Understanding the target audience is essential in crafting authentic branding. It ensures that the brand’s messaging, products, and services resonate deeply with the people it aims to reach and influence.
A true understanding of the target audience goes beyond mere demographics; it encompasses psychographics, behaviors, preferences, values, and the evolving relationship with technology. This knowledge allows brand strategists to craft personalized experiences, communicate in a language that the audience understands and appreciates, and build emotional connections that foster loyalty and advocacy.
In today’s era marked by information overload and fierce competition, brands that successfully capture and hold their audience’s attention are those that demonstrate empathy and a genuine understanding of their audience’s unique needs and aspirations. This alignment between brand offerings and audience expectations not only enhances customer satisfaction but also drives brand differentiation, making understanding the target audience not just important, but indispensable for branding success.
This is where the groundbreaking work of Dr. Jean Twenge comes into play, particularly her insightful book, “Generations.” Dr. Twenge’s thesis offers a fresh perspective on how generations can be defined and understood, not through the traditional lens of collective experiences but through the prism of technology use, individuality, and the concept of slow life. For any rebranding agency or Los Angeles brand agency looking to deepen its understanding of generational characteristics to refine its branding strategies, Dr. Twenge’s work is indispensable. This thought leadership article delves into the core concepts of “Generations,” elucidating how these insights can revolutionize the approach of Los Angeles branding and beyond.
The Thesis at the Heart of “Generations”
Dr. Twenge posits that the conventional method of defining generations—by significant historical events or collective experiences—may not be as effective as once thought. Instead, she argues that the way different generations use technology provides a more accurate and nuanced understanding of their behaviors, preferences, and values. This thesis is revolutionary, suggesting that the digital landscape is a more significant factor in shaping generational identity than previously acknowledged.
Technology: The Great Divider and Uniter
From Baby Boomers to Generation Z, each generation has a unique relationship with technology. Dr. Twenge’s research meticulously outlines how these relationships influence everything from communication preferences to shopping habits. For instance, while Baby Boomers may prefer direct communication and value privacy, Millennials and Generation Z are more inclined towards digital interactions and are more comfortable with sharing their lives online. This fundamental difference is crucial for any brand agency aiming to communicate effectively with its target demographic.
The Rise of Individuality and Slow Life
Another compelling aspect of Dr. Twenge’s work is the emphasis on the growing trends of individuality and the slow life movement. Today’s consumers are increasingly seeking personalized experiences and products that reflect their unique identities. This shift towards individuality is coupled with a desire for a slower, more deliberate pace of life, especially among younger generations who prioritize mindfulness, well-being, and sustainability. These trends have significant implications for brands, as they underscore the importance of offering customized solutions and aligning with values that matter to their audience.
Rethinking Generational Definitions
Dr. Twenge’s critique of defining generations solely by collective experiences is a call to action for brands to adopt a more nuanced understanding of their audience. The one-size-fits-all approach is no longer viable in a world where personalization and authenticity reign supreme. By recognizing the diverse ways in which different generations interact with technology and express their individuality, brands can create more targeted and resonant messaging.
Branding in the Age of Generational Insights
For a rebranding agency or any Los Angeles brand agency, the insights from “Generations” are a goldmine. Understanding the generational nuances in technology use and values can transform how brands approach their marketing strategies. Here are a few ways these insights can be applied:
Personalized Marketing: Tailoring marketing messages and products to meet the unique needs and preferences of each generation. This could mean developing different communication strategies for Baby Boomers and Millennials or offering customizable products that appeal to the desire for individuality.
Value Alignment: Brands that align their values with those of their target generations are more likely to build lasting relationships. For younger generations, this might involve emphasizing sustainability and ethical practices, while for older generations, it could mean highlighting tradition and reliability.
Digital Strategy Optimization: Given the central role of technology in defining generational characteristics, brands must optimize their digital strategies to meet the expectations of their target audience. This includes everything from the platforms they use to the type of content they produce.
A New Paradigm for Branding
Dr. Jean Twenge’s “Generations” offers a groundbreaking perspective that challenges traditional notions of generational differences. By focusing on technology use, individuality, and the slow life movement, Twenge provides a more nuanced framework for understanding the diverse consumer landscape. For rebranding agencies and Los Angeles branding firms, these insights are invaluable. They not only offer a deeper understanding of target audiences but also highlight the importance of personalization, value alignment, and digital savviness in today’s competitive market.
Incorporating these generational insights into branding strategies can lead to more effective and resonant marketing efforts. As we move forward, the ability to adapt and respond to the unique characteristics of each generation will be a key determinant of success. In the dynamic world of branding, staying attuned to these shifts is not just beneficial—it’s essential.
“Generations” by Dr. Jean Twenge is more than just a book; it’s a roadmap for the future of branding. By embracing the principles outlined in her work, rebranding agencies, and Los Angeles brand agencies can lead the way in creating more meaningful, impactful, and successful brand strategies that resonate across generational divides.
Ready to rebrand your business?
An outside perspective and high-level expertise can turn a potentially chaotic experience into a clear, concise one. You and your team won’t need to know how to rebrand. Instead, you’ll be able to collaborate with an agency that can guide your brand from now to next.
Every business will have its own tailored branding experience, but a rebranding checklist can help you prepare for all the eventualities that may come up during the process.
Maybe you’re dealing with a new acquisition or product line (and need to understand product marketing vs brand marketing). Or maybe you’re on the other end of the spectrum – trying to distance yourself from your former company image or beat out a tough new competitor.
Whatever your reasons, rebranding is no small task. It requires a collaborative effort amongst company stakeholders, employees, and, ideally, a rebranding agency.
Here at Flux Branding, we want to help our clients transform from now to next.
And we’ve developed a proprietary framework called the IDEA Method to do just that. It’s how we approach each and every project, and it’s the perfect way to segment your rebranding checklist into milestones and clearly delineated campaign phases.
1. Audit, Research, and Strategy: (The Ignite Phase)
You’re fired up and ready for your rebranding campaign. Before doing any public-facing work, though, there needs to be a huge behind-the-scenes effort to understand what’s going on.
To fill in the blanks on your rebranding checklist, you have to figure out exactly the type of rebrand you need and why. There are essentially two options: a full rebrand or a brand refresh.
You may already know which one you need, or it may reveal itself during a brand discovery and audit session.
Questions to ask during a brand audit
During your brand audit, you’ll want to ask questions about why you’re embarking on this journey, and whether now is the ideal time to rebrand.
Don’t even start your rebranding checklist without a clear reason and a straightforward plan. If you do, you risk confusing current and future customers, ultimately hurting your company.
Before starting a full rebrand, we ask our clients if they are facing:
A significant change in company structure, like a merger or acquisition?
A significant change in product lines or service offerings?
A major loss of market share to a competitor?
Negative circumstances impacting the way people perceive your company?
A brand image that no longer speaks to your values and goals?
If you answered “yes” to some of these, it’s probably the right time for a full rebrand. This intensive process reimagines your core concepts, values, promises, and market position, and you’ll need a comprehensive rebranding checklist.
The goal is typically to reach a new audience or expose your existing audience to a new side of you. It changes the way you look and talk, it could even change your name.
It results in a major shift – a new brand evolution.
If you answered “no” to those questions, you might just need a brand refresh.
A brand refresh is typically an update focusing on your visual elements – mainly your logo, color palette, typography, etc. It doesn’t reimagine your core conceptual framework or brand marketing strategy, but “refreshes” your brand to reflect current sentiments.
The rebranding checklist needed for a refresh will be much smaller than for a full rebrand!
You’re getting confused with your competitors due to a lack of visual differentiation
You don’t feel the current visuals of your brand are in line with who you are
Your customer base and company structure are solid, so you don’t need major changes but still want to evolve your brand perception
Whether you need a full rebrand or a less intensive brand refresh, this will merely be the jumping-off point.
A brand audit opens up a Pandora’s box of new questions about your competitors, customers, and employees. The rebranding checklist at this point includes everything your rebranding agency needs to do to get a crystal-clear image of your industry and your company:
Market research
Online interviews
Team interviews
Focus groups
Auditing tools
Industry data
Sales trends
This information is critical for understanding why you’re rebranding.
Are you rebranding because your customers don’t know what you stand for?
Is it because your message is confusing?
Or is it because your internal team members aren’t able to coordinate consistent messaging across touchpoints?
The brand audit gets to the root of that issue, making it clear what needs to be on your rebranding checklist. That way, you’re not funneling resources into the wrong places.
2. Creative Planning and Messaging: (The Distill Phase)
The next part of your rebranding checklist requires sitting down and putting pen to paper. It’s the hard work that comes hand in hand with creating something beautiful – like your new visual identity.
There are three stages to this: external, internal, and legal.
External rebranding checklist
Choose a rebranding agency. Can you do this on your own? Maybe. But you can also find YouTube tutorials for rewiring your house, and we wouldn’t recommend that, either. If you don’t choose to use a rebranding agency…
Find other external vendors. These might include graphic designers (to design your new look), web developers (so people can still find you online), and photographers (to take pictures of employees, offices, and/or products). They should all get rebrand checklists for their specialties, as well as a general understanding of the project as a whole.
Plan when to notify the public. Most of the items on your list are behind-the-scenes work. But if you are doing a full rebrand and/or making website changes, you can build excitement by letting the world know a few weeks before the official launch.
Hold a company-wide meeting. Tell your employees about the rebranding campaign. Get buy-in and keep them updated about important dates/deadlines so no one is taken by surprise.
Choose a point person who can manage the many different views your brand incorporates without playing favorites. This person will be the project manager and liaison between your team, the rebranding agency, and any other external vendors during your rebranding campaign.
Set a budget. You’ll likely need to work with one or two external vendors at a minimum, so this point on your rebrand checklist is a good time to review the monetary side of things.
Distill the data from the brand audit. You need to understand how your customers perceive your brand now and why, as well as what they’re looking for from your brand. The raw data from the Ignite phase needs to be synthesized into strategic insights and rebranding checklist items – something your agency will be very helpful with.
Create a brand guide for your employees. Decide what you want your brand identity to be and how you’ll communicate that both internally and externally. This will be a living, breathing document (this will be an expanded version of a style guide) and will take some time for you to create. This will be the work of your agency if you choose to partner with one.
Build your creative concept and messaging. Just an outline is fine for now – your creative team will finalize it as you move forward. Again, this will be the work of your agency.
Map out your visuals. Think mood board, but make it a 360-degree approach to every brand asset, across all internal/external platforms. This will help the team effectively understand the new direction that your visuals need to go in, depending on your rebranding goals.
Legal rebranding checklist
Consult with (and hire) a lawyer to help with copyright laws around rebranding. The last thing you need is for someone else to steal all your hard work due to a copyright error.
Check local and state regulations, especially if you plan to change product names, DBAs, trademarks, or patents.
Don’t forget taxes. You’ll want to check with your accountant to make sure all rebranding campaign expenses are appropriately marked as write-offs and the initial investment is budgeted for.
3. Designing, Packaging, and Merchandising: (The Energize Phase)
This stage is what most people think of when they think of “rebranding” – the implementation of visuals. In the Energize stage, you’re finalizing the visual choices that will define your brand and products moving forward.
Your rebranding agency will leave no stone unturned and will provide a very detailed rebranding checklist for this specific part of the process. These may include:
Colors
Fonts
Your new logo(s)
Stationary
Website redesign
Squeeze pages
Print collateral
Signage and other company property
Product packaging
On-location merchandising
Photo and video creation
Digital ad creative
Email addresses and email signatures
Voicemails
Business cards
Checks, invoices, and receipts
Social media assets
Directories – online and off-line
Newsletters and templates
Skipping this or thinking that you’ll deal with things “as they come up” can be tempting, but it’s a recipe for disaster. Locating all of these should be a point on your rebranding checklist all on its own!
A disunified brand is jarring to customers and employees alike – and can make your company look unorganized and unprofessional, defeating the point of a rebranding campaign in the first place. Consistency is key.
4. Implementing and Launching: (The Activate Phase)
Now it’s time to put it all together and start moving forward. At this point in the rebranding process, you’re ready to start communicating with your customers, your employees, and your community. And you’re almost completely through your rebranding checklist!
The goal is to create intentional touchpoints that clearly define who you are and why it matters.
Start internally with an all-hands meeting to discuss what successfully rebranding your business looks like. You can share your motivations behind your decisions and how each individual person can support the company’s new image. You may even decide to share an abridged version of your rebrand checklist so they understand what the process has looked like.
Then, move on to sharing your new brand with the world! Your rebranding checklist for this stage might include:
This is another place where choosing a good rebranding agency could mean a much more successful experience. How you launch your new brand into the world is just as important as creating the new brand.
Your rebrand checklist may be missing a key piece or two that only an expert would notice in time to prevent a snag in this phase.
A great rebrand without a clear strategy for introducing it to both internal and external audiences is a recipe for failure. A top-tier agency can help your company strategize the best plan of action, getting your new brand out without disrupting sales or alienating existing loyalty.
The Activate stage can also place significant stress on a marketing team, especially without a clear plan of what needs to be done, when, and why. A comprehensive rebranding checklist can only do so much for you here!
With an agency, you’ll get a dedicated team that is solely focused on releasing your new brand to the world.
Your marketing team and agency can work collaboratively to ensure the new brand is launched successfully – but no internal time and resources will need to be pulled away from their primary objectives.
Ready to rebrand your business?
Ultimately, a rebranding checklist isn’t one-size-fits-all. And it shouldn’t be. Your company, message, and brand are unique, and your rebranding experience will be, too.
From choosing what kind of rebrand you need, to defining your goals and finding a new position in your market, this process has a lot of moving parts.
That’s where rebranding agencies make all the difference.
An outside perspective and high-level expertise can turn a potentially chaotic experience into a clear, concise one. You and your team won’t need to know how to rebrand. Instead, you’ll be able to collaborate with an agency that can guide your brand from now to next.
Using authentic brand storytelling is often the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to connecting with your audience. Your offer could be perfect; you could have lists of features, mountains of data, and the world’s best marketing team. But if your brand isn’t using storytelling, there’s always going to be something missing for your customers.
The most successful brands of all time – think Disney, Apple, Nike, or Gilette – all understand that storytelling is crucial to brand authenticity. In other words, your audience doesn’t just want to know what you do, they want to know who you are and how you got here.
Storytelling is a key part of the strategy when it comes to how to improve your brand. We like to believe that facts and logical reasoning make the biggest difference in making decisions, but that’s simply not true.
The biggest brands in the world didn’t get to where they are because they made the most logically sound case for themselves. They got there because they told a compelling story that moved people to action and created a sense of loyalty and community.
Authentic brand storytelling is a mirror through which your ideal customers can see the best parts of themselves. Your brand’s journey mimics their own frustrations, fears, and path to overcome the problem you’re perfectly equipped to solve.
This feeling of connection allows customers to perceive you as more trustworthy, more honest, and more authentic. Your brand isn’t cold data and pure facts – it’s an entity they can relate to.
Stories and neuroscience
Why do stories hold such power over us? Simply put, stories are how our brains learn. We make connections to ourselves, each other, and the world around us through stories. And we form powerful connections with the people who tell us those stories through something called neural coupling.
Neural coupling causes the brain activity of a listener to mirror that of a speaker. In other words, we feel what the people telling us a story feel.
Authentic brand storytelling is no different. Your brand’s story can move people. Not just to buy from you, but to believe in your brand’s mission and purpose as deeply as you do. And that’s the foundation of brand loyalty.
You want your business to make money, but that’s not its sole purpose. Your business was created to fill a specific need, in a specific way, for a specific kind of person. That’s why your brand identity is so different from your competitors. And it’s why authentic brand storytelling is possible.
Using storytelling in your brand authenticity strategy means setting the sales pitches to the side for a moment. The second your audience feels you’re just trying to sell to them, they’ll stop seeing your story as authentic. Instead, it comes off as a cheap marketing ploy.
When you use storytelling in your brand, keep it real. Stay honest and focused on connection, not closing. You’ll be paid back in spades with the customer loyalty and advocacy your authenticity earns.
Use classic storytelling techniques
There are many different ways to tell a story. Some are dizzyingly complex – think high fantasy or sci-fi – while others are simple and straightforward.
Pixar is legendary for its storytelling techniques. Pixar’s films don’t just bring in billions of dollars, they’ve connected with generation after generation. Why? They use a tried-and-true storytelling framework.
One of the most central ideas in this framework? Simplify, simplify, simplify. An excellent story doesn’t need flashy design or A-list acting talent. All it needs is a hero you can root for, a struggle you can relate to, and a powerful belief that your story can change the world. It needs a clear challenge, goal, and solution.
Authentic brand storytelling can borrow from these ideas. Classic tips and tools for writing powerful stories transcend mediums. A well told brand story makes your purpose clear, allowing your audience to connect with you beyond the product or service you offer. It’s an emotional affinity that endures beyond a particular campaign or product launch.
Your brand is not just your product, but your brand is also not just the founder. Authentic brand storytelling is humble. It’s not afraid to make past, present, and future customers part of the story.
Origin stories about the brand are nice, but stories that focus on the brand’s present and future are compelling.
Take The Parks Project, for example. Their brand story is about using their fun, outdoorsy apparel to support National Parks and environmental advocacy across the country. It’s a great story about why the brand exists, but it also empowers the customer to be part of the positive change. They’re not just buying sweaters– they’re buying environmental sustainability and keeping our national parks alive. That’s a lot more powerful.
Stories can also be a part of your brand reputation strategy but tread lightly. Make sure you focus on making reparations and learning from mistakes. In case of a controversy, you need to consider deeply how your brand story is used to move forward.
Don’t use a fill-in-the-blank formula
It’s as true for authentic brand storytelling as it is for rebranding a company – one-size-fits-all templates will never measure up to true brand authenticity. They might be helpful for a first draft, or to help organize your thoughts. But audiences will see through them instantly.
Copy and pasted storytelling isn’t much better than presenting a list of features and benefits. Truly authentic brand storytelling is emotional. It’s passionate. It’s unique.
You’ll need to go through a few drafts or iterations of your story when you first create it. And you’ll need to create new stories as time goes on, adjusting to the evolution of your company. Remember, brands are living organisms. They grow and change over time.
Authentic brand storytelling can be tricky to pull off, especially if you aren’t a storyteller to begin with. But it is absolutely critical to your brand’s success. A brand without a compelling story is forgettable. A brand with a compelling story is unstoppable.
Finding the right words for your brand can be extremely challenging to do from the inside out. Having an objective third party to listen and distill everything about you into a cohesive, impactful, and brief story is immensely helpful. Partnering with an experienced branding agency can take your brand to the next level. Flux is a branding agency in Los Angeles, and we’re passionate about the impact storytelling can have on your brand.
Reach out today and take your brand from now to next.
Successful rebranding examples happen a lot more quietly than unsuccessful ones. When a rebrand is unsuccessful, people get loud about how much they hate it. The company has to endure a slew of criticism from customers, think pieces, and shareholders.
When a company rebrands successfully, people don’t make memes or Twitter threads about it. The new brand feels comfortable and natural. So when you’re considering a rebranding project, finding tips on what not to do is much easier than finding tips on what to do.
Today, we’ll be looking at 5 rebranding case studies from Flux. In each of these, we used our tried-and-true IDEA Method to successfully create fresh, new versions of existing brands.
But before we look at successful rebranding examples, here’s a quick refresher on what a rebrand is.
What is a rebrand, and who needs one?
A rebrand is a change that a company makes to an existing public image. Rebranding can touch every part of a company, from the mission statement to the visuals. It all depends on what kind of change you’re looking to make.
You might be creating company culture for the first time and want to update your internal brand.
Maybe you feel a need to strip everything to the studs and start over because your brand isn’t resonating with your current customers.
Or maybe your brand needs to be brought into the now in a powerful way.
Rebranding can handle all of these needs, and it’s an effective way to increase your brand’s market value.
All that said, successful rebranding examples have always been done intentionally. Rebranding is a huge project, and successful rebrands always have an equally large goal. It’s not the kind of project that should be taken on because you’re feeling bored with your current brand or are looking to shake things up among your competitors.
When do you need a rebrand?
So when do you actually need a rebrand? There are several times in a company’s life when you’ll need to rebrand – which means rebranding examples are more common than you’d think.
First, a light rebrand – often called a brand refresh – is recommended every five years or so. This project is always on the smaller side. It involves updated visuals and copy and exists only to keep your brand up-to-date.
If your brand hasn’t been touched for decades, it’s time for a change!
Other situations are less frequent but more important. When companies go through a merger or acquisition, a rebrand helps them revise and strengthen their core values and image.
A negative public image can also be a call to rebrand, although these projects need to be handled with special care.
Lastly, a major loss of market share is an excellent reason to rebrand. You might be looking to strengthen your standing against a new competitor. Maybe you need to differentiate yourself in an increasingly crowded market. Or maybe, with today’s competitive hiring standards, you need help attracting and retaining talented employees.
Rebranding examples will include companies who used their brand to accomplish all these goals, so let’s look at just a few of the brands Flux has helped with a rebrand.
5 successful rebranding examples
These rebranding examples were all achieved using Flux’s IDEA Method. The IDEA Method is the unique framework we approach each and every project with. It starts with a deep, 360° view of the current brand, including its competitors, customers, and image. From that strong foundation of research, we begin crafting a beautiful brand.
1. FGS: Brand evolution for a 140-year-old company
Rebranding examples for companies with a rich history are always works of art. So when FGS approached us for a brand refresh project, we were honored to be their chosen rebranding agency. This brand is a division of Sunkist, and has a proud 140-year history to build on.
During this rebrand, we knew that FGS needed to honor that past while forging a new future. This meant keeping the classic “F” logo that their customers associated with them. In order to bring that logo into the company’s bright future, we redrew it with clean, balanced proportions.
Their present – and future – has also come to include more than just fruit, so we recommended a slight name change to “FGS Growers Supply” as a nod to their rich heritage.
We closed out this project by creating a brand launch plan to bring the new brand to the world, including a welcome box for new clients that celebrates the company’s past and reflects its current identity.
Successful rebranding examples for luxury brands can be hard to come by. Many luxury brands in recent years have fallen prey to “blanding,” discarding their historic brands in favor of flat, safe imagery.
When G12 came to Flux for a rebrand, we embraced the idea of opulence. The multi-family project wanted to appeal to a young, fashion-conscious consumer. The interior design was already luxurious and elevated, so we helped them craft a brand to match.
Bold brass and gold coloring contrast with black and gray to make a statement. Alongside the colors, geometric shapes like hexagons and a simple, functional logo incorporate smooth waves for a delicious finish.
This rebranding case study also included updating their signage. Every passerby is treated to eye-catching window clings, and column wraps that hint at the luxury inside.
In the leasing gallery, a custom sign with beaded curtains makes a statement: This is no ordinary experience. Finally, brass wayfinding signage offers a sense of cohesion throughout the building, bringing the experience into every moment with G12.
If you’re still wondering, “Why do companies rebrand?” look no further than The Taft Building. This classic building truly deserves its place among our rebranding examples.
After approximately $43 million was spent on acquiring and renovating the building, a fresh new brand was an absolute necessity. Flux was more than able to deliver, bringing a brand that celebrated this building’s storied history and creative future.
With icons like Charlie Chaplin holding offices in the past, the rebrand was built around crafting your legacy. The world-famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine, where the building is located, played a secondary role in the creation of this fresh new brand.
We grounded this color palette in neutral colors, but included an exciting pop of coral as an accent. For typography, we combined serif and sans-serif fonts to bring both a classic and contemporary feel to the print.
Before shelving this project with our other successful rebranding examples, we created a custom brochure. This brochure alludes to the building’s place in movie history by mimicking the style of classic movie posters – doubling as a unique memento from the building.
Check out more of The Taft Building’s rebrand here.
4. The Groveland: Roam. Rest. Repeat.
Next on our list of rebranding case studies is another historic building. The Groveland needed a special touch for their company rebranding project.
The hotel began as a trading post in 1849, officially becoming The Groveland hotel in 1875. Making this one of our top rebranding examples meant we needed to be able to bring their history into the new brand without making them look stuck in the past.
California, where The Groveland is located, has a rich history and a promising future in exploration. The rebrand leaned into the feeling of adventure, exploration, and awe that visitors experience in the natural surroundings of the hotel.
We incorporated strong earth tones, like rich greens and browns, as a call back to the concept of discovering the landscape. The typography is a blend of a custom serif reminiscent of old typeset with a gentle, hand-drawn cursive to bring a relaxing, soft feel.
5. Rakuten Super Logistics: Fulfillment superstars
There aren’t many successful rebranding examples in the logistics sector, and during this project, we discovered why. Strong brand voices and eye-catching visual branding are unusual in logistics. However, logistics companies are the cornerstone of many e-commerce businesses.
So when Rakuten Super Logistics came to us for a rebranding project, we knew this was going to be something special. Surprisingly, “super” wasn’t being used within their old brand’s messaging. We chose to highlight this in the new brand, making it the cornerstone of their identity.
The rebrand proclaimed Rakuten as “Fulfillment Superstars.” The messaging focused on something that we noticed during customer research.
Rakuten’s current customers weren’t sure what made Rakuten better than other fulfillment services. We renamed and reorganized their key differentiators and presented them to the world as the “Flawless or Free Guarantee.” They’ll get the right order to the right place on time, or you don’t pay.
Then, we introduced each and every one of these differentiators through social media campaigns. Bright colors and original photography created a welcoming, personable look that matched the new messaging perfectly.
See more of how we helped Rakuten become one of our top rebranding examples here.
Rebranding case studies: why do they matter?
Finding great rebranding examples from companies is key to choosing the right rebranding agency for your business. These case studies will give you a snapshot of the skill set and thought process behind the work the company can do for you, as well as open the door to learning about their methods and beliefs about branding.
When you’re ready to talk to a brand identity agency, these rebranding examples can jump-start the conversation and help you craft your most successful brand yet.
When you’re thinking about hiring a branding agency, you generally end up in one of two situations. You either can’t contain your excitement over all the possibilities a new brand could offer… or you’re so overwhelmed you don’t know where to start.
Wherever you are, there are a few questions you’ll need to ask to set yourself up for success. These are questions both for yourself, and for any branding agency to choose to partner with in your branding (or rebranding) journey.
So what are the most important questions to ask when hiring a branding agency? Let’s dive into the top 20 questions to consider before you begin.
Questions to ask yourself when hiring a branding agency
First, there are a handful of questions you’ll need to ask yourself when going into partnership with a branding agency. These questions will make the hiring process smoother – and ultimately, make the project run more smoothly.
Before hiring a branding agency, make sure you can answer these questions.
1. What am I expecting from working with a branding agency?
Take a moment to set (or examine) your expectations. Branding agency services cover a wide spectrum. What you expect might not align with an agency’s area of expertise or even be something possible to achieve.
A business’s success is the result of many different parts working together, and hiring a branding agency is only one piece of a larger puzzle.
2. How much experience do I have working with agencies?
Have you had negative experiences with agencies? Letting these dictate your view of agencies is all too easy, but it’s usually not beneficial. Instead, listen to agencies you’re considering with fresh eyes, allowing yourself to be curious about the process.
If you’re new to agency work, expect it to be different from an employee/employer or a freelancer/client relationship.
3. Do I have buy-in from my whole team?
Hiring a branding agency all on your own is rare. Usually, you need approval from several people. Make sure no one is on the fence. If your C-Suite doesn’t agree, the project will be harder on you and the agency.
4. What is my budget?
This question will help you narrow the field when deciding which branding agency to hire. Does your budget match the problem you need to solve? Are you being realistic about what your resources are and the going rate for the services you’re looking for? Being clear about your budget allows you to focus on what really needs to be done, right now.
5. How much do I know about my customers?
You can skip this question if you have a robust collection of customer data. If you’re unsure, now’s the time to review.
Do you need to know more about your customers?
Some agencies can help you with customer research, but others don’t. Before hiring a branding agency, make sure you know whether you need this service.
6. Do I have a vision for my future brand?
You’ll probably be asked this question a lot when hiring a branding agency. A successful brand isn’t solely built on your vision, but your vision is important. If you don’t have a vision for your brand, crafting a brand that you can believe in is more difficult for you and your agency.
Take some time to look at your competitors and non-competing brands for inspiration. Then, put together a vision board or document that reflects the kind of brand you want to build.
7. Do I have time blocked off for working with a branding agency?
Agencies take a lot of work off your team’s plate, but they still require active effort on your part. You’ll probably only need to block off time for meetings and giving feedback on work. Make sure you’re able to fit this process into your schedule.
8. What have I already tried?
Review your past and present brand identity before hiring a branding agency. You and your agency can use this review as a starting point.
If you’ve tried things that didn’t work at all, let your agency know so they can avoid repeating the mistake. On the other hand, you can also let them know of any promising directions you’ve unearthed.
9. How will I measure success?
This is one of the most important questions to ask when hiring a branding agency. A good agency won’t get started without a metric for success. Bringing one to the table can open up a dialogue about reasonable goals to set before the project begins.
10. When am I expecting to start and finish this project?
Hiring a branding agency will look different when projects are a year away compared to a month away.
If your branding project is something you’re considering for down the road, now is a great time to subscribe to several agencies’ newsletters to get a better feel for their knowledge base and communication style.
Once you know how, when, and why you’re coming into a project, you’ll be able to start looking at agencies you may want to hire. Then, it’s just as important to know what questions to ask the agencies themselves!
Questions to ask when hiring a branding agency
Here are the most important questions to ask a branding agency to help ensure the agency you’re hiring is a good fit for your company.
11. What is your area of expertise?
Is the agency you’re on a call with an expert in fresh, trendy brands? Well-established, mature brands? Which industries are they most well-versed in?
If they tell you “everything,” dig into that more. Do they have separate teams? Specialists that come in and revise? One person (or one team) can’t be an expert in everything. And expertise is required to craft an exceptional brand.
12. How will you provide the deliverables?
You will decide on deliverables as part of your project scope with your branding agency, so this question will help you ensure there are no unpleasant surprises at the end of the project.
Some agencies will have physical deliverables, while others are 100% digital. If your agency uses any software you aren’t familiar with, this question should help unearth that, too.
Published work allows you to see “before and after” shots of other brands your branding agency or rebranding agency has helped. When hiring a branding agency, handle portfolios carefully.
Agencies without published work aren’t guaranteed to fail you, but they are inexperienced. This means hiring them is a risk, and you’ll have to decide whether it’s a worthwhile one.
The branding process is a snapshot of working with them. Where does their process begin and end? And why? Asking about an agency’s process is an excellent way to get to know them.
If an agency tells you they don’t have a process, it’s a good idea to politely inform them you’ll be looking elsewhere. Your brand is too important to risk on work that isn’t carefully thought out.
15. How can I contact you with questions?
When the agency answers, follow up by asking if this will be your point of contact for the whole project. You and your team will encounter questions or concerns from time to time, and you’ll need to communicate that with your agency efficiently.
16. What are your values?
Branding is an intimate process. Your brand is a reflection of who you are as a business and as a team. Before you start a project, make sure that you and your branding agency share the same values. Otherwise, you probably won’t end up with a brand you can be proud of.
17. How have you handled projects that didn’t go to plan?
Mistakes happen. Not every project is a winner. Sometimes, this is because of mistakes the agency made. Sometimes it’s because of clients who weren’t willing to accept an agency’s expertise. And sometimes it’s for reasons outside of anyone’s control.
Before hiring a branding agency, ask about their fallback plans and policies for when the unexpected happens.
18. Do you think this can or should be accomplished within one project?
The agency you’re talking to will probably have some recommendations on how to maximize the success of the project. Just like asking about their process, this question helps you measure the depth of an agency’s expertise.
If you have no plans and are just wondering how to rebrand your business, don’t worry! Let your agency know that you don’t have anything in mind yet, and see what they recommend.
19. When will we start to see results?
This is a great time to discuss the success metric you set up previously. Remember, success metrics and timelines will be an open dialogue when hiring a branding agency. As in other questions, you can allow your agency’s expertise to give you a realistic picture of when you’ll see results.
20. Do we trust each other?
Once you get through all these questions, there’s one more question to ask before you sign a contract with a branding agency. It’s the most important question of all – and it’s about trust.
Without trust, a project will fall apart.
As an experienced branding agency in Los Angeles, Flux knows the importance of trust firsthand. We handle each brand with care because we recognize that putting your brand in our hands is an enormous act of trust.
We will work closely with you and your team to ensure you have all the answers you need and are comfortable moving forward with us and our branding process. Reach out to start the conversation about your brand transformation today.
Are you thinking about rebranding a company right now? If you are, it’s important to remember this isn’t the work of one person, one department, or one moment. To even consider a rebrand, you need to have eyes on the business as a whole.
A successful rebrand requires an intimate understanding of what’s working, what’s not, and how your customers view you.
But a rebrand is more than changing the flow of daily operations or using a new CRM. It’s more than a logo or a typeface. Rebranding is about re-examining how you communicate who you are as a company, and learning how to rebrand a business successfully can take years to master.
Fortunately, there are a few steps that are consistent across every effort when rebranding a company. These steps make for a great jumping-off point as you embark on your rebranding journey.
While no article will be able to guide you through a successful rebrand start-to-finish, you can gather valuable information about what to consider and plan for. And the very first thing to know about company rebranding? How much it can change depending on your why.
Success in company rebranding starts by exploring why you want to rebrand in the first place. Your reason for rebranding will guide research into your customers, your competitors, and your company itself. It dictates which rebranding services you’ll need, what kind of timeline you’ll work with, and sometimes even how you measure success.
Rebranding a company is more than just visuals. Even visual rebranding isn’t focused on aesthetics alone. Learning how to rebrand a business is about navigating a whole host of unique dilemmas rooted in how you’re perceived by your customers, your employees, your competitors, and even yourself.
All that said, here are a few tips on the most common challenges you might be looking to combat with a rebrand, and how each one can impact the way you approach rebranding a company.
Take back your market share
Now, let’s be clear – rebranding a company isn’t how you make up a minor drop in sales this quarter. Developing and launching a brand with powerful brand equity takes time and intentionality.
But sometimes the drop is significant or lasting, and then you could have a problem.
Competitive attack, especially from newcomers, is a sign that your brand is not yet memorable and irreplaceable enough to win out in your industry. Uncovering what your brand is missing and repositioning it based on your unique advantages is an investment that will pay off well into the future.
To learn how to rebrand a business and take back your market share, you’ll want to lean into the “Ignite” phase of Flux’s IDEA Method – the tried and true framework that we bring to all of our projects. We will explain more on this later.
Attract and retain exceptional employees
Creating company culture can sometimes feel out of your control. You may have an idea of the culture you want in your business, and maybe you’ve even taken some steps to get there. But now, you’re struggling to attract and retain the employees you want (and need).
That’s where internal company rebranding comes in.
Most of the time, companies view branding as external – the way you communicate with your customers. However, branding is just as crucial internally, and it can be especially liberating. It allows you to rediscover why you fell in love with (or even created) your company in the first place.
Rebranding a company to strengthen your internal brand will inform the way you communicate with your employees and the culture you create with them.
The “Energize” phase of the IDEA method dives more deeply into how you’ll solidify this internal brand and unify it across your entire organization.
Navigate a merger
Diversifying your brand portfolio? A clear strategy for expanding your brand or rebranding your subsidiaries is critical. A good brand strategy will expand your reach, while a messy one can seriously damage your recognition.
Wondering how to rebrand a business during a merger, sale, or acquisition is completely normal. It’s a sticky situation, and there are countless factors to manage. Your external brand may undergo few changes, if any. On the other hand, you might need to create something totally new.
Rebranding a company due to a merger is one of the best times to bring in a rebranding agency. As someone without ties to any of the existing brands, a talented rebranding agency will be able to mediate conversations about the brand’s new direction.
During a merger, the “Distill” phase of the IDEA method becomes the cornerstone of the process. In this phase, you lay out your company’s core philosophy, audiences, and offerings. A merger is a crucial time to assess your company’s ethos and architecture to understand how multiple brands can live together successfully, uniting everyone under the same vision.
Distance yourself from controversy
Rebranding a company can be a key piece of the puzzle when it comes to a less-than-favorable reputation. But rebranding doesn’t wipe the slate completely clean. If the root of the problem stays put, your new brand won’t do anything to win back customers or employees.
Start your rebrand after – or at least alongside – changes in the company systems, structure, or leadership that caused the issue to begin with. That way, your company rebrand can mark a clear change in the kind of company you want to be.
The “Ignite” phase of the IDEA method is key when it comes to changing a reputation. In this part of the process, you dive deep into your company and your customers. Through guided workshops, stakeholder engagement, and customer interviews, you’ll figure out the root of challenges and propose solutions.
And, once you have your new brand in place, you’ll want to create a brand reputation strategy to protect it in the future.
Move into the future
You don’t always need to face a major change to consider rebranding a company. When most people think of brands, they think of brand identity – the visual branding elements that make a brand recognizable. But branding is more than just colors, typography, and logos.
Your brand is the essence of who you are as a company. This includes your mission and values, who you serve, how you’re different from your competitors, and why your company exists in the first place.
Rebranding a company completely will require reassessing those ideas, which can be difficult. The comforting familiarity of your brand is constantly running in the background, but some ideas no longer resonate. Rebranding allows you to check in and remove aspects of the brand that are holding you back.
If you feel your brand identity needs a change, but the other parts of your brand are still healthy, then you may need to consider a refresh rather than a complete rebrand.
A refresh can lean more heavily on the “Energize” and “Activate” phases of the IDEA method to help your brand move into the future while still preserving what makes it powerful. In these phases, we bring strategy to life, transforming how you look and where you show up to make your brand more effective with key audiences.
So what is the IDEA method exactly? Let’s dive into the details of each stage.
The IDEA method
The IDEA method consists of four phases: Ignite, Distill, Energize, and Activate.
When you’re rebranding a company, there are countless details to balance and things to consider. The Ignite phase is all about setting yourself up for success. During this phase of company rebranding, you’ll methodically consider every strength and weakness of your current brand.
Making a thorough rebranding checklist is one part of the Ignite phase. But be careful when you make this checklist – getting overwhelmed is all too easy, especially if you’re trying to DIY your rebrand.
Our advice? Use a separate checklist for each phase of the IDEA method. The Ignite phase has completely different needs and goals compared to the Energize phase, for example.
Spend plenty of time planning and information-gathering, especially during the early stages of your rebrand. When you do, you’ll be amazed at how naturally everything else will flow from there.
Stop, look, and listen
Researching is at the heart of a successful rebrand. When you’re rebranding a company, you’ll quickly notice just how many places your brand shows up. And in each place your brand appears, there’s something to learn about how people interact with it.
Any experienced rebranding agency will tell you that quietly watching and listening to how people interact with your brand is a must for any successful rebrand.
When you’re rebranding a company, you need a 360° view of your company identity. Before announcing it to the world, it’s time to get deeply familiar with who your company is – and who it wants to be.
Get curious
“Why” is the most important question you can ask when rebranding a company.
Why are you rebranding? Why are you choosing this logo mock-up over that one? Why will one choice or another resonate with your customers? Why does it resonate with you?
Asking why helps you get to the bottom of any choice, keeping your most central values at the heart of your efforts. A crucial part of learning how to rebrand a company is learning how to question everything.
What’s important will hold up to questioning, and what isn’t will quickly burn away. Curiosity is indispensable when you’re rebranding a company, so get curious early in the process and stay there!
It’s (not) all about the customers
Understanding customers is essential to rebranding a company, of course. Without consumer research, the rebranding operates on the preferences of the board, not the buyer. Don’t guess at what your customers want. Ask them, then listen. Your company rebranding efforts will be all the better for it.
But you can’t stop there. Internal branding boasts often-overlooked gems – like higher retention rates, seamless mergers and acquisitions, and a mental and emotional boost to your employees.
Your brand communicates who you are as a company. Your customers care about that, absolutely. And so do your employees. They want to know who they’re working for, and they want to know what it means to work for and with your company.
Rebranding a company successfully requires an all-inclusive understanding of who you are as a company – to your customers, employees, shareholders, and yourself.
So you’ve gotten a 360° view of your brand, your competitor, and your audiences, as well as dug into what your employees want from your brand – now what? How does this mountain of data become a brand? The Distill phase helps you refine that data into key touchpoints that will develop into your brand.
And before you move forward in rebranding a company, it might be helpful to know more about brands as a whole. Brand archetypes can be powerful tools to determine what kind of brand you want to be. Rather than trying to rebrand from scratch, starting from a brand archetype allows you to draw inspiration from successful brands and align yourself with specific ideals.
Drawing in archetypes alongside your data gives the Distill phase a sense of direction and purpose. What archetype do you want to embody? What do your customers see you as?
Zoom out
The Distill phase of rebranding a company is about the big picture. Don’t get too stuck in the details just yet. Look at what your data is telling you as a whole. What themes or ideas come up over and over when people are talking about your brand?
Rebranding a company is never just about the company. You’re rebranding for your customers just as much as for yourself – if not more so. Don’t be afraid to hang on to parts of your brand if the customers love them. And don’t hesitate to throw out your favorite ideas or features if the customers don’t agree.
Take an honest look at what’s working and not working. The more real and honest you can be, the more authentic your direction will become. And when you’re transitioning from the Ignite phase into the Distill phase, finding a clear, authentic direction builds a strong foundation for your brand moving forward.
The ultimate goal of the Distill phase is creating your brand positioning, which you can then use to craft your brand identity. So you might wonder, what is brand positioning?
Rebranding a company is more than visual rebranding. Think of your brand’s presentation and reputation as though it were a person. Your reputation isn’t exclusively based on what you wear and look like. Your identity includes a whole host of intangible things, as well – your family, your education, your taste, your values, and your beliefs.
The intangible qualities that set your brand apart are your brand positioning. This dictates how your brand will show up, and what values you need to keep in mind every time your brand is included.
Take Disney, for example. They didn’t end up with a sterling reputation as family-focused, magical dreamers by accident. They’ve deliberately positioned their brand to reflect those ideas – with great success.
Solve the puzzle
By this stage, you’ll have a good sense of what your customers are looking for and how you might want to show up for them. Now, it’s time to solve the puzzle.
How do you put together the data from your market research with the needs your employees express and the passion you have for your company… all while keeping shareholder buy-in?
This is one of the hardest parts of rebranding a company, so if you get stuck here, you’re not alone. Keep learning, and don’t be afraid to reach out for help if you need it. The result of this phase should be an internal document that acts as a north star for all future brand expression. It lays out your reason to believe, core concepts and values, unique differentiators, brand voice, and the early stages of your visual tone. It’s one of the most critical parts of a rebranding effort, ensuring everyone who works with you understands exactly what your brand is all about.
By this phase, you should have a strong, data-backed brand positioning document laying out the core concepts of your brand. This internal document is the beating heart of your brand, and it’s indispensable for the Energize phase and the life of your brand moving forward.
The Energize phase is where we really dig into your brand identity. How (and where) do you want your brand to show up? What is brand identity? Brand identity is a cornerstone of rebranding, and it refers to the logo, colors, and typography you’ll use to make an instant impression. Rebranding a company has more to it than brand identity, but it’s still a crucial part of the puzzle.
This can be a good time to bring on some help, too. There isn’t a marketing department in the world that can take on rebranding all by themselves. Especially not if you plan to have any other marketing happening before or after the brand launch.
Rebranding a company is a huge amount of work. Beyond that, an excellent rebrand requires specialized knowledge and skill sets that even an awesome marketing team might not have.
Make a map
Where did you come from, and where are you going? Following the IDEA method, you should have an idea of how to answer this question by this point. Now the Energize phase is all about bringing your new brand strategy to life through visual channels. It’s time to develop a dynamic brand identity that resonates with your target audience and aligns with your business goals.
Any change is hard. Rolling out a new logo, messaging strategy, and package all at the same time is what makes rebranding a company especially difficult. How and when you communicate the changes is just as important as making the right changes.
As you develop your brand identity, now is a good time to anticipate the kinds of collateral you might need. For example, will you be replacing business cards or company letterhead? Branded merchandise? Vehicle wraps? Start putting things in motion now so you’re prepared for when the Energize phase has a beautiful brand identity ready for you to Activate.
Express yourself
Most people find the Energize phase to be the most exciting part of rebranding a company. This is the point where you start to see your brand come together. You’ve determined what your brand needs to be, and narrowed down your values, but how will you express that?
What iconography, visual language, and image style communicate who your brand truly is? In the early phases of the Energize phase, especially, don’t be afraid to explore! There are many different ways to express the same kinds of brand ideals.
And remember, staying curious makes all the difference in rebranding a company. Always ask why you’re drawn to a specific brand identity component– and if your audience is drawn to it as well. Keeping your customers in mind should be your guiding light throughout the process, and help you select the right option from the many different visual directions a brand can take Getting to the root of what your brand means you find a brand identity that perfectly expresses those concepts.
The brain can process the visual components of your brand faster than anything else. And in today’s online world, your brand’s visuals have to be able to stop the scroll. Rebranding a company visually is challenging, and it can feel like a completely different world.
You’ll need to dig deep into what your brand means and where you want to go. Any visual change must be in alignment with your overall brand strategy. How do you want to make people feel? What is your brand personality? These kinds of questions are at the heart of how you want to look.
Incorporating the intangible elements of your brand into tangible elements is one of the moments you might need to call in some help when rebranding a business. Graphic designers, especially ones who specialize in rebranding are fluent in the “language” of visual rebranding.
A note on visual rebranding:
A picture paints a thousand words (without having to read them). When embarking on a visual rebrand, careful consideration is key. How are you going to socialize the new look with your customers and your employees? Visual rebranding can pivot your look completely and may make you almost unrecognizable to your current audience. Having a careful plan to roll out the new look, and a good amount of market research to back up the change, are critical.
Countless brands have released new brand visuals, only to be met with incredible backlash. And sometimes, even become the butt of a joke.
In any visual rebranding, make sure you’re bringing in professional designers. Successful brand visuals will reflect your brand’s strategy and intelligence. Professionals will help you ensure your visuals are more than just a pretty face.
Arguably, the Activate phase is the most labor-intensive of the whole process, but it can also be the most straightforward. The Activate phase is your brand launch, and while there are many different ways to launch a brand, this is also where your in-house marketing team can be incredibly helpful.
As an experienced Los Angeles branding agency, Flux has worked on brand launches for a variety of companies, in every shape and size. This is the last leg of the marathon that is rebranding a company, and seeing a successful brand launch is incredibly rewarding.
Strategize your launch
The first step in a successful launch is a solid strategy. Like every other part of rebranding a company, your launch should be solidly data-based.
How do your customers see your current brand? What are you trying to convey with the new one? Does your new brand look significantly different or are you only making a minor change? What kind of resources are you working with? All these questions (and more) will play a huge role in how you strategize your brand launch.
And, like anything in business, there’s a bit of paperwork to do before you can consider your rebrand complete. You’ll need to copyright your new brand and update DBAs or product names. Check with your legal team to make sure that everything looks good before you proceed.
Check in with your finance department regularly when rebranding a company, as well. Many of the expenses associated with the rebranding process (including hiring an agency) are tax-deductible, so you can mark them as write-offs in your budget.
While you’re running the launch, pay close attention to the reception. It’s not too late to make minor changes to the plan! You can also use this time to guide your marketing decisions in the future.
What are some of the things that people like or dislike about the way your new brand shows up?
Rebranding a company is an incredible amount of work, and it can be tempting at this point to check out and let the launch run its course. But the real-time feedback you can give to and receive from your customers and employees is invaluable. Insights found during this process can guide how your new brand moves forward for months, or even years.
Celebrate your team
Once your brand launch is complete, don’t forget to celebrate! You and your team will truly be putting your heart and soul into company rebranding, so take a well-deserved breather. A successful rebrand is a labor of love, but that doesn’t make it easy.
And after taking some time to step away from the project, you’ll get to enjoy the results. Rebranding a company can breathe new life into your work. It can remind you why you work for – or created! – your company to begin with. Rebranding can also revitalize your sales and service, giving the company an overall boost. Win-win!
Brands aren’t meant to last forever. Companies grow and shift and change, and in successful rebrands, you ask questions, investigate those changes, and use them to move forward.
A full rebrand can make a company…or break it. Poorly done rebrands make your customers – current and potential – confused and uncertain. If you’re inconsistent with your brand, they’ll wonder if you’re inconsistent with your products or services, too.
On the other hand, when your mission and values are clear for every person in your organization, it shows for your customers, too. In better customer service. In higher-quality products. In problems that get solved more efficiently than ever.
Rebranding a company isn’t easy, but it is rewarding. Choosing an excellent rebranding agency will take most of the work off your plate while allowing you to take in all the benefits.
Common fears and FAQs about company rebranding
There’s no way around it: Company rebranding is a massive project with equally massive consequences – one way or another. Some companies experience intense, rapid growth after a rebrand while others attempt rebrands that nearly destroy their business.
These outrageous failures can leave you with massive fears about rebranding. If BP, Uber, and Tropicana can have rebrands go wrong, how do you know it won’t happen to you next? Each of these examples missed the mark because they lacked the strategy and vision necessary for a vibrant rebrand.
When you overcome the fears around rebranding a company, you can embrace your rebranding journey with open arms.
How can you be sure it’s time to rebrand?
Usually, you’ll recognize the time for a rebrand when it arrives. The reasons we list at the beginning of this article are the most common signs: a merger or acquisition, a competitive attack, launching a new product or service, a change in leadership, or a reputational challenge. And if you’re on the fence about a rebrand, the best thing to do is to ask yourself why you want to rebrand in the first place.
Rebranding a company is something to approach deliberately and confidently. If you’re looking to rebrand simply because you’re bored with your current brand, or worried it feels “dated”, pause a moment. At that point, you could consider visual rebranding, but you could also wait.
And if you truly aren’t sure, you could always schedule a consultation with a rebranding agency.
Will you end up losing money if you rebrand?
Some brands take a hit of millions due to a failed rebrand. How do you know that rebranding a company won’t cause the same problems for you? This is an especially intense fear for brands who are rebranding to take back a loss of market share.
The last thing you want is to make the company rebranding project a huge line item in the budget… only to have it cost you money in the end.
The good news? Approaching rebranding carefully and methodically can help you avoid a spectacular failure. Strategic rebranding helps ensure brand consistency, which has been shown to increase revenue by 30%. And that’s not all – a strong brand will make your marketing more effective, allowing you to build customer loyalty and mindshare.
What if you (or your customers) hate the new brand?
Putting time and effort into carefully designing a brand, only to become a laughingstock or outcast is a common worry about rebranding. Similarly to the fear of losing money, you can combat this with plenty of research– both inside and outside your company. Understanding your internal vision as well as your external perception are both key to a successful rebrand. Get curious, ask questions, and see what your customers and your employees have to say.
Authenticity plays a big role in how your brand is received. We’ve all noticed the rise of blanding, even if we didn’t have a word for it. Removing every trace of personality from your brand is a guaranteed way to make your efforts in rebranding a company fail. Whether your brand is loud and busy or simple and clean, it should reflect your overall strategy and needs, not a momentary trend.
Bringing in experts can help you balance modern looks with bold personality during your company rebranding.
Do you need to hire a rebranding agency to rebrand?
No, you don’t need to hire a rebranding agency… but you might want to. Before you decide to field company rebranding in-house, ask yourself: Does my team already know how to rebrand a business? Do one or more of them have the experience or skill set necessary to navigate this specialty?
Agencies are often the simplest and most trustworthy option for rebranding a company. And when you take into account the time you may spend vetting and cobbling together a team of solid contractors, they might be cheaper, too.
Make sure you review an agency’s case studies before scheduling a meeting with them so you know if they have a specialty. Case studies can also show you an agency’s overall energy and what they find important in rebrands.
Is rebranding worth it?
The short answer? Yes. When it’s needed, rebranding a company can transform it at every level. Even when you’re doing a lighter brand refresh, renewing your brand’s vibrancy has a ripple effect.
Rebranding can affect the way you interact with your shareholders, customers, and throughout your organization as a whole. At its core, branding is rallying people together over shared ideas, beliefs, and desires. Rejuvenating that isn’t always easy, but it is always rewarding.
Talented employees are hard to find. You post job listings on a dozen different job boards (including LinkedIn). You post “now hiring” signs outside your building and banners on your website. You go through seemingly endless rounds of interviews. All in search of that one perfect candidate.
And once you find them, keeping them can feel even harder. Your turnover feels out of control, and you don’t know what’s causing it. Why are all your employees leaving?
Attracting and retaining talented employees gets much easier once you realize that people’s connection with brands goes deeper than their purchasing power.
People want to connect with brands at work, too. In fact, branding is one of the best ways to make the never-ending struggle to find top talent easier. So if you’ve wondered: “Why do companies rebrand?”, attracting and retaining talent is certainly a great reason!
Today, we’ll dive into 11 tips for attracting and retaining talent using your brand.
11 ways to attract and retain top talent
Attracting and retaining top talent starts with realizing that today’s employees are looking for a give-and-take relationship with their work. Days of “hustling” and “climbing the corporate ladder” are becoming a distant memory.
So how does attracting and retaining talent look in today’s workforce? First, remember that those top employees see hundreds of job openings when they’re looking for work. They’re just as tired as you are of chasing opportunities that never quite work out.
The clearer you can be about what you have to offer, the better chance you have of attracting and retaining talented employees.
Here are just some of the things you can do to make attracting (and retaining) top talent easier:
1. Listen to your employees
How do you know what you have to offer from an employee’s perspective? Ask your employees.
Survey employees at every level of your company. What do they love about working for and with you? What could stand to be improved? Why? Importantly, ask them if they know what your company stands for. Is your internal branding strong enough that every one of your employees understands your mission and vision?
The more you listen, the easier your job will be. The people who are with your company right now are there for a reason. Once you know what that reason is, you’ll be able to refine and amplify it, both internally and externally.
Attracting and retaining talented employees starts with retaining the talent you already have. Giving them a voice and showing them their feedback matters is a great place to start.
2. Consider a brand update
Yes, company rebranding is usually done for your customers. Undergoing a rebrand or a brand refresh is often an external project, but not exclusively. A brand update can also help in attracting and retaining talented employees.
In general, updates are typically a good idea every few years to maintain the integrity and freshness of your brand. Starting a rebranding project with hiring and retention in mind is a powerful way to create internal branding that resonates with your employees. This is particularly important if there have been major structural changes to your company, like a merger or acquisition. Updating your brand with a focus on internal branding can help you increase efficiency and strengthen company culture.
You might already have a strong internal brand, or you might have no internal brand at all. Either way, now is the perfect time to audit your brand and see exactly what you’re working with.
3. Create (or improve) your employee value proposition
Your employee value proposition exists to answer one question: “Why should a talented employee choose to work in this position with you instead of with your competitors?”
You may never have delved deep into this question before. Or, like your brand, maybe you haven’t reviewed it in a few years, and it’s time to look it over again. Bringing in an outside party can help you get a clear, fresh view.
During your work with a rebranding agency, you’ll put your brand under a bright light and look at every part of it. This, and the employee surveys you complete, will help you put together an employee value proposition tailored to attracting and retaining talented employees.
4. Review your pay and benefits
It’s not as “cool” as some of the other things on this list, but pay and benefits are important to talented employees. In fact, 7 in 10 job seekers consider salary the most important part of a job listing – and are more likely to apply to a job that shows a salary range.
If you’re struggling with attracting and retaining talented employees, take a moment to make sure your salary and benefits are competitive. And it’s not just when you’re first hiring, either. Review pay and benefits for all your employees annually to account for performance, cost of living increases, and changes in responsibilities.
5. Double down on creating company culture
Your employees work for a paycheck, it’s true, but they don’t work for just a paycheck. Creating company culture is an important step in attracting and retaining talented employees.
Your culture is the way that your teams interact with each other.
When you revamp your culture as part of an internal rebranding project, you might worry about alienating existing employees. You might lose some employees during this process, but they will be people who don’t believe in your mission or the positive changes you’re trying to make.
At Flux, we believe that strong brands take a stand. The clearer you are at what you’re taking a stand for, the easier attracting and retaining talent will be – even if you lose people who don’t stand for the same things you do.
6. Put your job descriptions to work
Job descriptions are more than a bulleted list of duties with a salary range tacked on the end. Or at least, they should be. When it comes to attracting and retaining talented employees, your job description is like an online dating profile. That is, it gives them a taste of what you’re really like so they can decide whether you’re a good fit.
Your job descriptions should have a pop of personality – are you serious or fun? Are you dreamers or do-ers or a mix of both? Well-written job descriptions will help weed out candidates that don’t mesh with your culture before you even have to review a resume.
Your top talent isn’t just on the job boards. You can find them on social media, too. And showing up on socials means that you can catch the attention of talented employees who aren’t actively job-seeking.
A great social media presence should be part of any brand’s marketing efforts, and just like every other part of your brand, you can leverage that internally, too. Use social media to spotlight star employees, proudly talk about your brand’s values, and discuss open positions.
Attracting and retaining talented employees through social media is easier the stronger your presence is, so make it a key part of your content strategy.
8. Conduct thoughtful entrance and exit interviews
Interviewing can be a tedious process. It takes a skilled interviewer to get to the heart of what will make an employee a good fit, but a strong brand can help. Use your employee value proposition, company culture, and brand values to create thoughtful questions that help you determine how compatible you are.
And don’t forget exit interviews! Exit interviews are often overlooked, but they can be a gold mine for improvement. Why is this employee leaving? How can you use that information to improve the experience for your current and future employees?
Attracting and retaining talented employees requires consistent improvement, and exit interviews can guide this process in the long term.
9. Watch out for burnout
Burnout is rampant in today’s workforce since great work is often rewarded with…more work. This does make sense though. Of course you’d want to give important projects to trustworthy employees! However, that attitude won’t help in attracting and retaining talented employees.
Remember that even your most productive, talented employees can and will get overworked. When necessary, consider hiring permanent or temporary support for the role or passing along tasks to other members of the team.
10. Provide opportunities for growth
No one likes being bored, especially not at work. Talented employees are bursting with potential, and they want you to help them uncover it. Give your employees the opportunity to train in different areas, continue specializing their skills, or learn how to be effective leaders. Showing your team that you care about their growth goes a long way in attracting and retaining talented employees.
11. Keep evolving
They say change is the only constant, and that’s certainly true of brands. Attracting and retaining talented employees looks different from month to month and year to year.
The most successful internal rebranding examples come from companies that embraced the need to change and improve over time.
Attracting and retaining talent with branding
Internal branding is the unsung hero of low turnover. Successful brands give people something to believe in, and internal branding carries that belief over to your team. Teams who believe in your brand will advocate for it, bringing with them even more talent. When people have a reason to show up, they also have a reason to stay. Strong brands ensure employees believe in what they’re doing, and empower them to feel they’re part of something bigger than themselves.
If you’re unsure how to create successful internal branding on your own, don’t worry! A brand identity agency can help you craft a brand for attracting and retaining talented employees that fit your company like a glove.
Working out how to integrate companies after acquisition is a rollercoaster. While you may be thrilled about the possibilities this new acquisition brings to the table, that doesn’t mean everything is going to be smooth sailing. There are still dozens of details to handle before you can pop the champagne on your successful acquisition.
The integration of companies after acquisition is a huge topic, but it all comes down to one thing: getting everyone on the same team. The sooner you can do that, the sooner the rough seas of acquisition will calm.
From your stakeholders to your c-suite to your employees and even your customers – everyone has to be on board for this project to be a success. When you make that happen, your company can go full speed ahead into a bright future.
How to integrate companies after acquisition in 9 steps
You’ll find there are many different questions to ask after a company acquisition. Some of these have to do with logistical issues like budgets, data, software, and systems. And those are certainly important, but they shouldn’t be the only things on your list.
When your teams have synergy, the logistics are much easier to handle. You don’t have to chase information down or try to play referee in interpersonal squabbles. Everyone is a single team working for a single goal – and your efforts in pursuit of that goal go that much more smoothly.
That’s why achieving synergy is the most difficult part of how to integrate companies after acquisition. Everything else hinges on it. So don’t try and go it alone.
Involve your teams in the process of the acquisition, and consider working with a rebranding agency to help you find the right strategy for integrating two potentially very different companies into one.
Taking an acquisition from transaction to a full integration can be a difficult process, but there is a roadmap you can follow. Use these 9 tips for how to integrate companies after acquisition to help things go smoothly:
1. Clarify your goals
Before anything else, take a moment to think about your goals. When puzzling out how to integrate companies after acquisition, you need a metric for success.
Every company will have its rough spots. Processes will need to be updated. Data sets will grow and change. And some people within your team will have friction with each other, whether they’ve worked together for 20 years or met because of the acquisition.
Expecting integration to turn your company into an unbreakable machine isn’t realistic – or even possible.
So what do you hope to achieve? What happens after company acquisition processes are underway will largely be determined by your answer to this question.
If you’re struggling to find answers here, don’t worry. These questions to ask after a company acquisition can help you get started:
Why did you choose to acquire this company?
Where is the acquired company strongest? How do its strengths support your company’s weaker points?
What about the acquired company’s current brand, vision, voice, or team inspires you?
Imagine your company five years from now. How does the company you’ve acquired drive your success in the future?
What kind of metric can you follow to track your team’s progress?
Getting clarity on these questions can significantly help with how to integrate companies after acquisition.
2. Get leadership (and stakeholders) on board
Once you have your goals in mind, it’s time to start getting people on board. The next step in how to integrate companies after acquisition is getting leadership and stakeholders on board.
Stakeholders can be impatient, and executives often have a huge vision for the successful future of the company. But this can have a destructive impact on successful integration.
Patience will be KEY to success.
Remember, your teams have just met each other, and trust doesn’t happen overnight. Use the goals you’ve created to get buy-in on a methodical integration.
When you can show your stakeholders and executive team that you are making progress, they’ll be more receptive to your slow-and-steady-wins-the-race approach.
3. Ensure your cultures are compatible
Before an acquisition, or as soon as possible afterward, it’s important to do a “culture audit.”
The more different your two cultures are, the more difficult the integration of companies after acquisition will be.
You need to know upfront how easy (or difficult) creating a company culture will be. It’s easy to misplace this step among all the logistical tips on how to integrate companies after acquisition, but it’s vital to the health of your team in the end. Your team is the fuel of your company, so it’s essential that they feel unified.
4. Make integration a priority
Don’t let your integration efforts become something that happens “when you have time.” The old adage that we make time for what’s important to us is true. And unless you make time for it, figuring out how to integrate companies after acquisition will be pushed back to tomorrow over and over again – until it’s too late to approach it intentionally.
5. Choose a point person
At this point, you’ll want to pick someone who can clear the time on their calendar to take the lead integration. There’s going to be quite a lot of back-and-forth between the two companies, and you don’t want any information to be lost.
Choose someone familiar with what happens after company acquisition occurs, or someone who intimately understands the inner workings of the company. They should get a list of who to reach out to with different concerns and be the first person you update throughout the process.
Basically, they’ll handle the small stuff so you can take an aerial view of how to integrate companies after acquisition successfully.
6. Identify key employees
Redundancies are a normal part of acquisitions – but don’t jump the gun. Before you decide to keep anyone or let anyone go, do a thorough investigation. How and why did each person in each company get to where they are now? What does their growth trajectory look like?
These are important questions to ask after a company acquisition. When you can answer them, you know that the people who are staying with the company are the strongest assets you could have.
The benefits of branding aren’t restricted to getting a competitive edge, but branding can certainly help you to retain your edge! When puzzling out how to integrate companies after acquisition, it’s important to remember customers, too.
“Under new management” is frequently used as a joke, but the consequences of customers and employees losing trust in a brand is real. Make sure you have a plan to help acquisition go smoothly without confusing your current customers or weakening your brand equity.
8. Update your internal branding
Since nothing happens without a solid team, internal branding should be a key part of the integration of companies after acquisition. Once you sell your team on your new brand, they’ll have no problem selling your customers on it, too.
Internal branding also gives you the space to really lean into the rich history of each company. This is especially true if one or both companies already have a strong internal brand. A big part of creating culture and synergy is showing your teams that they’re understood and that they have lots in common.
Internal branding allows you to show your employees what you already know: That combining these companies together will build an unshakeable team.
When you’re pondering how to integrate companies after acquisition, rebranding might come to mind. It’s tough to know when to rebrand during an acquisition – or whether you should rebrand at all!
Sometimes, a lighter brand refresh is a better fit compared to a full rebranding of both companies. Sometimes, an entirely new brand needs to be created. Whatever the strategy required, it’s important to address your brand. Acquisitions can be delicate times for your brand both internally and externally, and you don’t want to leave your customers or your team members wondering what’s going on. Even if it’s a small change, it’s guaranteed your brand will have to respond to the new acquisition in some way.
Take this example: Budweiser and Guinness are both beer brands. But that doesn’t make a potential acquisition easier for one of them. Nearly everything else about them is different – their visual branding, their messaging, their entire ethos. An acquisition requires that two very different companies come together, without alienating existing customers and employees. A branding agency can craft the right strategy to make this a reality.
What happens after company acquisition is over?
At the end of the day, a successful acquisition ends with a single successful company operating under a united brand. These steps for how to integrate companies after acquisition only scratch the surface on how to bring two companies together into something greater than the sum of their parts.
After you’ve sorted out how to integrate companies after acquisition, you’ll still have a lot of work to do. Part of that work is crafting a compelling brand – internally and externally – that anchors your company.
Your brand is who you are, and an acquisition will change that, however slightly. Working with a brand identity agency can help you create something that your shareholders, teams, and customers will fall in love with.
