Why do companies hesitate to rebrand and what’s the risk of not doing it well?
Failing to rebrand doesn’t just preserve the status quo. It actively creates barriers for growth. Barriers such as erosion of market relevance. Without rebranding, your company can appear outdated or disconnected from current trends and customer expectations. You lose your competitive edge. Competitors who are proactively refreshing their brands can position themselves more effectively, taking market share from you.
You get internal misalignment. Employees lose clarity around the company’s vision, mission, and strategy, hurting morale and productivity. Customers may become uncertain of your relevance, gradually shifting their trust and spending to their competitors, whose brands clearly resonate without a fresh, compelling brand. Your company struggles to attract innovative talent and strategic partners critical for growth. The famous psychologist Abraham Maslow said, “In any given moment, we have two options: To step forward into growth or step backwards into safety.”
Rebranding is definitely not for the faint of heart. It’s challenging right? It demands far more than surface-level design changes like a new logo or name.
Peter Singer, the great systems thinker, said, “People do not resist change. They resist being changed.” It requires courage to make hard choices. You can’t rebrand effectively if your goal is universal approval. Strong brands have clear points of view, even sometimes polarizing.
You have to have a willingness to embrace uncertainty.
Leaders must have the courage to let go of established identities and confidently step into the unknown territory. You have to navigate short-term risks. Rebranding can mean temporarily losing brand recognition. But needing to rebuild customer trust and face internal complexities as you unify your organization are key. As the famous poet Audre Lorde once said, “Revolution is not a one time event.”
Leaders who embrace these challenges head-on have an opportunity to transform their organizations fundamentally, creating a stronger, more resonant and enduring brand.
It’s exciting to see leaders who embrace these challenges also understand why it is so critical to work with the right rebranding partner.
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.