You Don't Need A Rebrand

The brand feels stale. The logo's been bothering you for a year. Competitors just refreshed and suddenly your site looks like the before picture.

So you're circling a rebrand. Collecting agency names. Building the moodboard.

Put the moodboard down for one minute.

A rebrand changes how you look. A repositioning changes what you mean. They cost about the same in money but are nothing alike in consequence. Founders buy rebrands when what they actually need is repositioning. It happens all the time.

The cheap test that tells you which one you need:

Try to explain your brand in one sentence. What you are + who you're for in about five words.
One of three things happens next.

1) You can't simply explain the brand.
Then you don't need a rebrand. You need positioning. A new logo on an undecided brand is expensive confusion with better kerning. Decide what you mean first, then see if your current look can carry it. Half the time, it can.

2) You can simply explain the brand, but the look doesn't match.
That's the real case for a rebrand. You outgrew the aesthetic. The customer changed. The category moved. The decision is made. Now the look just needs to catch up.

3) You can explain the brand, its look fits, but you're still unsatisfied.
Nobody says this one out loud: you're bored. You see your brand every day. Your customer sees it for three seconds a week. You're bored. But your customer isn't. She just got here.

The fix for bored? Leave the logo alone. Scratch the itch somewhere smaller: a campaign, a seasonal edition, a limited run.

The order, always: meaning first, look second. Rebrands that work start with a decision. Rebrands that fail start with a moodboard.

Can't explain your brand in one sentence? That's where I start: Explore The Solve
Made the key decisions but need a look? That's The Conception