Shifts in the marketplace are natural triggers for leaders to consider whether it’s time for a company rebrand. Branding plays a critical role in forming a trusted relationship with your customers, employees, industry partners and community, yet many leaders struggle to understand the full scope of their brand’s impact on their growth, ability to innovate, and employee retention, attraction and engagement. 

Take your free brand assessment.

When used as a system, an effective brand strategy aligns your vision, culture and image to sustain a trusted, relevant and respected reputation in the marketplace. When a leader simply views branding as a marketing expense, however:

• experiences fall out of sync with expectations

• customers and employees seek out the competition

• initiatives fizzle out and goals become harder to reach

• leadership teams lack clarity

• communications lack consistency

• trust erodes

• companies fade into obsolescence

As experts in whole systems branding, idgroup is here to guide leaders as they make strategic choices about their brand. First, let’s unpack why a rebrand can be so challenging for leadership teams to tackle effectively without the right mindset.

Why Rebranding is a Strategic Imperative, Not Just a Marketing Tactic

Leaders have a lot of misconceptions about branding that may impede the impact of repositioning the company. This is due, in part, to how society views brands . The word “brand” evokes images of Nike’s logo and the “Just Do It” slogan, or the battle between Apple and Microsoft. When you can pull a t-shirt off a shelf, it’s easy to see a brand as just the logo. Behind that logo, however, is years of storytelling, precisely defined customer experiences, and collective meaning that has been built in and outside of the organization. In this example, your choice to wear and promote certain brands over others demonstrates your values, lifestyle and even identity. For organizations who aren’t trying to be the next big consumer brand, it’s no wonder many leaders think branding is just a marketing tactic.

Common Misconceptions Leaders Have About Rebranding

• Rebranding is just a new logo and color scheme. Many leaders underestimate the depth of a rebrand, focusing on the surface-level visual aspects while neglecting the long-term vision, identity narrative, strategic positioning, and opportunities to embed the brand within their culture and customer journey. 

• Rebranding is a quick fix for deeper issues. Rebranding can be a powerful tool, but it won't solve underlying problems like a toxic culture or a flawed business model unless your strategies are fully integrated. Branding can be used as a change management framework and leveraged to facilitate transformation. When paired with strategic planning and customer journey mapping, leaders can drive behaviors throughout the organization to strengthen brand integrity and position the organization to grow.

• Rebranding is purely a marketing exercise. While marketing plays a role, rebranding is a cross-functional effort that involves the entire organization. Leaders play a vital role in stewarding the change process and communicating the new identity narrative. Stakeholders from every level of the organization have perspectives on the organization’s strengths, opportunities and aspirations, and should have a voice during the brand research phase. Every employee, partner, customer and community member can become brand advocates if the brand is a reflection of their beliefs and motivations. 

• Rebranding is expensive and disruptive. While there are costs involved, a fully integrated rebrand that aligns with business objectives and harnesses the organization’s strengths can actually save money in the long run and revitalize a company. In particular, purpose-driven branding has a powerful effect on employee motivations, engagement and productivity, which can have a lasting impact on profitability and sustained growth. Competitive positioning, a key component of effective branding, also ensures that customers choose you over the competition.

• Rebranding is only for big companies. Companies of all sizes can benefit from rebranding to stay competitive and relevant. Because whole systems branding strategies are built from the core of who you are as an organization, the strategies are highly relevant to you, your industry and your operating context.

What’s the Difference Between a Brand Refresh and Rebranding?

The key difference between a brand refresh and a rebrand lies in the scope of the change.

• Brand Refresh: A brand refresh is like updating your wardrobe. It involves superficial changes to your visual identity, such as your logo, color palette, typography and website design. The core of your brand, including your values, mission and positioning remains the same. A refresh is suitable when your brand is well-established but needs a modern touch to stay relevant.

• Rebranding: A rebrand is a more transformative process, akin to changing your name. It involves a fundamental shift in your brand identity, often including a new name, logo, messaging and positioning. This is typically done when a company undergoes significant changes, such as mergers, acquisitions, or a shift in business strategy. A rebrand can also be necessary when a company's reputation has been damaged and needs to be rebuilt.

Branding is a Leadership Responsibility

Leaders are most effective when their communications align with their actions. Branding clarifies the organization’s purpose, vision, mission and values—all of which influence how people behave and perceive the organization. Leaders are responsible for consistently telling the organization’s story, internally and externally, and aligning strategic decisions around that story. When an organization means what it does and does what it says, it builds brand integrity over time. 

Leaders are also responsible for bringing people to the table to ensure the brand is an authentic reflection of the people behind it. By setting the norms for inclusive and transparent dialogue, leaders have a powerful opportunity to earn buy-in through collaborative co-creation. Brands flourish when they are shaped collaboratively, not dictated from the top-down, and when everyone involved feels a sense of ownership. The most successful rebrands have a focused leadership team that champions the transformation process.

Beyond Logos and Taglines: Brand Strategy as a Business Strategy

Branding impacts every facet of an organization. Leaders who understand this can use a rebrand as a strategic lever that aligns with and supports their overall business strategy. Here's how:

• Reflect Strategic Shifts: If your business is pivoting, entering new markets, or targeting new customers, your rebrand should communicate this change. For example, a tech company moving into sustainable solutions might rebrand to emphasize eco-friendly values.

• Amplify Competitive Positioning: Your rebrand should differentiate you from competitors and highlight your unique value proposition. If you're the most innovative company in your industry, your brand should reflect that.

• Enable Growth: A rebrand can help you attract new customers, enter new markets, and achieve your growth objectives. For instance, a luxury brand might rebrand to appeal to a younger, more affluent demographic.

• Support Internal Alignment: Your rebrand should align with your internal culture and values. This ensures that employees understand and embody the brand, leading to a consistent brand experience.

• Drive Financial Performance: Ultimately, a successful rebrand should contribute to your bottom line by increasing brand awareness, customer loyalty and revenue.

By aligning your rebrand with your business strategy, you ensure that it's not just a cosmetic change but a strategic move that propels your organization forward.

Find gaps in your brand strategy.

What Leaders Need To Do Before Rebranding

Before rebranding, leaders need to ensure that their decisions are strategically sound and aligned with the intentions of the organization. To do so, here are five steps they need to take first:

1. Assess your current brand foundation.

2. Organize your brand assets and identity map.

3. Engage stakeholders to build your brand.

4. Assess consumer perceptions and expectations.

5. Clarify your competitive positioning against your competitors.

6. Choose a brand agency that prioritizes stakeholder engagement.

Let’s explore each of these steps in more detail.

1. Assess Your Current Brand Foundation

It’s hard to read the label from inside the bottle. Every leader needs a trustworthy perspective on the health of their organization’s brand. A brand assessment is a diagnostic tool that evaluates the alignment between the core components of your brand. While some brand assessments focus on the visual aesthetics of your brand, leaders should pursue an organizational assessment that identifies gaps between your vision, culture and image. The results from a VCI assessment should clarify potential areas of strategic focus during the branding process and serve as a starting point for conversations with your leadership team.

Take our free VCI Assessment here.

Your brand identity has the power to stabilize and close gaps between your vision, culture and image. Let’s define each of these gaps and examine how they might be holding your organization back.

• The Vision-Culture Gap: Is your internal culture aligned with your aspirations? This gap is evidenced when leaders express frustration because they feel members of the organization are not, or cannot, deliver on their aspirations. This frustration is often expressed by questions like, “Why can’t we get everyone on the same page?” Conversely, employees may exhibit increased stress, frustration, or lack of motivation because they don’t feel connected to the organization's more significant purpose. Communication issues or employees not feeling the organization is delivering on its promises.

• The Vision-Image Gap: Is your desired future reflected in how the world sees you? The Vision-Culture gap arises when the organization needs to communicate its vision effectively, leading to a disconnect between its aspirations and how it is perceived externally. This can hinder the organization's ability to engage stakeholders and move forward. The gap can also occur when the vision itself is out of touch with the needs and expectations of the marketplace, leading to a decline in relevance and potential loss of customers and employees.

• The Image-Culture Gap: Does your external image match your internal reality? The Image-Culture Gap occurs when an organization fails to deliver on its promises and stated values. This gap is characterized by a disconnect between the organization's external image and its internal culture, leading to skepticism and distrust both inside and outside the organization. It's often a result of the company not practicing what it preaches, leading to a perceived lack of authenticity. This gap can manifest in various ways, such as employees feeling disillusioned or customers feeling misled.
   

Find out which gaps are holding you back
 

2. Organize Your Brand Assets and Identity Map

Part of assessing your brand foundation also involves getting organized. Leaders need to collect the primary components of their brand identity into what we refer to as an Identity Map. An Identity Map establishes the core of who you are and what you believe, defines your organization drivers, directs your brand’s expression, and identifies your operating context. The map should include statements about your purpose, values, vision, mission and promise (just to name a few). Here is how idgroup structures a brand identity map. Need help creating your identity map? We can help.

channels. Pay particular attention to how your brand is positioned with different audiences and where any inconsistencies lie.

3. Engage Stakeholders to Build Your Brand  

Once you have assessed your brand and organized your brand assets and identity map, it’s time to engage stakeholders throughout your organization. A successful branding initiative involves perspectives from the following stakeholder groups:

• leadership, 

• employees, 

• partners, 

• key vendors,

• customers, 

• investors, 

• and community stakeholders. 

The power of bringing diverse perspectives together during the brand development stage is to co-create a relevant, true story about the organization. Facilitated dialogues with different stakeholder groups create a space for having targeted conversations about the organization’s strengths, aspirations and greatest opportunities. At idgroup, we use Appreciative Inquiry, a strengths-based methodology, to focus brand development workshops around what an organization does well and how to unite people around the organization’s positive potential and purpose. 

The insights generated from this stakeholder research enable leaders to update their organization’s identity map and identity narrative, and embed core findings into their strategic plans.

4.  Assess Consumer Perceptions and Expectations

Since branding lives at the intersection between the story you share and what others think about you, leaders need to pay close attention to consumer perceptions and expectations. The perceptions of consumers are shaped by every interaction they have with your organization. To meet consumers where they are, a brand promise gives consumers a clear expectation for each encounter they have with your brand. Organizations that deliver on their promises build brand integrity, which supports the growth of a relevant, trusted and respected reputation over time. Essentially, this is a gauge of how well your company walks the talk. So how can you find out what your consumers are thinking about your brand?

• Reputation Research: Reputation research can combine qualitative and quantitative research to understand how your organization is perceived in the marketplace. Insights can be gathered through focus groups, interviews, surveys, customer reviews and feedback channels.

• Social Listening: Social listening is a way to monitor online conversations about your brand to understand consumer sentiment and preferences. Social listening also enables organizations to spot and manage potential hazards that could cause damage to their reputation.
   

5. Clarify Your Competitive Positioning

In order to successfully position as a brand people love, trust and choose, leaders must be savvy about the competitive landscape. When was the last time you immersed yourself in your competitors' communications? How are they different from your communications? Are they too similar? What do you feel are their strengths and how can you present yours differently? What do customers think about your competitors? Why did they choose you? After exploring the competitive landscape, the strengths you uncovered through your stakeholder engagement phase and reputation research should bring the clarity needed to answer the following questions:

• Unique Value Proposition: What do we offer that is unique and valuable? To whom?

• Positioning: What value will we communicate versus other options available?

6. Choose a Brand Agency that Prioritizes Stakeholder Engagement and Data-Driven Brand Strategies

Every leader needs a credible brand consultant who can provide the structure, expertise and third-party perspective necessary to develop a winning brand strategy. While there are many flavors of brand agencies out there, in our experience, the most important quality leaders should look for is engagement.

• How does the agency engage people beyond their point of contact?

• Does their process ensure that diverse perspectives inform–and build–the strategies they provide?

• Are they proactive about getting buy-in across all stakeholders?

At idgroup, we engage your most important resource—stakeholders—to grow your valuable asset—a brand they love, trust and choose. Find out how we do this.

Your Brand, Your Future

As a leader, you know that shifts in the marketplace can signal the need for a rebrand. But the truth is, rebranding can feel overwhelming. It's more than a logo change; it's a strategic undertaking that impacts every part of your organization. We understand that you might be grappling with the risks and the complexities of aligning your vision, culture and image. At idgroup, we're here to guide you. As whole systems branding experts with a proven brand transformation methodology, Branding From The Core®, we'll help you navigate the rebranding process with clarity and confidence. We'll work with you to develop a brand strategy that reflects your organization's true purpose, resonates with your audience, and positions you for success in the marketplace. Remember, rebranding isn't just a marketing tactic; it's a strategic investment in your organization's future.

Take the first step with our free brand assessment.