Stakeholder Buy-In – Orange Square

5 things leaders get wrong about rebranding: What you don’t know until you’ve been through it

If you have never gone through a rebranding process, or maybe only once: What happens and what goes wrong?

You don’t realize until you’ve gone through it. There are five primary things that CEOs and CMOs get wrong until they have gone through a rebranding process.

They underestimate the strategic impact.

They treat rebranding as a superficial marketing or design update, instead of the critical strategic business transformation that redefines their entire organization.

They’re not recognizing the emotional complexity of a rebrand.

They underestimate the emotional challenges that they will face for all stakeholders, internal and external. Rebranding means letting go of your established identity and stepping into uncertainty and change.

They are not allocating sufficient time and resources.

They rush the process, failing to give the rebrand the necessary time, attention and investment for deep alignment and lasting impact.

They miss the opportunity for internal alignment.

They overlook the importance of engaging all and aligning all employees whose buy-in is essential in this new brand direction. They miss the opportunity to strengthen, expand trust and connection both internally and externally.

They have a fear of losing approval instead of owning their own identity.

This new identity. They worry too much about losing stakeholder approval, rather than confidently embracing and communicating their unique value in the marketplace.

So let me tell you a story about a client who had never gone through a rebranding process.

This was a merger-acquisition. There’s always a lot of pressure in merger-acquisitions. Time is always, you know…there’s always a tendency to rush everything. And I think when we started using the framework, there was a lot of misalignment between how they were going to combine services and who the new audiences were.

What did that look like? So this process, as we went through the framework, gave them at each stage more and more clarity for the business decisions they needed to make that they hadn’t. I understand that, especially in a merger-acquisition, you’ve taken so much time to get to this point that you really want to kind of get to this next stage.

But without using a framework and going through these clarity steps, you undermine all of the investments you just made.

Why rebranding is a strategic business decision NOT a design exercise

When I’m referring to rebranding as a strategic business decision as opposed to a design exercise, what am I talking about?

When properly executed, rebranding is strategic because it is the foundation for achieving key business goals over extended period of time. It’s aligning your vision, unifying your team, and driving growth. It redefines how employees understand their roles, motivating them to engage with the company’s mission.

It requires active participation from all departments (not just marketing), ensuring company-wide engagement.

It demands that the CEO actively champions and clearly communicates the brand’s purpose, reinforcing its importance across sales, customer support, IT, marketing and operations. The brand’s strategic vision starts with the CEO, who must authentically embody it to inspire belief and action throughout the organization. We love to work with CEOs who understand this opportunity.

How rebranding drives business growth: Clarity, confidence and exit value

So how exactly does rebranding drive business growth?

Companies that take branding seriously don’t just protect their existing equity. They accelerate market adoption, increase sales velocity, and enhance valuation. A successful rebrand secures stakeholder confidence by maintaining trust in the company’s vision. This enables faster decisions, smoother execution and sustained business momentum.

Let me tell you a story about a CEO that really wasn’t interested in rebranding, at all.

There wasn’t any significant challenge except for the fact that they wanted to really grow market share. And so I think that the CEO felt: Well you know, you guys can do this, sure…sounds great. And so we would go and present all these concepts. And it was interesting because they were scientists. So I totally understand that this wasn’t something they were focused on. They weren’t really into marketing. They they didn’t really understand what the concept of brand was. And we were using our framework and taking them through the process. They loved the clarity that it brought and they loved the framework. But I still think the work they were doing…they weren’t quite getting the importance.

Until one year, after the second rebrand we had done for them, they went to a show. And it was a trade show they had gone to every single year. They were presenting a bunch of posters, they were doing a bunch of talks. And there wasn’t any difference in the talks; they didn’t do any more talks, they didn’t have any more posters. But when we did the second rebrand, we also re-did all their PowerPoints and re-did all their posters. Everyone was coming up to them at the show: “Oh, you guys are everywhere! Look at this!” Then they got it: “Oh! Now we get what you were saying!” Because of everyone’s reaction to everything being cohesive and having an identity. And it was a stronger identity. And they understood their market position; that was reflected in everything they were saying.

And by the way, they didn’t have the opportunity to resell their company. In the end, their exit was selling to a Fortune 25. So in the end, it was a great investment.

This reminds me of something that Max Dupree said. He was a CEO of Herman Miller.

“We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.”

Why brand architecture is foundational: It’s strategy, not structure

So why is brand architecture important and why is it a part of our framework?

I’m not going to explain what brand architecture is. I want to focus on why it matters and why it’s built into our rebranding framework. Brand architecture isn’t just a structure exercise, it’s a strategic one. It’s one of the ways we bring clarity to complexity.

In our experience, most companies haven’t spent much time thinking about this; which makes sense because it’s really at this point in your business that you usually have to consider it. But when your organization grows, expands, and services and you undergo transformation, brand architecture becomes critical. During a merger-acquisition, the confusion is obvious and immediate. Leadership needs to be aligned.

Employees and customers need to understand how everything connects and what to expect.

Brand architecture gives you a clear framework of how your offerings align with your purpose. It’s the strategic decision about how it all fits together. That’s why it’s foundational to our approach. You cannot build a powerful brand on a foundation that is unclear. And here’s what a clear brand architecture unlocks.

It aligns everything to a central strategy.

So you’re not branding in silos. It guides smart investment so you know where to grow, merge, sunset, or differentiate. It simplifies consumer understanding. So navigating your brand is intuitive, simple and clear. It enables full scalability and future scalability so that you can grow without creating chaos. And it fosters internal cohesion. So everyone knows what belongs, how it belongs and why.

Inside the Organizational Clarity Framework: The foundation for a strategic rebrand

Let me walk you through our organizational Clarity framework.

We begin by examining the two elements that form the core of what your organization does. The services you offer. Clearly defining what makes your offerings unique and valuable. The clients you serve. Understanding deeply by audience who they are, what they need, and how your services fulfill those needs. From here, we articulate your value propositions, explaining how your services directly relieve your client’s pain point and create significant gains for them.

There are six organizational clarity elements.

Three are internal and three are external. The internal clarity elements are vision. The long term impact you aim to achieve, and mission your organization’s purpose and reasons for existence and core beliefs. The guiding principles that drive decision making and behavior within the organization. I want to pause here and say something important. There is a difference between values and beliefs.

People have values. Companies don’t have values. People bring their values to your organization.

Your core beliefs are the guiding principles that drive your decision making. You may be asking yourself why is internal clarity important? It ensures everyone within the organization understands and aligns with the strategic direction the company has set forth. It unifies teams, fosters collaboration and cohesion throughout the entire company.

It improves morale by providing clear purpose and shared goals. It ensures consistent, authentic brand communication and it prevents inconsistent external messaging. Protecting trust and credibility with your clients and stakeholders.

How Orange Square masters emotional rebrands with strategy and experience

So why is Orange Square especially effective in handling these emotional and psychological challenges in a rebrand?

Orange square excels precisely because we recognize rebranding as a strategic, emotional and psychological journey, not merely a visual update. We help leadership teams engage stakeholders empathetically, communicate transparently and align emotional attachment with future vision.

After more than 23 years in rebranding and strategic transitions, we are equipped to build trust and reduce resistance. We ensure that rebranding not only succeeds tactically, but strengthens stakeholder relationships for the long term.

How rebranding strengthens stakeholder trust: A strategic rebrand builds confidence, not confusion

I want to talk about how rebranding strengthens stakeholder trust and address some misconceptions that exist around rebranding and credibility.

Many leaders fear rebranding might weaken credibility; that changing something familiar might confuse or alienate stakeholders. However, rebranding doesn’t erode trust when done strategically and transparently—it reinforces it, demonstrating clarity, forward thinking, leadership, and responsiveness to market and shareholder needs.

A well-executed rebrand communicates your continued relevance and commitment to growth. It strengthens confidence, attracts new partners and reinvigorates existing relationships.

The risk of delaying rebranding during growth: Why CEOs must treat brand as a strategic asset

If you’re a CEO focused on rapid growth, failing to significantly invest in rebranding significantly undermines your growth objectives.

Your brand is a strategic asset. A weak or outdated brand slows down sales cycles, weakens credibility and erodes your competitive advantage.

Your investors demand brand clarity. A fragmented or unclear brand signals inefficiency and puts future funding rounds at risk.

There are market and customer risks.

Stakeholders hesitate to engage with brands that lack clear positioning.

This creates friction in sales partnerships and talent acquisition.

There are acquisition and integration risks. Without strong brand integration during a merger-acquisition, confusion reigns both internally and externally leading to customer churn and employee attrition. It also stalls revenue growth.

There’s a risk of operational inefficiency. Weak or confusing branding forces sales teams to overcome unnecessary hurdles. Marketing teams overspend and recruitment efforts struggle.

Strategically investing and rebranding from the outset ensures that your growth ambitions aren’t just supported but accelerated. This will result in clear differentiation, streamlined operations, confident investors and engaged stakeholders.

Rebranding is not a reset: It’s a strategic realignment that builds buy-in

For business to business health organizations, a rebrand isn’t just abandoning the old. It’s about strategically evolving it.

The new brand honors the credibility, trust and equity you’ve built. It also aligns with where your business is headed. It reflects a deliberate shift in business strategy. Whether you’re entering new markets, integrating post-merger, or reintroducing the company under new leadership, the relationship between the old and the new is intentional.

What’s essential is carried forward. What’s outdated is left behind. And what is needed for growth is made visible.

It’s not a reset. It is a realignment that signals to employees, customers, partners and investors that the business is sharper, more focused and ready for growth.

Let me tell you a story about a rebrand.

This was a merger-acquisition rebrand. And in this rebrand, the CEO was very open to the recommendations we would have, whether we were going to recommend a new brand in its entirety or choose one of the two brands that were coming together. We used our framework and went through the process together and made the decision to choose one of the brands that was existing. This meant two things: The other brand was going away, and the brand that people knew was being redefined.

One of the things I want you to know is that our framework isn’t just a process we take companies through. Our framework was used in a presentation to all employees so they understood what was happening, the decisions that were being made and how the strategy would lead to the new brand identity.

In this case, it’s one of our proudest moments in a rebrand. We showed up in person to the brand launch and employees had chosen to go out and buy clothes that represented the new brand colors. Keeping in mind some of these employees completely lost the brand they worked for. This moment reinforced the power of our framework and validated the investment the company had made in getting its rebrand right.