Time for A Change
Have you considered that your favorite brands might have shifted and changed throughout the years?
Trends are constantly shifting, and it is a major balancing act for companies to both stay true to their image and keep up with modern trends in order to stay relevant. For many companies, this calls for a rebrand.
I sat down with MP&F assistant account executive Angela to discuss her experiences in helping clients rebrand their companies.
Here are my major takeaways from the conversation:
- Stay true to your core
- Keep your audience in mind
According to Angela, there are many reasons that a company may feel the need to rebrand. Maybe they are updating their services and shifting their focus to highlight some new offerings; maybe a company is planning for its future in terms of how the company will continue to grow; maybe the company switches management; maybe it is simply time for a refresh!
Whatever the reason, it is important to find a company’s core. Angela says that the core of the company should stay the same and a rebrand should really just “change the outside.” In other words, you don’t want to lose or confuse your customers or fan base by trying to be something or someone you are not. You should aim to strategically change your look and brand without changing who you are as a person or company.
Angela has worked on a rebranding project with an organization that felt that their current style and brand were not accurately portraying the company and reaching their target audience. Instead of blindly overhauling the entire brand, she first sat down with the organization to strategically pinpoint their core values and offerings. That way, she could ensure that the rebrand would not stray from what the organization considers vital to their company.
While some rebranding efforts might seem subtle, others require the company to change brand colors, change taglines, or even overhaul a company’s logo or name. Take CoverGirl as an example. The company recently ditched its “Easy, Breezy, Beautiful” tagline for “I am What I Make Up.” According to a Business Insider online article, the company decided to refresh the brand in response to the public’s general opinion toward makeup shifting from one of simply being cosmetic to viewing it as “a tool for self-expression and transformation” (Dua, 2017).
While these changes might seem drastic and potentially confusing to the public, it doesn’t have to be. As long as a company can stay true to their core identity, then these rebranding changes are usually for the better. However, you must remember that branding is largely about perception. While a client may think that the rebrand perfectly captures how they want to portray themselves, the public may not agree. Angela says that each client is unique, but a good rule of thumb is to utilize focus groups and surveys to gauge how people generally feel about the rebrand.
Click on to read about my thoughts on personal rebranding!