Rebranding or Redesigning – What is the difference?

At some point in a company’s tenure, they’re going to be dealing with either one of two decisions: rebranding or redesigning. The reason why this is the case is that your sales may be drying up, the logo design may be out of date, or perhaps your marketing isn’t as good as it used to be. Whatever the case may be, something about the company will need to change.

When operating a business, brand identity is one of the most pivotal factors that help you conduct business with your target audience as well as turn potential leads into long-term customers.

However, if you’re new to the business environment, then it’s essential that you understand the difference between rebranding and redesigning, otherwise known as a brand refresh. In this article, we’ll be more than happy to break down both of these terms for you so that you have a better idea about how to proceed with your company going forward.

Rebranding or Redesigning

Brand Refresh

The process of a brand refresh or redesign refers to updating a brand. When you redesign your brand, you must ensure that the company’s identity and core values – apart from changing the way your target audience sees it – remain intact. It’s not a complete overhaul but rather a little adjustment that you need to make to the following:

• Slogan
• Design and Logo
• Typography
• Marketing materials
• Color palette

Companies opt for a brand refresh to make themselves more appealing to their audience and grow over time. If the brand remains as it is while the needs of your customers change, then you’re going to lose a significant portion of your competitive edge.

There’s no better example of a brand refresh than the one that Apple did. The logo first started in 1976 with a picture of Isaac Newton and now sports a modern, simplistic room look after undergoing several changes over so many years and decades. These changes get applied not only to make the brand more appealing to its core audience but also to reflect the essential values of the company as well.

Benefits of Brand Refresh

Here are several reasons why refreshing your brand is a great idea:

• To modernize the look of your brand, so it stays current with consumer sentiment and market trends
• To realize your brand’s true identity
• Reposition your company in the marketplace
• Create a brand that best matches your persona
• Ensuring your brand isn’t too similar to another

Rebranding

Unlike redesigning, where only a couple of creative touches are involved, rebranding refers to the overall repositioning of the company. You can even say that it means an overhaul of your business’s brand identity, which includes everything from name, colors, logo, and more. Not only that, but you’re also improving your brand’s story and philosophy.

Reasons Why Rebranding is Needed

Most of the time, businesses opt to rebrand their company due to the following:

• The audience has changed
• the audience isn’t connecting with the brand
• The business has fundamentally changed
• Your business is preparing for growth, including acquisition or merger
• The existing logo is out-of-date
• The marketing methods you’re using aren’t working anymore

Benefits of Rebranding

Rebranding is a great strategy to improve the appeal of your company to your target audience and help you compete with other rival companies in the industry. It’s not only practical but comes with less effort, investments, and risks. In other words, rebranding allows you to:

• Get in touch with a new audience
• Differentiate yourself from the competition
• Enhance your bottom line
• Make your brand modern and fresh
• Stay up-to-date with market updates and demands

And while all of this is great to help your company finally stand out and grow, rebranding also entails a set of incredible risks and costs.

Risks Involved in Rebranding

• Poor rebranding could confuse or even alienate your target audience
• Employees might not be in line with the rebranding process
• If not, rebranding could end up making a mess of your brand rather than simplifying it
• Result in a disconnect between the business and the branding
• It could force you to spend more money

Rebranding or Redesigning

Sometimes, there’s a need for every company to rethink their branding strategy, whether it involves rebranding or redesigning. Whether you need to redo your web design, logo, banner, tagline, or any other creative aspect, you need to ensure that there is consistency at every turn in your marketing strategy.

However, before you even decide to either do a brand refresh or redesign, you need to determine the extent of the makeover you wish to apply. If there’s nothing wrong with the brand and you want to give the design a fresh coat of paint, then redesigning the brand is plausible. But if the audience, along with the industry, has changed a lot, then a rebrand is in order. You might still sell the same type of products and services, except the brand will be made a new from the ground up.

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