A company’s brand is made out of much more than just visual identity elements like fonts, colors or logos. Aesthetics will always be important and you want to be sure that the visual identity of your brand is positively distinguished than what the competition has.
The big problem with branding is that once it was done and results were positive, business managers rarely think about refreshing the campaigns. Marketing teaches us that we need to always modify our campaigns. This is also true with branding. Because of this, here are some clear signs that you have to refresh your branding.
Having A Dated Look
This is the very first sign that you need to change your branding. It is similar to the clothes that you wear. You surely changed from what you were during college. Fashion style is similar to branding in the sense that what is great and highly attractive for people does tend to change as time passes. There are many brands out there that are basically visually dated and need to update their entire branding campaign.
The most important part of branding is being sure that you stand out when placed side by side with the competition. You want to do this because of the right reason. Having an outdated look and feel is the wrong reason!
Not Acknowledging The Digital Influence
Most brands have a look that is timeless. Coca Cola is one of the best examples of that. They will not need rebranding because of how they look. The problem is that most of the brands appeared before the increased influence of the digital era. They need to adjust and expand brand identity in order to properly acknowledge the modern digital world.
We should also add that the regular 2 color palette has to be viewed properly on the internet. Many firms just adapt as needed. This is not a good approach. You want to be sure that your web properties look perfect.
Internal Changes Are Not Seen Externally
A firm can end up faced with significant internal changes. They can be as significant as to warrant a brand identity refresh. Examples of something like this includes changes to business model used, cultural transformations, additions and substractions. The communication plan needs to include brand update or refreshes if the internal changes are important enough. It is similar to the human body. When the inside look is different, what is perceived on the outside also needs to be different.
Underdeveloped Brand Identity
There are cases in which a company thinks that it has a really solid brand identity when the truth is not like that. The company’s existing identity should be analyzed. If it is not adequate, a refresh is necessary, even if in this case the term “upgrade” would be more suitable. You want to be sure that your visual brand quality accurately reflects the company’s essence and the quality that it offers.
Rebranding Or Refreshing?
You have to distinguish between these two. In many cases it is not necessary to start doing branding work from zero. It is not necessary to develop a brand new logo or a new name. Brand refreshes are like facelifts. They leverage the brand that exists and expands the feel, messaging and look with quite fresh positioning and treatments. Brand updates can impact any part of the promotional campaign. Rebranding in general does not necessarily imply that you change the logo. You can change effects, color palettes, styles used in photography and many other brand elements.