Welcome to In Demand Brand!
In each episode, branding experts Vardeep Edwards, Jen Odom, and Jana Bramwell, discuss tips, techniques, and insights that will help you build a strong brand presence that will get your business noticed.
In the third episode, we discuss 3 inspiring rebrands.
You watch the YouTube video here.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Jen Odom: It’s responding to changes in the market, right? Mm-hmm. Like this happens in any industry where customers don’t want what you offer anymore.
So what do you do as a company?
Jana Bramwell: Welcome to In-Demand Brand. Each episode branding experts Vardeep Edwards, Jen Odom and Jana Bramwell discuss tips, techniques, and insights that will help you build a strong brand presence that will get your business noticed.
Jana Bramwell: Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of In-Demand Brand. Once again, I am Jana Bramwell. I run jbloommedia. I do branding for tech startups.
Jen Odom: I’m Jen Odom. I am in Atlanta, Georgia, and I connect people who care to causes that matter using brand strategy and design.
Vardeep Edwards: Yep. Hi, I’m Vardeep and I run The Branding Fox.
I’m based in the UK in Rochester, Kent, and I help small to medium businesses use branding to help elevate their presence and inspire change with the work that they do.
Jana Bramwell: Awesome. Today we are going to be talking about rebrands and rebrands we like, and basically why a company should rebrand and when are appropriate times to kind of take on that task.
Jen Odom: So let’s talk about the rebrands that we like and who have done a good job. And I’ll, I’ll launch us off. We’re each gonna choose one. And I chose Dunkin Donuts. Um, they rebranded a couple years ago. They originally got started 1948. And let me just tell you why I like Dunkin Donuts. So it was started in 1948 by this guy in Massachusetts where all he wanted to sell was a wonderful cup of coffee and a donut at an affordable price, Dunkin’ Donuts. I mean, it’s a beautiful story, however, he didn’t name it Dunkin’ Donuts when he got started. That didn’t come for a couple years later, but 2007 they changed their slogan to the World runs on Dunkin’, and in 2013 they launched the dunkaccino.
And they started leading with beverages. So they started to notice a trend in their, in their sales. Their sales were down. Customers wanted healthier food options, and the sugary pastries just, they were not one of them. So the company decided to change their, their strategy, or they were going to be out of business if they didn’t do something.
And so as of 2018, the rebrand was announced. 60% of Dunkin’s revenue came from beverages, a trend that steadily increased since the launch of their Dunkaccino in 2013.
So let me just tell you something about Dunkin’ Donuts. I grew up in the South. I’m actually a Krispy Kreme girl. If I were to get a, if I were to get a a donut, I would go to Krispy Kreme or one of my local options called Sarah Donuts, but Dunkin’ is not one of the places I would go to get a donut. I tell you what I would go to Dunkin’ for, and that’s a hazelnut coffee because there was a time. Um, probably about 12 or 13 years ago when I worked at the agency and they would do a coffee run to Dunkin’ Donuts. I’m like, get me a hazelnut coffee. And it was amazing. You could put it in the microwave and it was still a great cup of coffee. So Dunkin’ Donuts, quite honestly became known as a beverage brand for me.
So in their rebrand, Dunkin’ Donuts, the name no longer reflected the strategy that they wanted to continue with as they were going to grow the business. So they dropped donuts and simplified not only their product offering, but also the design of their stores so that they could serve more efficiently and they could serve with less employees because with the labor shortage they needed to be able to run the stores with less employees.
So the key was simplification. So they simplified the name, they simplified the brand, and so that they could be more of a beverage-led company expanding the nitro brews cold brews, which I’m kind of excited about that actually. So they’re still launching these things. So they had to redesign the interior in order to accommodate for these like on tap type products.
So, has it worked? So this was my question. They launched this in January of 2019. We’ve had enough years at this point. We could see like, has it actually worked? And yes, they’re still in business. Their revenue is going up. Without getting into the nitty-gritty details, the short answer is yes. So why is it important for a company to rebrand?
Has your internal operations changed? Do you need to realign the company with your strategy and does that mark an internal change? So for Dunkin’, this was a really good strategy for them.
Jana Bramwell: I love Dunkin’ and it, when I was flying, I remember we would lay over in LaGuardia. That was a stop. And it was in a time where we didn’t have a Dunkin’ in Colorado, so we were there.
Somebody would get off the plane and go grab everybody, and I think I did have the hazelnut coffee too. I think that they have a good and very specific product. It’s interesting to see them focus more on that beverage market for sure. Mm-hmm, and I love the simplicity that they’ve gone with now and just kind of like shortening it right to Dunkin’.
Jen Odom: Mm-hmm, I mean, they’re taking on giants like Starbucks. But it’s made a difference and they’re focusing, on their company and their product line. They simplified their product line 10%. So not only are, they offering donuts, but they’re offering all kinds of other things on their menu.
Vardeep Edwards: It’s really interesting.
I didn’t know that actually about Dunkin’. I thought they were still Dunkin’ Donuts. So it shows, um, they’re not quite been on my radar as a brand. It also just, I think it really highlights the fact that you’ve got to be able to create a brand that is adaptable. You know, it is kind of nothing sort of set in stone, but I, I mean, I don’t know what their purpose or what their core is and whether that’s sort of stayed the same throughout this rebrand, but it’s interesting how they’ve really sort of listened to their target audience, and I suppose got more specific as well on what their needs are to be able to understand that this is the direction they need to go in to carry on growing and developing what they’ve already got. So it’s, um, yeah, it’s interesting. It’s an interesting journey. Um, especially when you talked about, you know, sugary pastries and people wanted healthier options, you know, and how they, how they get around that.
Cause I think McDonald’s has been doing that as well in the last few years and how to kind of lose that junk food tag to a fast food restaurant. So yeah, it’s definitely, it’s interesting how they go about that.
Jen Odom: It’s responding to changes in the market, right? Mm-hmm. like this happens in any industry where customers don’t want what you offer anymore.
So what do you do as a company?
Hmm. For Dunkin’, that was, to change their product offering, but not only to change the product offering, but also to change the way that they do business.
Vardeep Edwards: And, you know, dropping the donuts completely from their name. That must’ve been quite a big decision actually. I mean, it must have been known as Dunkin’ Donuts for what?
How many years has that been? So it’s from 1950. 1950. 2019. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a long time.
Jen Odom: What a legacy, right?
Jana Bramwell: It’s just, it’s is a huge change. But I also think it shows how much brand equity they have that like they’ve been around for that long and that, that name in general has has become so well known that they can drop the donuts and people are like, oh yeah, I know Dunkin’, I know what that is.
So, uh, sometimes I think when you have a well-established brand, you can really play on some of that recognition and be able to kind of evolve in a way that becomes a little more like simplistic.
Vardeep Edwards: Yeah. MasterCard did that, didn’t they? Recently, I think within the last couple of years they dropped their name.
So literally it’s just their logo. Um, and now when you see that, you know, you sort of normally have the stickers in the shop windows, you know, of the payments that this store recognizing have Visa and Electron and have the master MasterCard. MasterCard is just the two overlapping circles and it’s really strong actually, but it shows, it’s a really simple logo, but it’s become so iconic.
That you know it without even them having to put their name on it.
Jen Odom: Well, what was really interesting totally with their, their research, um, after they launched, only about 30% noticed the new logo. And, a different 30% noticed the name change before they noticed the logo change.
What does that say about us as a generation?
Vardeep Edwards: And the memorability of logos as well? Don’t always see the details I suppose.
Jana Bramwell: It kind of doesn’t surprise me in a way because the look is fairly similar. They just kind of got rid of all the fluff. I, I guess, you know, but mm-hmm, essentially, you’re right, like, where’s our attention?
It still, it still looks the same, you know?
Jen Odom: The, goal and simplification and focus. Jana, who did you pick?
Jana Bramwell: So, um, I picked Kia and I went and dressed for the occasion. This is my Kia outfit. This is luxury yet budget, conscious. So, and this is kind of, this is their direction. So I’m kind of jumping to the end before we get there, but let’s talk a little bit about the company. So Kia was founded in 1944. They’re a Korean, South Korean car company. They did a lot of work for other larger manufacturers, and I believe they were purchased eventually by Hyundai, but they maintained their own brand. They entered into the US market when they gained most of their traction.
I think the logo that everybody is familiar with or the brand attached to, or the logo attached to the brand is the red oval with the Kia name. Simple Kia name in the middle is very legible. It’s really simple, kind of almost a familiar car badge like echoing like Ford, where you’ve got the oval. And I, I think they, they gained some, some recognition.
They became a budget car for, a lot of U.S. In the US market. But I believe they built brand equity because their products were really reliable. And then they had a moment where I think they were going for the youthful fun market. So this is like pre the new rebrand, but you can’t forget about the dancing hamsters. I mean, come on now, like, that was such a fun campaign. But I think at that time they were starting to really think a little bit more about their brand, how they wanted to appear, what markets they wanted to be in. And at that time it looks like more youthful, fun, still really budget conscious. And even you look at the styling of the cars, I mean, they’re kind, of quirky, right? Well, I personally started to notice the brand being this luxury slash budget-conscious person. There was, my dream car was always the Lexus I.S. But I had noticed that Kia had a really beautiful Optima and I was like, oh, I could get all the bells and whistles for a lot less and it’s just such a beautiful car. And I really noticed at that time they were starting to maybe just lean that styling into a product that was a little more mature, a little sleeker. So in 2021, they took on the task of doing a full-on rebrand and they, in my opinion, knocked it out of the park. They debuted a new logo at a record-breaking fireworks show where they had drones and billions of fireworks.
Now, part of their direction was going into the eco-conscious realm, so I don’t know if that, uh, brand launched quite aligns with that, but it did make a mark and their new logo. going in this luxury direction. If we want to talk like specific aesthetic details, they really were hitting on classic black and white.
This is a lot of luxury brands want to hit with this just simplistic. Their logo now, rather being the oval with the very legible words in it is very like sleek and angular. They wanted it to exude, symmetry, rhythm, and rising. So looking to like elevate themselves, get into this new market. Part of the reason that they were going in this direction, or one of the reasons they went to rebrand is they’re looking to really become an innovator when it comes to electrical car market.
And I think that this is something that’s huge and I will almost say potentially, you know, Tesla I think led the charge, but I really think up until Tesla. Elec, if you wanted to drive an eco-friendly car or an eco-conscious car, I’m sorry it looked dumpy, or, or quirky. I’m like, you know, I would love to be an eco-conscious driver and yeah, I’ll drive a Prius, but like, I don’t know every single electric car on the market up until Tesla looked silly.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. And I, I think it’s so great. Kia is hopping on this. They’re not only are they redoing their brand in this luxury way they are, that includes their car models and how they’re styling them. And they wanna offer that eco-conscious offering with, with styling, which is where the market should go.
And part of their intention in doing this is carving out and differentiating and getting that larger market. So I think it’s a little early to say whether or not this is really hitting the mark, and I believe that they’re still waiting to release some of these new car models, but I do believe that they’re gonna continue to increase their brand equity and get a corner in this market for sure.
And I just, I’m on board. I love it. I’m so proud of them. Good job.
Jen Odom: Yeah, I agree. I think they did really well too, cuz I was driving somewhere. I’m like, what is that? What logo? I don’t even, because you’re so used to the way the, the little oval in the back of every car, and it wasn’t in an oval, it was this angular.
Like it wasn’t contained in a, in any shape. But then once I figured it, I’m like, oh, that’s nice. That’s very well done. because it does, you’re right. It, it had lose that luxury and now the ambiguity just makes it that much stronger of a brand.
Vardeep Edwards: I think. Um, it’s one of the car logos that I really recognize now.
I think it took me a while to kind of warm to it. Um, it’s not that I wasn’t sure about it initially, but I think that sometimes this is the case with a new logo or a rebrand. It sort of takes you a while, get the recognition and kind of go, oh, I’m not sure if I like it or not yet. And but the more I’ve seen it, the more I’m recognizing that’s a really good logo.
I, you know, what I also love is that it’s, it’s really simplistic and modern and future forward-looking, but it’s not gone down the basic route that a lot of these rebrands have, uh, with the big brands that have been happening over the recent years of really just stripping it back. I like the fact that it’s still got the personality in there as well, but it’s, it’s still quite minimal. It’s not over the top. It’s still gonna work, you know, in lots of applications. And it is, it’s really highly recognizable. I think it’s on the, um, on the back of a car.
Jen Odom: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think their original logo was too generic. It looks like everybody else.
Vardeep Edwards: Yeah. Yeah. And it’s especially in the oval shape, it reminds me of Ford and, yeah, how a lot of car logos sort of started off.
Jana Bramwell: Yeah. And I think this is like a case that’s almost, uh, opposite of the Dunkin’s scenario, where with Dunkin’ the rebrand, you know, they kind of like held onto that logo identity and, and like kept it going through.
And with Kia, I have heard that comment a lot is that I didn’t even know what that logo was. So they’re taking a fairly established brand and they’re kind of being like, Hey, we’re like this is us. Like we’re completely having a new face and it’s gonna take, uh, the audiences a minute to be like, oh, that’s Kia but I think it was definitely something that will work in their advantage and it was something they’ll need to do or they needed to do.
Jen Odom: Yeah.
Vardeep Edwards: Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. It looks like it will now. I mean, I dunno, when did they start? Did you say Jana? Cuz they’ve had what? Six logos. Two of them
Jana Bramwell: Yeah, no, I mean, they’ve had so many logos they started in the mid-century or like 1940s, and if you look back through their logos, they have some, there’s some really interesting ones.
There’s actually one that’s really simplistic too. But yeah, I mean, for the most part I think that Red Oval was, um, the most recognizable. And one thing to note too is in their culture, Red is a really prominent and important color. And I think considering the rebrand going into a more international direction, wanting to think about like, okay, if we like represent luxury globally, how do we do that?
Like we need to look at our color palette a little bit.
Jen Odom: Mm-hmm. And to get with that black is so executive and professional and C-suite and something that would, a chief of whatever may be willing to drive, I don’t know, or maybe a CEO or have that luxury piece without breaking the company bank.
Vardeep Edwards: Yeah, it’s interesting.
You could almost see them having, um, company cars, for example. Yeah. You know, and that being a viable option, especially if they’re going down the electric route and the eco-conscious side of things as well might be more affordable than Tesla. Who knows? Yeah.
Jana Bramwell: I’m willing to bet.
Jen Odom: Totally. Vardeep Who did you choose?
Vardeep Edwards: So I chose MailChimp. They’re a, well they started off as an email provider. Are you guys familiar with MailChimp in there? They’re in Atlanta. There you go. I knew that.
Jen Odom: So it’s a good choice. I loved their rebrand.
Vardeep Edwards: I love it. I absolutely love it. You know, I love bold, bright colors, you know? Anyway, so I’ve always been drawn to their branding.
Um, but I thought they were an interesting case to highlight because a little bit like Dunkin’ Donuts, they’ve kind of adapted and changed and the brand was quite fluid in the beginning. And they’ve kind of adapted to the market and the people who tend to be their main customers. So just to give you a bit of background, MailChimp was founded by a couple of entrepreneurs, but it was a side project.
It was a side hustle. It wasn’t what they did on a day-to-day. Day-to-day job was a brand design agency, which I think was doing really well for them. But they decided to launch and focus on this side hustle because they absolutely loved working with small business owners and they wanted to help them and be able to help them in a way that big brands and big businesses could do so rather than an email platform.
And then, then we got, put this into context a little bit, and I, I forget now when they started, but when they start, when they did launch, email marketing wasn’t such a thing for small businesses. It was more for the bigger businesses. That’s what you were used to. You know, that was when you only had 10 emails in your inbox a day rather than hundreds, you know?
So it was the time before. So they wanted to really help these smaller businesses behave like the big bus businesses and make something that’s accessible, affordable, usable. So, and I think that’s kind of been quite a bit of the core of their brand is this sort of innovative, creative element to what they’re about.
And the other reason they enjoyed working with smaller businesses because it allowed them to be more nimble. So I think cause they are a creative brand themselves, they were able to execute that as part of the way they ran, ran their business. But they started off as an email platform. So you know, they kind of went through a few different variations in taglines in terms of what they called themselves. You know, they had Easy Email Newsletters. MailChimp uses HTML, and they started to notice a change in what their customers needed from them. And this shows again, you know, what we spoke about earlier about really listening to your customers and adapting with the market.
Because I think when you define your target audience and when you define your brand, it has got to be an adaptable, flexible approach to what you create. I think the core of what you’re about doesn’t really change a huge amount, but I think other bits will tweak and adapt as you go. And they realize that even though these are the same people that we’re targeting, the needs are changing. And our changing, we need to adapt to stay relevant to that particular audience. These are the people we want to work with. Therefore, what do we need to do as a brand to make sure we are still their number-one choice? So they began to realize that these small business owners, as you know, sort of small businesses and one-man bands and solopreneurs were taking off that they were needing more than just being able to send email newsletters.
It was more about building their online business and having some sort of marketing platform and building their brand. You know, they might be selling products, they might be selling digital products or services or needing to integrate other marketing elements like landing pages or websites or forms or surveys, even social media, which I think has been a much later sort of addition.
So they began to experiment with some of their messaging and their marketing, and they started to call their tagline, you know, along the lines of Building Your Brands, Sell Your Stuff. It still wasn’t quite right. You know, you could sort of see there was this process and the journey that they were on.
They hadn’t still quite managed to be what it was. And then, you know, when they did do the rebrand, they wanted to focus on being a marketing platform for their target audience. And I forget now, who did the rebrand and I’d have to check it again, but they went back to their original logo, which is this, uh, Freddy, the monkey.
So in the, um, in the original sort of designs, it was quite, um, quite illustrative, quite a lot of detail. He had a blue cap and they basically stripped him back to being just a black graphics stencil type logo. They changed their lettering style from a script MailChimp to quite sort of solid, chunky, but still quite a quirky element.
And, for me, the key is the bright yellow. You know, that’s what I remember for MailChimp now, and I just think it was brilliant because I don’t think they’ve really, they’ve not changed the core of who they are, so they’re really leant into their quirky style. They’ve got a, they’ve got a monkey head as a logo, you know.
Uh, who does that? You know, it just shows that they’re, they’re innovative, they’re creative, they’re just doing their own thing. And yellow is such a non-web color at all. You know, you ask any sort of web accessibility expert, they’re like, don’t use yellow. It’s, it’s not what you do. But they just went straight down.
This is what we’re about. We’re sticking to our values. We’re sticking to what we’re we want to be known for. And it is, you know, it’s bags of, personality. They’ve got this really quirky. Uh, graphics and images that they’ve, they’ve used throughout, and I just think they’ve done an amazing job because they stand out.
They, for me, I think they’re the first people that come to mind when people think about where to host their email marketing, even though they’re more than just an email. That’s where they started from. And I think that’s also interesting because I think you’ve gotta start somewhere and be known for one thing first, Amazon was books.
You know, MailChimp is email, Apple was computers and they’ve kind of gone back to the core of what they’re about and they still get remembered for being an email marketing platform, even though they offer so much more. And I just think they’ve done. Yeah, I think they’ve done a really good job. And I like the fact that they stand out, you know, compared to, as I mentioned earlier about a lot of the simplified logos. They haven’t gone down that road. They’ve stuck to their guns and I think it’s, you know, it’s done them, done their wonders and it, they’ve become a very memorable brand online.
Jen Odom: I can remember when this, um, launched. This rebrand launched and I remember something, in me was just kind of heartbroken cuz I love scripted fonts.
This was about the time when Instagram. It’s freshened up to their logo to, to make it tighter. Macie Saturday doing that. And I just, I loved that, that fun little script of MailChimp. So when they launched it, I was like, oh, they got rid of one of my favorites, . But I, I’m with you on the color. Like when they simplified their color palette to just the yellow, because yellow is a happy color.
That’s why, Mickey D’s has yellow. It is because they want small businesses to feel empowered and, and the process of running their marketing can be fun and easy. And that yellow does it. Yeah,
Vardeep Edwards: Absolutely. And what I forgot to mention is that, initially, the rebrand wasn’t instigated by needing a new visual identity.
It was more about clarity of what they stood for. So that’s the whole thing of just going back to the core and stripping back all the other iterations that they had or thought they should be doing or looking like. And I think that’s really important when you come to branding because you kind of want to, you want to keep that core, the essence of what you’re about, and that’s what needs to be communicated.
Jana Bramwell: Yeah, and I think we all realize branding is this evolving thing, period. Because. As time changes, what customers need, change, what they want, how they view you. There’s no such thing as a stagnant brand. I mean, I think everybody needs to be on their toes and it’s so cool that they kind of took a look back at, at their market and, and you know, went back to kind of their core and, and reevaluated and made sure like, okay, this is how we wanna appear and.
This is what we’re gonna, we’ve now offered this much. We started here, but now we’re here. You know? And I do think, I, I don’t think that old script logo was bad at all. I agree. It’s very nice. But you look at the new one and the, the font that they chose, it does it, it has that playfulness to it. It is really cool.
And the coloring and the illustrations, it does make you feel comfortable and welcome. Yeah. Oh, okay. I can, I have like help doing this mark email marketing thing, which is one of the many other things I as a small business owner have to take on. I have somebody that’s gonna help me on this journey.
Jen Odom: One of the things that I love, also love about MailChimp is they started integrating into their user interface.
Like little, little beat pieces of joy so that you. Accomplished when you send your first email. So they give you this little animated high five. Yes. Yes. And I just, I love that about them.
Vardeep Edwards: Brilliant. It’s brilliant. It’s a great little brand interaction, isn’t it? It’s just a little detail sometimes that really sort of connects you with them.
Jana Bramwell: I haven’t used it, but Asana does that too. Like Asana they give you little fireworks. There’s like a little unicorn that goes across the screen. I’m like, yay.
Jen Odom: Yeah, I think I, that MailChimp did it first though. I, cause and, and it’s a monkey hand, right?
Vardeep Edwards: Yes, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I remember it.
Jen Odom: I think that happened right around the time they rebranded.
Jana Bramwell: Yeah, maybe it was, I mean, it just goes to show you we’re all human. We all need some little, like, good job, you know, no matter where we are in life. Yeah. Like please tell me I’m doing okay. Thank you. Yeah, this is hard. Oh my gosh. Doing marketing, all this stuff.
I mean, it’s. There’s just a lot when you’re, especially when you’re a small business owner, like it can feel overwhelming. So yeah, I appreciate any business that’s gonna give you a little, like pat on the back
Jen Odom: And it’s a reflection of their personality, right? Like they, the quirkiness that you had also talked about and about being that little cheerleader of, hey, you can do this.
And so it’s reflected in their brand. What if Kia were to do that? Like that wouldn’t make sense at all because that’s not a part of their personality.
Vardeep Edwards: Yeah, absolutely. It’s, they’ve got a real fun element to it. So, you know, I think, you know, there’s a lot of business owners, but, oh my God, I’ve gotta do my marketing.
You know, it can be a bit of a, a chore at times because something they need to, they know they need to do, but it’s just 1,000,000,001 other things, you know, that they also need to do. So just has that element of, okay, let’s just make it a bit of fun, let’s make it enjoyable. And you kind of, I think they really get that across.
Jen Odom: That little element of delight. Yes, for sure. I mean, so we’re looking at three different scenarios of reasons why it’s, uh, a rebrand is important and why a brand strategy can affect the business and the bottom line of a business.
Jana Bramwell: I think as like, when are the best times for companies to rebrand? Like when do companies really need to like, consider, okay, we, we should look at this and, and make some change?
Jen Odom: So just to recap, like for Dunkin’ Donuts, they were simplifying their brand strategies so that they could grow and not die with the changes in the market. The customers didn’t want sugary treats anymore, and so they simplified their menu in order to, and they simplified their name in order to change, to take on more market value.
And then Kia, they wanted to appear more luxurious. So they, right, they changed not only their logo but other things in their company in order to appeal to a different target market cuz they wanted to take on a different piece of the market. So they rebranded in order to attract that market. And then for MailChimp, they wanted to simplify and get back to the basics.
And so they got rid of a bunch of colors. They, offered better solutions for their business owners, for their audience that they were looking for anyway, and so, and then they brought in more of their personality, their original personality. So brand strategy, it affects the bottom line. It’s just not, it’s not just about pretty logos and pretty colors.
Brand strategy has to deal with so much more than that.
Vardeep Edwards: I think the other thing to mention though is a rebrand can only really happen if you’ve got a brand strategy in the first place because you’ve got to understand what’s not working before you even consider a rebrand. So like you’ve said, if Kia need to attract this new global, luxurious, but affordable type market, you know, Dunkin’ Donuts has been listening to well.
Donuts has got a bad rap for being sweet food, but if you don’t know what your brand stands for, what your brand is about in the first place, it’s hard for you to begin to understand why you need to even rebrand. So, so yeah, it’s the underlying sort of thread, isn’t it?
Jana Bramwell: I think that, you know, we’ve been talking about a lot of really huge, well-known brands, especially in today’s standards, but when it comes to our engagements with our clients, I see a lot of people, and I mean, I will call it a rebrand, but many people come, they’ve run their business for several years.
They have an established brand or something that they’ve been using. Typically it may just be more or less like their visual identity, but they’ve grown to a point where they know that they’re ready to, I don’t wanna say like, be serious, but we need to level up. We’re ready to level up. Yeah. We’re ready to like really examine our market, really think about who we’re talking to, what we’re saying on top of how we look. And a lot of times people I run into, they’re, they just started with their own DIY and they’re ready to work with a professional to kind of gather those thoughts and ideas and, and have somebody there to help interpret and, and guide them on that path because it is such a task to try and see your own brand yourself.
I think. Yeah. Personally for me it is . If I even look at my own, just having an outside opinion and somebody help guide you, it’s huge. And I think a lot of brands that are smaller can benefit in that way too.
Jen Odom: Mm-hmm, because sometimes you don’t know the gaps until you start looking at the details. Just like you were talking about Vardeep.
Vardeep Edwards: And I think there is, um, like the Kia one for example is and, even MailChimp feels like there’s been iterations until the rebrand, you know, so there’ll probably be another one, you know, in so many years time, I imagine. Cause the markets or the audiences or the needs might change. So it’d be interesting. It’s interesting to view it like that as well, isn’t it?
Rather than it being one major rebrand it. It sometimes steps, isn’t it? Mm-hmm, you know, and some, some of it might be, I think rebrands are generally, well in these cases anyway, it’s been where they’ve had to look at the whole brand as a whole. But some of those iterations before then, and it’s been just the messaging piece, or maybe we’ve just gotta change our logo or we’re just gonna have a look at our tagline rather than the whole thing.
So it’s interesting, I think don’t think it, sometimes it is a little bit of a process, isn’t it, to kind of get to that point going, do you know what we just need to do? Look at everything now.
Jen Odom: But why would you even want to look at it? Like, I think for a lot of businesses they get stuck and, and we can include ourselves in this.
You get stuck and you just don’t, you wanna go to the next level, whatever the next level is. Maybe it’s, as a nonprofit, you wanna increase the amount of donors that you have, and you wanna go from that 3 million mark to the 10 million mark. You’ve done everything that you know to do. So what are, what are you missing?
And so sometimes it, it is helpful to bring in an outside perspective and be like, okay, well let’s look at everything. Let’s look at what you’re doing. Let’s see what the market is asking for, and do the research and see where the gaps are. And then how is that reflected in your verbal and your visual identity? That’s brand strategy.
Jana Bramwell: And it always is this dance between company and customer. Really, I mean, like, that’s, that’s it. It’s that connection, it’s that relationship. And how do you either foster more of what you’ve got going or reach out to a different connection, you know, within your brand. But yeah, it’s, it’s examining those two pieces quite a bit.
Jana Bramwell: Hey, thanks once again to everybody who’s turned into, into now our third episode of In-Demand Brand. We look forward to seeing you on our next episode, and we will we’ll catch you then. Bye bye bye. Thanks for tuning in to In-Demand Brand.
Jana Bramwell: If you like the show, don’t forget to like, subscribe, comment, and share. See you next time.
The Branding Fox crafts brands that influence and inspire. Do you need help with your branding? Then email us at vardeep@thebrandingfox.com
