To uplift or revamp?
A rebrand is not a decision to be taken lightly, and should have a strong motivation behind it all the while not straying from the company’s goal and mission.
Are you considering a complete brand transformation?
With the continuously changing environment, many industries believe that rebranding is necessary to keep up with all the change. These industries might worry that if they do not rebrand, they will not attract the generation of millennials who dominate the current market.
However, a rebrand is not always a solution.
There are many examples of brands who have attempted a rebrand to update their logo and identity and suffered great losses because of it. One common example is the GAP revamp as mentioned in the previous post To re-brand or not to re-brand. A rebrand is not a decision to be taken lightly, and should have a strong motivation behind it all the while not straying from the company’s goal and mission. For one, a successful rebranding effort requires a precise examination of the market. Furthermore, you must rebrand for the right reasons — for instance, there are shifts happening in the industry, you are refining or redefining the concept of your business or maybe targeting a new audience or catering to a changing audience.
An uplift, on the other hand, is definitely a more delicate modification to the original brand. Just enough changes to modernize the image, but not too much that it derails the customer base. It is, of course, much easier to start a new brand from scratch, but the risks taken in alienating a loyal client base makes uplifting a more intricate, but more secure option.
A great example of an uplift is Cadbury. Cadbury has stayed loyal to the color purple since 1920, and has adapted to change by making a more modernized logo. This logo of the trademark purple and whimsical logo script defines the brand and exudes an image of trustworthiness that would be hazardous to change.
In 1998, Apple modernized the iconic logo of a rainbow apple logo with a solid monochromatic version that has remained current to this day. Even though the logo hasn’t changed since then, Apple has managed to solidify and strengthen its brand.
What do these examples tell us?
Sometimes if you have a recognizable element, then that’s worth a lot of money. You shouldn’t revamp without just cause and deep analysis of your business and industry. An uplift is sometimes more than necessary to attract a new client base while remaining trustworthy to the previous ones.