Does your company need a rebrand? Believe it or not, it goes beyond just a new logo design and name change, and there are some mistakes that can be made if you don’t plan ahead. Kavita Singh speaks with Doug Kessler, co-founder of Velocity Partners, on some top tips to think about when rebranding.

Decide if you need a rebrand or a just a refresh

Before jumping the gun with your company’s new rebrand, decide if you absolutely need one. Just last month, SurveyMonkey announced its relaunch as Momentive in order to redefine itself as an agile experience management company – not just a survey tool. In these types of situations, SurveyMonkey outgrew its name and wanted to ignite a change in purpose. A great way to signal a change, growth or expansion is through a rebrand campaign.

Doug says: “If you’re not being invited to the right rooms, or, more specifically, you’re getting into the wrong rooms, that’s a sign you might need a rebrand. A sales and marketing headwind as well can be a sign. A tailwind is when you’re working for a brand and it’s great, and you’re on the same page. A headwind is when you always have to explain in a sales meeting why you’re not just surveys [for example]. If you’re spending a lot of time undoing some perceptions, that can definitely be a sign that a rebrand is called for.”

However, it may not be a rebrand, but a soft launch you need. Sometimes, your company is simply evolving with B2B trends and it all depends on your reasons for rebranding.

However, be careful when you change. In 2009, for instance, the orange juice brand Tropicana decided to change its entire packaging to the point where customers found the brand to be unrecognisable. As a result, sales dropped by 20% and Tropicana was forced to revert back to its original design after much criticism.

Another reason 

not

 to rebrand is just because a new crop of people have entered the company. For example, if a CEO enters a company, you’ll often see a new agency and new logo appear to signal change, but this shouldn’t be a reason in itself. There must be a genuine reason to do so, with evidence to support the decision.

Doug continues: “The thing a CMO will love to do is do a refresh very publicly to say ‘Hey, you can see my impact. You can see it right?’, and I don’t think that’s a good enough reason. I think great CMOs are confident enough to step into a brand and know whether it really needs that or not.”