All successful companies project a certain image that is reflected in everything they do. This image—the corporate brand—is the foundation of all their communications, exhibiting a distinct personality that represents the company to the outside world.
Effective brands convey a sense of confidence, competence, and trustworthiness. Customers want to partner with a company that exudes expertise and knowledge. There is comfort in trusting your business to a vendor whose brand imparts the feeling that they unquestionably understand that challenges you’re facing.
Why Companies Rebrand
There are times, however, when an existing brand needs to be revisited. This doesn’t necessarily mean there is a problem, or that the company is failing. In fact, there are many reasons a company might need to embark on a rebrand.
For instance, a rebrand may be initiated to communicate a new chapter in the business—for instance, after a merger or acquisition. When two companies join forces, it’s common to create an entirely new brand that reflects the combined capabilities and identities of the two parties, relaunching the business under an entirely new name.
Sometimes companies will expand into new businesses or introduce new products that are outside their normal offerings. When this occurs, the organization may decide to refresh their brand to convey the evolution of the company and overcome exclusive associations with their original product lines.
In other cases, a rebrand may be a simple effort to update the corporate image, improve SEO performance, and stay relevant. Markets change. So do design trends, industry standards, and customer expectations. A rebrand can help a company appear more modern and up to date, aligning the new look with what customers are looking for from their business partners. On average, successful companies undergo a complete rebrand every seven to 10 years, complemented by minor updates every three to five years, just to stay current with modern messaging and remain engaged with new generations of customers.
Finally, on rare occasions, a rebrand is needed to address earlier transgressions. If a business suffers a catastrophic event that damages their reputation or causes people to question their values or integrity, a rebrand is often seen as the only way to reset public opinion.
Regardless of the reason, a rebrand should not be undertaken lightly. It requires significant time, money, and resources, and should only be considered if a company believes the return on investment will be worth the effort. 
What’s Involved in a Rebrand
Whether it’s a complete rebrand or a brand refresh, the effort involves a lot of hard work, with most of the responsibility falling on the marketing team to drive, execute, and maintain the new look once it is introduced.
So what do marketing teams need to know and keep in mind while planning a rebrand or refresh? Here are some critical questions to ask before and during the process—a checklist of sorts to ensure all the right components are considered and the correct parties are considered to make the brand update a success.
How extensive is this rebrand?
The first thing the marketing team needs to do is understand the scope of the undertaking. This will determine the resources required and help develop a schedule for completion.
What does this rebrand entail? Is it an entirely new name and logo, or is it an update to the existing style? Does it include a new color palette? A new tagline? This all comes into play when redesigning the website, as well as updating existing marketing materials and digital assets. The new logos will need to be added to anything that includes the brand, including promotional merchandise and printed collateral.
A new set of guidelines will also need to be created to ensure the new brand is applied consistently across all media and by all teams involved in the effort, both internal and external.
If there are any new products or services that are being promoted as part of the brand update or refresh, the marketing team will also be tasked with creating any new content required to promote these additions.
Finally, it’s important to create a new social media plan, including graphic and campaign messaging, so the brand changes can be shared and new messages communicated to the various audiences. 
Which specific marketing materials are impacted?
A rebrand or brand refresh actually presents a great opportunity to clean house and reevaluate existing inventory. Take stock of your current branded merchandise and other materials. Run reports to determine which items are most popular and, more importantly, which are not being ordered or have known quality issues. Hold a fire sale or donate expired branded products that you want to phase out or cannot bring with you through the rebrand.
Some existing branded materials can make the migration provided the company name hasn’t changed and the logo is monochrome or printed in a neutral color. If you plan to retain those items post-rebrand, determine existing inventory and make sure any new orders reflect the new style. This can include collateral as well as branded promotional merchandise.
What items should be rebranded?
There are a number of regularly used items that need to be retrofitted with the new brand, whether that involves a new logo or just an updated color palette. These include the following:
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Event materials for the field marketing team, including banners, backwalls, table throws, giveaways, and apparel;
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Internal promotional items used by employees, generating enthusiasm for the new brand and discouraging them from sporting outdated materials;
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Customer gifts that reflect the new brand’s values, whether higher-quality items with a high perceived value or socially conscious materials that promote charitable, eco-friendly, or philanthropic values.
Since rebrands usually involve new colors and values, be sure to request samples and mockups of the newly branded products to ensure the palette is accurately presented and the corporate message is adequately expressed.
Will there be a campaign or other distribution effort conducted to announce the rebrand?
After going through the effort to successfully execute a rebrand effort, it’s only natural to want to share this information with your customers and the public at large. How will this announcement be handled?
Typically announcements of this kind are handled through press releases, social media campaigns, and targeted ads (both print and virtual). Plan the campaign strategically to reach the desired audience and get the right message out.
As for existing customers, a nice gift featuring the new look and feel will be greatly appreciated. Plan accordingly to order the necessary quantities.
Finding Partners to Help
A rebrand requires collaboration. The marketing team can’t be expected to shoulder the entire burden; they’ll need help both inside and outside the company to secure the necessary updates and get the message out.
OnFulfillment has more than 25 years of experience in executing programs designed to promote new brands, including producing branded promotional items, printing new collateral on demand, and planning distribution campaigns.
To learn how OnFulfillment can assist with your rebranding effort, or any other campaigns, click the button below to schedule a meeting.
