Brand

Rebrand

Also known as: rebranding · brand refresh

Definition

A rebrand is a deliberate change to how a business presents itself, from a visual refresh to a new name, positioning and identity. It should follow a business reason, such as a new market, a merger or a reputation problem, not a wish for something new.

Rebrands sit on a ladder of risk. A visual refresh changes how things look. A repositioning changes what the business says. A rename changes what people search for and what every record calls you, and it carries the most risk because the old name has a search history, a set of reviews and a trail of listings. Domain and URL changes are where rankings are lost, so every old address needs a permanent redirect to its closest new equivalent.

Plan a rename as a migration: update the licence and any regulatory registrations through the relevant authority, the Google Business Profile, directories and citations, invoices and contracts, and email authentication for any new domain. Don't change the name, the domain and the site structure in the same release, because a traffic dip can't then be traced to a cause. Announce to existing customers where they actually talk to you, which for many UAE businesses is WhatsApp.

More in Brand

Brand architecture

Brand architecture is the structure describing how a company's brands, sub-brands and products relate to one another, commonly a branded house, a house of brands, or a hybrid endorsed model.

Brand equity

Brand equity is the commercial value a brand name adds beyond the functional value of the product, visible as pricing power, preference at parity, lower acquisition cost and higher retention.

Brand guidelines

Brand guidelines are the documented rules for how a brand looks, sounds and behaves, covering logo use, colour, typography, imagery and tone of voice. Their job is to let people who weren't in the design meeting make the same decisions the designers would.