5 Types of Rebrand Projects
Would you be surprised to hear that the majority of our branding projects at Backroom don’t involve a single designer? Visual identity is just part of the game, and relies on things like messaging, positioning, architecture, and archetypes to be successful. Here are 5 of our most common branding projects—and the tell tale signs that you need one.
1. Repositioning
What is brand positioning? Simply put, it’s the unique spot that your brand holds in the minds of audiences instantly when they hear or think of you. What comes to mind when you think of Southwest? You probably associate them with providing good value & care. Now what about Air Emirates? They’re the luxurious, elite option.
The word “repositioning” can be a bit misleading since most of the time, brands who come to Backroom for repositioning don’t have any positioning at all. If this feels like you, it’s okay and actually a pretty normal part of the brand building process.
For example, a new cybersecurity product is going into beta testing after a seed round. Part of the testing product is validating market appetite and learning what features are most useful and unique to target audiences. Without this insight, brand differentiation is merely a hypothesis as the product itself is a gangly teenager trying to pick a college major.
Repositioning projects typically include layers of competitor analysis, brand perception testing, brand vision clarification from leadership, product and service architecture, and internal alignment workshops.
How to know you need it:
- You keep losing leads to competitors
- Your communications lack a shared messaging framework
- Your team has different answers for why customers choose you
- Leadership lacks focus on where you’re going
2. Identity Systems
This is not simply a logo. A strong visual identity is made up of a variety of visual hammers that, when used with intention, make up a full system that represents how your brand feels. Common assets within a brand system include:
- Primary and secondary color values
- Typeface
- Illustration style
- Photo filter presets
- Social media frames
- Intro/outro/lower thirds for videos
- Animated logo
- Icon set
But most importantly, they are tied together through a documented set of guidelines that teach everyone on the team when and how to use each piece.
Visual identity is one of the single most under-appreciated set of tools in a brand strategist’s toolkit. As non-cognitive decision makers, inconsistencies in something as minuscule as a typeface between website and sales collateral creates a signal in the lizard part of our brains that erodes trust. Our brains prefer consistent, reliable visuals because they make us feel safe. If Calvin Klein were any other set of characters in the same typeface, chances are you’d recognize it.
How to know you need it:
- Inconsistency in any of the visual assets I listed above across your communications
- Employees making unilateral creative decisions when creating materials
- Unclear where to find brand assets like color hex codes or current logo files
3. Employer Branding
More than ever, brands have to focus on what they are bringing to the table for their talent. After over 4 million people left their jobs this year (and many not planning to return), the demand for talent is higher than it’s been for years.
Employer Branding is critical to staying top of mind, building trust, and retaining top talent. Becoming a company that high-value employees covet on their resumes requires intention and commitment.
Bean bag chairs, a kegerator, and pizza parties aren’t company culture. Neither is a list of corporate values. It’s how the company acts on and rewards those values that make a company live and breathe the human experience. People apply for jobs that demonstrate strong values, so simply posting them to your website won’t cut it.
How to know you need it:
- New hires aren’t working out in the long run
- Current employees are unhappy or underperforming
- Trust is low among staff and leadership
- People are burned out
4. Mergers & Acquisitions
“If I got acquired, our brand simply becomes the parent brand, no?” No. The acquired brands’ customers are part of the acquisition. If you want them to stay, it’s critical to communicate with them throughout the transition and demonstrate how they will be taken care of post-acquisition.
Consider things like shared values across organizations, how the acquired customer base likes to communicate, ABM relationships, and people who simply have strong ties with people on the team. Their experience will change, even if only slightly.
Start early. As soon as information is made public, begin to tease information in doses to allow people to adjust. Consider common questions they may have and aim to address those while setting expectations for the future. In past M&A projects we’ve done, we’ve included a mix of email campaigns and 1:1 phone calls from trusted staff members, along with swag drops for MVP customers with the new company branding.
How to know you need it:
- Your brand is being acquired. Don’t leave the people who have supported you confused and guessing. It’s unkind and bad for business.
5. Renaming
Brand name should be changed thoughtfully and as infrequently as possible. This work goes beyond choosing something fun that matches your product or industry. The entire architecture of the brand–including service lines, industries served, and potential future expansion–should be considered to determine the overall strategy behind naming structure.
Renaming involves a series of exercise frameworks that allow your team to make creative decisions within a set of pre-defined requirements. This process leaves room for fun experimentation while ensuring the final name will do what it needs to do: support the messaging and identity systems in building equity and supporting the desired positioning for your brand.
For established brands, naming should be considered thoughtfully. Customers have a relationship with your brand name and it has become automatic for them. A well known supply chain brand came to us for a rebrand because their technology had evolved beyond their namesake. After research in their market and with customers, we discovered that the brand name meant more to people than the technology behind it. It had evolved into something of its own meaning and therefore we advised against changing the name.
How to know you need it:
- Your name creates confusion for customers that leads to explaining
- You’ve grown out of a niche or vertical that your name keeps you tied to
- You are a mid-stage startup and need a name that will grow with you
