Companies often undergo something known as a “rebrand”, but many people may not know what that necessarily entails. What exactly is a company rebrand, and why do it in the first place? Rebranding a company is an essential business decision for three important reasons: to ensure the visual identity stays relevant within the industry, to make sure the logo resonates with meaning to your customers, and to allow your brand voice to better reflect the company’s core values.
A full rebrand can be a daunting task since it’s a lengthy process with a lot of survey and strategy before any sketches begin. In fact, some companies can take upwards of a year to fully launch a completely rebranded look. While these processes are essential for a company to remain relevant, not all businesses have to go through an entire rebranding process. If your brand messaging is still relevant, your customers still resonate with its meaning, and you still have a good grasp on the market, then your company doesn’t necessarily need to go through an entire rebrand. If your logo looks a bit tired or outdated, however, then it might be time to just revive that aspect of your brand.
Refreshing Your Logo
A logo refresh places most of the rebranding process to the side in an effort to focus just on the visual aspect of the brand. If your logo has not been updated in a while, it might look old-fashioned next to your competitors. A logo is just the visual aspect of your brand, but it is also the first look new customers get. If your logo looks outdated, it can give the perception that the rest of the company is outdated as well.
A logo is like a first impression – it is a lot harder to move past if it is not creating a positive impact. If people see your logo for the first time at a trade show or on a business card, and they think it looks outdated, that first impression could taint your brand before they get an opportunity to learn more about your company.
Refreshing a company’s logo can also return positive attention to the brand. If executed properly, a simple logo update can result in positive brand discussion from peers, customers, and competitors. This ‘water-cooler’ conversation typically is a result of more strategy, to post the updated announcement on social media channels, eNewsletters, or a letter from the president. This activity feeds a conversation where the company’s brand now generates top-of-mind awareness leading to more brand recognition.
Logo refreshes can be as simple as updating colors and fonts, or even creating something that has a little more creativity behind it. Owning an icon that stands the test of time could mean giving it slight modifications once in a while, and the focus is on revising the colors and the fonts paired with the logo.
Rebranding for the Plastics Industry
If you believe your company logo is out-of-date, Vive can take portions of it and create something new using the original elements in a more modern way. For example, we’ve refreshed logos for many businesses in the plastics industry, such as the one for Westminster Tool. Their shield crest design was slightly outdated, and we updated their color palette, removed some elements, and added their name to the logo lockup. This allowed for a more modern design that was more in line with what’s often seen in the plastics industry.
Logo rebrands are crucial to a company staying relevant in competitive industries. Businesses in the manufacturing industry tend to last a long time, with many being three or four generations longstanding, so their brands can end up looking outdated after a certain amount of time. A common question is ‘how long should a company hold onto their existing logo image?’ While many factors play into the answer, my professional advice is: if your logo is more than 6 years old, it might be time to revive the identity with a logo refresh.
When it is starting to look like your logo and branding is out of date, make sure to ask yourself – is this in need of a full brand overhaul, or are we in need of just a logo refresh? After evaluating the rest of your brand, it might come as a surprise to you that your brand is just in need of a logo refresh. Rebranding is important, but an updated logo can get you patched up and ready to make your logo last another few years.
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