Have you ever noticed how some brands switch up their look and feel with a new name, logo, or tagline? That’s the magic of rebranding at work. But why do businesses take the plunge into rebranding waters? Let’s shed light on the reasons that led businesses to opt for this strategic evolution.
Understanding rebranding
At its core, a brand is like a business’s fingerprint – a unique identity that encapsulates its vision, values, products, and everything that defines it. So, when a business rebrands, it’s like giving that fingerprint a makeover. Some of the lines are moved giving the fingerprint a different look without completely distorting it. That’s what rebranding is about: tweaking your brand without completely erasing its essence. And there could be multiple reasons to act as such.
1. Scaling up and going global
Picture this: Your local business suddenly goes international, scaling up beyond your wildest dreams. When that happens, rebranding can be your golden ticket. Going global demands a different game plan, as the branding choices that worked locally might not have the same impact nor the same availability worldwide. Therefore, you would need to conduct in-depth market and customer research for your brand to suit a worldwide audience.
Burger King is a world giant. Yet, the brand is barely represented in Australia – although we do love a good burger! When entering the Australian market in 1971, Burger King discovered their name already belonged to another local restaurant. Unable to get the trademark, the king of whoppers had to pick another name to settle in Australia. Jack Cowin, their first franchisee at the time decided to go with ‘Hungry Jack’s’. In the 1990s, when the brand name ‘Burger King’ became available again, the American giant decided to gain it back and started opening stores under its original name. But this turned ‘Burger King’ into a competitor for ‘Hungry Jack’s’, and so after a while the international corporation decided to completely drop the Burger King name for the benefit of ‘Hungry Jack’s’.
2. Internal shake-ups and transformation
Changes within a business can spark a rebranding journey too. New CEOs, mergers, or acquisitions can reshape the way a company operates and so when the internal landscape shifts, rebranding becomes the bridge that connects your old identity to the new. Think of it as a way to communicate your fresh approach while reassuring your customers that the heart of your brand remains steadfast.
Apple‘s transformation under Steve Jobs is a prime example. When returning to Apple in 1997, Steve Jobs shifted the focus of the brand around the idea of simplicity positioning the brand as one that “makes technology so simple that everyone can be part of the future.” In a market that was obsessed with gadgets, bits, and bytes, Steve Jobs opted for simplicity. A risky gamble at the time that turned into a very fruitful success.
3. Overcoming poor associations
Have you ever noticed how two individuals can have completely different perceptions of the same brand depending on the experience they have had with it? Or how, over time, a product can start being used for something completely different than what it was initially made for? Well, this is what brand association is about. If at the individual level, this may not affect your business too much, if a poor association of your brand becomes a trend and is spread to a wider extent, you’ll need to consider rebranding to gain control back.
Just a few kilometres south of Perth is a city called Mandurah. For years, Mandurah had been perceived as a boring seaside town full of retirees and bogans. With a poor association in people’s minds, the city struggled to attract visitors. So, in 2019 it decided to counteract, refreshing its brand, its logo, and its online presence. To revamp its outdated website, the city of Mandurah entrusted Cloud Cartel.
As one of the main points of contact with actual and future visitors, we developed a website reflecting Mandurah’s new look and feel. User-friendly, with a fresh and dynamic outlook, the website offers a friendly and welcoming space to get all the necessary information to prepare and enjoy your stay in the bay.
Ever since the launch, the new website has enjoyed a significant increase in its number of visitors, helping the city of Mandurah gain more visibility and boost its image.
Nowadays, whether it is for Perth locals willing to escape the city or international travellers, the city counts as a must-see in Western Australia.
4. Riding along the market, its evolving trends and habits
The world is a whirlwind of change, and what’s a hit today could be considered old-fashioned tomorrow. Therefore, to keep your business relevant, you need to be agile and keep up to speed with the evolving trends and consumer habits. To do so, you might want to reposition your business, tweaking it without altering its essence. That’s what rebranding is about, evolving for the better.
During the global COVID-19 pandemic, many companies had to cut down their advertising budgets ultimately impacting the businesses which heavily relied on these budgets. Spotify was one of them. To keep its head above water, the music platform had to evolve, so it started integrating more original content (podcasts and Spotify® Originals) and putting enormous effort into curated playlists (from internal experts, external experts, AI, and celebrities).
5. New business model
If sometimes repositioning your brand is enough to get you back in the game, there might be other times during which deeper thoughts will need to be addressed. In our ever-evolving world, your business model may need to be changed to keep floating and operating.
Pinjarra Bakery is a family-owned and operated bakery. Created in 1996, Pinjarra Bakery started as an extension of a Fesh Food Mart Deli located in Pinjarra. With growing demand, the undeniable success of their award-winning pies led Larry and Narda Pantaleo to open 3 other stores across Western Australia: in Maddington, Waroona and Port Kennedy. In 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Pinjarra Bakery had to reinvent its way of doing business. Up until then, the pies had only been sold in-store but with the lockdowns and sanitary restrictions, this was no longer doable. Pinjarra Bakery had to rethink its business model to adapt to these new limitations. Agile, the brand quickly reached out to Cloud Cartel to launch an e-commerce website to overcome these challenges. With a pandemic damaging everything but Western Australian appetite, Pinjarra Bakery increased its online revenue by 60% throughout the 2 years COVID-19 lasted.
In the grand tapestry of business, rebranding emerges as a canvas for transformation, a platform for communicating change, and a vessel for staying relevant in an ever-changing world. However, for a rebrand to be successful it needs to be led with the most accurate knowledge of the market you are evolving in.
For example, if you were running a business, located in Perth, you would want to benefit from the support of marketing experts to get all the appropriate insights and guidance needed for your business to make the best out of its transformation. Luckily for you, that’s what the Cartel do.
