Rebranding is a process to change an organization’s corporate image and messaging with the goal of improving the business.
8 Simple Steps for ReBranding.
There are many reasons to rebrand.
A distinctive, effective one comes from three magic ingredients: purpose, process, and people.
- Purpose
- Process
- People
Purpose
A rebrand must be intentional, done with clarity of purpose, and connected to the strategy and vision for the company.
Process
While the rationale varies, the fundamental process is the same.
People
“Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth.” – Tyson Even the most finely tuned process is still only as good as the people in it. A balance of insiders, outsiders, experts, and generalists yields the greatest end product. Diversity over homogeneity every time.
Steps
- Create the brief
Get clear on the purpose, the stakeholders involved, how decisions get made, and what is in and out of scope for the rebrand. Be sure to clearly state the outcomes you hope to achieve any deliverables produced should be in service of them.
- Understand the business
Become fluent in the context of the business and brand(s). Know the competitive landscape, the pressures facing the business, how money is made, how customers experience the brand, and what’s been done in the past.
- Align on the problems to solve
Establish a shared view of the challenges facing the business and brand, why they exist, and the opportunities unlocked when those problems are solved.
- Search for inspiration
Go outside of your office, your category, your comfort zone, your budget, and time constraints. Create collages, quote boards, and other things that provoke, inspire, or excite you.
- Select a creative direction
Using both inspiration and business context, assemble a range of creative directions that visualize the look and feel” of a new brand
This is meant to show different solutions to problems facing the brand. Creative directions are starting points, not answers.
- Create multiple brand directions
Equipped with clarity on the creative direction that will guide the design of the brand, reimagine both its visual and verbal expressions.
Create only as many directions as are necessary to reflect meaningful trade-offs.
Not every problem can be addressed, so pick the few that matters most to your audience.
Don’t try to be an expert. Just do the homework and be empathetic.
- Select and prototype a single brand direction
Revise and finalize a single brand direction by applying it to relevant and current use cases for the brand (e.g, marketing campaign, sales deck, social media post).
Totes have many uses, effectively vetting a visual design is not one of them.
- Launch the new brand into the world
The launch of a new brand ties back to the purpose set at the start of the work. Make a big splash if that’s what’s required, or be subtle if the noisiness of change is disruptive. When launching, consider all the places and spaces your brand shows up: online, in-store, in-product, etc.