3 reasons why rebranding is good business

Rebranding can be a risky business if not looked at holistically. Branding is much more than making your company or product look good to consumers, it needs to make your bottom line look good as well.

So if you have gone to all the trouble to create a brand – why in the world would you want to rebrand? Well, simply put - a company rebrands because it needs to change a significant element of their branding image. This could be purely the logo or the marketing message or it can even include a full corporate rebrand exercise.

There are lots of reasons why a company decides to rebrand – here are 3 of the most common that we hear:

1. Relevancy: If your products are no longer relevant to your market – you either change your market or you refocus. And making your products more relevant to today’s changing markets involves repositioning either your company or your products.

You can’t have missed the growing emphasis on healthy foods over the past few years. And the repeated calls to remove fast food from our schools? And out of lives in many cases as well.

So how did McDonalds address this issue? They focussed on making their food more nutritious and rebranded accordingly. Now you can find out how many calories are in their burgers, buy lots of different nutritious salads, low-fat yogurts and fresh fruit at their outlets.

And with the addition of the McCafe menu, serving speciality coffees and pastries, and with free WIFI - McDonalds are repositioning themselves as a more upmarket and healthy food option.

2. Product expansion: One of the commonest reasons to rebrand is because of new product lines – whether through corporate acquisitions or new internal product developments. When your corporate brand no longer reflects all of your products – you need to rebrand – so that your broader product range can be included in your corporate image.

Think of Apple, who use to be known as Apple Computers. This was fine when all they did was build and sell computers. But with the IPhone, IPod and IPad, which are all strong brands in their own right, their original branding image would have been too restrictive.

A simple corporate name change from Apple Computers to Apple, removed the restriction of only selling computers – and the rest is history.

3. Competitive influences: Sometimes the competition in a certain area is too fierce – and a company needs to redefine itself and its market. Take for example the clothing and homewares store Target.

Previously compared to K-Mart or Big W, Target is now rebranding itself as a more upmarket and designer store – to distinguish itself from the competition. Bringing in limited merchandise from top designers and offering higher end items at low prices, Target or Tarzjay – spoken with a French accent – is hoping to appeal to a broader and more upscale clientele.

In todays’ global marketplace and with the rise of the internet, consumer influence is a huge factor in the success or demise of a brand. Refreshing your brand and subsequent message helps to refocus your offering, your team and lets your clients know that your listening and ready to adapt to their needs.

So if you want help with branding or rebranding for your business, feel free to contact us at our Northern Beaches studio in Sydney.