new assets we create for them until they’ve been through that process will cost them more in the long run. 

Take your customers on the journey.

One of the biggest fears founders have is that their current customers won’t like the re-brand. 

Firstly if your strategy is sound and you communicate clearly it is more likely your customers will embrace the new look and feel. 

But we get it; change is scary. To make the transition smooth we have a few tactics.

Firstly take your customers on the journey and be transparent about the why behind the rebrand. Celebrate the old brand that they love and introduce them to the new brand slowly. Better yet involve them in the process- we love when our clients show the options we made that they rejected. It shows they were considered in their approach.

A quick note on this- you must be confident and clear in your decisions. This isn’t a trial by jury. You need to be able to articulate the re-positioning in an understandable and succinct way. We can help with this. 

My last point: opinions are like arseholes. Everyone is going to have one. People don’t like change. Take comfort in the fact that at least they care enough about your brand to notice the change. It will take time to rebuild the memory structures your consumers had with the old look and feel. But stay consistent, stay on brand and it will be worth it.

If you’re keen to learn more about rebranding and brand evolutions we are hosting a webinar on March 12th at 12pm called Evolve or Die. The Reinvention Playbook

It’s free and you can sign up here.