Don’t want to rebrand? Here’s how to refresh without rebranding

The financial impact of investing in a rebranding process can be hard to justify, especially in today’s economy. Not to mention the time required from key stakeholders and knock-on costs to update your digital presence, print materials, signage – the list goes on.

And still, after all of this work, is it worth it? How can you predict the return on investment rebranding can generate given its elusivity? I’ve explored this topic separately in my article on the ROI of branding, so I’ll spare you the details but simply mention that there ARE ways to measure it but nonetheless, rebranding is a daunting financial risk.

So, before I do myself out of a job, let’s explore how you can transform your brand without rebranding. Instead, build on what you have already and make it better and more effective. Let’s go.

→ 1. Do a brand audit.

In other words, figure out the current condition of your brand. As with any brand project we undertake, the more in-depth the diagnosis phase is, the more accurate and confident we’ll be in our next steps.

Start with collecting examples of all marketing materials currently in use – digital and physical. Then analyse them as an overall experience. As part of our studio audit, we would challenge the brand on four points:

1. Consistency – Logo, colour, type, messaging, application.

2. Impact – Does this identity capture our attention?

3. Aesthetic – Is it relevant to its audience? Is it cutting-edge?

4. Value – As a potential customer, how will this brand help me?

The key here is to be hard on yourself. Don’t hold back. Be as honest and to the point as possible because if you’re not 100% clear on the above four points, your audience won’t even notice you, let alone buy your products or services.

By now, you should have a much clearer picture of your brand landscape and its current construction and application. Next up, refinement.

As a side note, let me do some shameless self-promotion and say that we can help you conduct a brand audit to get the most out of it and bring many years of brand and marketing experience to the table too. Let’s start a conversation if you’re interested.

→ 2. Refine the foundational elements.

Logo, type and colour form the foundation of every brand. If you’re not up for rebranding then you’re probably against changing any one of these – and here lies the problem, and quite possibly a harder conversation about why you don’t want to rebrand. If it’s based purely on your opinion of these elements I’d question the importance of your opinion when it’s your customers buying your products or services and not you (even if you see yourself as the customer). More on this soon…

In short, from a design and usability perspective, there are good logos and bad logos, good typefaces and bad typefaces and good colour palettes and bad colour palettes. If you’re a CEO, founder or marketing manager YOUR assessment of ‘good’ will most likely be based on your own personal perception.

”Design has to work, art does not.” – Donald Judd.

Great branding is about the balance between a flexible, high-quality design system and connecting emotionally to your audience. Remember how inconsistent your brand was during the first part of the audit? I’d bet money on it being that your foundational elements aren’t strong enough to spread across the many touchpoints of your brand.

→ 3. Refresh the way you use the brand.

Here’s where you can truly start to transform your visual identity. Providing your foundational elements are refined and vetted for scalability, you can start to explore how to push them to their limits.

An understanding of design principles is beneficial to this process, but really it just comes down to those first four points: consistency, impact, aesthetic and value. Having these points in the forefront of your mind as you design marketing materials will help maximise your ROI on advertising and promotion.

→ 4. Keep it simple.

With all design, simplicity is key. Always try to strip things back to the minimum that is needed. If you have an important message for your customers keep it short and make it big. If you want people to click an ad give it a button that people can’t miss.

“Good design, when it’s done well, becomes invisible. It’s only when it’s done poorly that we notice it.” – Jared Spool.

Written by Tom Woollam
Creative Director & Founder