Key Risks to Consider When Rebranding

Up to 60% of rebrands fail. The usual cause? Chasing a new look without a real plan. I’ve studied over 200+ rebrand case studies. The winners share four traits. The failures? They almost always prioritized aesthetics over strategy. 1. Strategy before beauty Three out of four consumers remember brands by their logo. That’s why most failed rebrands start there and end there. The successful ones invest months building a strategic foundation before touching design. 2. Voice that connects Brand voice isn’t just copy. It’s your personality across every channel. Nike doesn’t just sell shoes. Their voice is empowering, motivational, slightly rebellious, and it’s consistent everywhere. Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club both sell razors. Harry’s uses refined sophistication for premium buyers. Dollar Shave Club leans into irreverent humor for cost-conscious millennials. Same product category, opposite voices. Voice comes from knowing your audience, not guessing. 3. Visual identity with purpose Visuals work only after strategy and voice are clear. Tropicana learned this in 2009. They replaced recognizable packaging with a clean, minimal design. Customers didn’t recognize it. Sales fell 20% in six weeks. Royal Mail made the same mistake in 2001. They ditched 500 years of equity for a meaningless name: Consignia. The public mocked it. Within 15 months, they reverted, wasting millions. Visual identity should strengthen your strategy, not erase your history. 4. Live the change internally first If your team doesn’t believe in the rebrand, it will never take flight. Every employee must understand and live the new direction before the public sees it. McKinsey found that change programs with strong employee buy-in are 30% more likely to succeed. Internal alignment before external launch, always. Ignore this, and you won’t just waste money. You’ll destroy trust. LESSON: A rebrand isn’t about looking different. Kia proved it in 2021. They didn’t just tweak a logo. They redefined their purpose: “Movement that Inspires” and backed it with product innovation. Revenue jumped 18% to a record $60 billion. Kia invested in transformation, not cosmetics, and hit historic growth. In an example of what not to do, Gap launched a new logo on October 6, 2010. By October 12 - just 6 days later - they reversed it. Cost: $100 million down the drain. A new look only works if it’s built on a strong foundation. When you’re clear on why your brand exists and what it stands for, the visuals have power. They signal meaning people can feel. Get the meaning right, and the look will matter. Motto®

77% of rebrands crash and burn. Most CEOs never recover. (Save + Repost this before spending another dollar on your rebrand ♻️) Here are the 5 most expensive rebranding mistakes I've seen kill otherwise brilliant companies: 1. Rebranding without a strategic reason "We need a fresh look" is not a strategy. I've watched companies spend $250K+ on new logos while their real issues remain untouched: → Market position → Audience disconnect → Outdated messaging Smart rebrands start with business objectives, not design whims. 2. Abandoning brand equity  Remember Tropicana's 2009 rebrand? → Sales dropped 20% in weeks → $137 million lost Why? They scrapped recognizable elements customers had emotional connections to. Your brand assets aren't just visuals. They're memory triggers that create instant recognition. 3. Chasing trends instead of truth A manufacturing client spent $85K following the "minimalist" trend. Their plain, forgettable result looked like every other competitor. The hard truth: being distinctive beats being fashionable. 4. Treating employees as an afterthought When your team learns about your rebrand the same day as customers, you've failed. One tech company spent $1.2M on an external rebrand execution but $0 on internal alignment. The result? 34% drop in lead quality. 5. Launching without testing A financial services firm rolled out their rebrand "overnight." Within days, customers reported their new logo resembled a competitor's. The rushed redesign cost them $430K in emergency corrections. The Hidden Cost: Failed rebrands don't just waste money. They damage trust, confuse your market, and demoralize your team. After guiding 350+ brands through successful transformations: → Powerful rebrands don't just refresh your image → They reconnect you with your core purpose → They realign your entire organization → They reestablish why customers should care Your brand isn't what you say it is. It's what they say it is. P.S. What rebrand failures have you witnessed? Drop them below  -----------------------------------------  Follow David Brier for brand strategy that builds real value

Ok, enough. I’ve had two calls this past week with potential clients that said “they went through an expensive rebrand and sales stayed flat or declined. Their trust in agencies is low.” I get it. There’s a misunderstanding of what a REBRAND is and agencies are partly to blame. Most agencies were started by creatives who can create trendy designs or tell good stories but they don’t have a strong understanding of business and marketing strategy. A rebrand is NOT an aesthetic update to be more trendy, eye catching, or tell a better story. That exercise is called a BRAND REFRESH OR BRAND EVOLUTION. This work involves maintaining the current position and strategy with a goal to increase or maintain connection with your audience. Walmart recently undertook a brand refresh with their logo update and people who don’t understand strategy ridiculed it for being a bad rebrand. Walmart wasn’t rebranding. A REBRAND is a REPOSITION in the market or category. It’s undertaken when the positive perceived value of a brand is not optimal, sales/margins are flat or declining, there is new innovation, competitors, or product updates that warrant a new price point, and/or a new target audience to focus on. It’s a deeper change in the business strategy and focus for an organization and the new design aesthetics and story telling reflect this change. When done right, a rebrand is a transition that absolutely creates results. But if you or your agency get the fundamental strategy wrong at the outset it will cost you a lot of money, time and even reputation. Even our big clients with good marketers in-house need a second opinion and advice to ensure they get it right. If you feel you might need a refresh, rebrand or you’re unsure exactly, please talk to a professional marketing consultant or agency that has deep strategic knowledge of your industry. We’re here to help. You’ll be glad you did. #marketing #branding #advice Crew Marketing Partners