Your guide to successful rebranding

4 min read
June 24, 2021

Apple, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, or Amazon - no major brand can avoid the topic of rebranding. Even smaller brands often want to redesign their external image and decide to rebrand. Why and when is rebranding necessary? How can you successfully implement a rebranding? This article answers those questions and more.

This article gives you everything you need to know about rebranding. You can also use this overview to jump to individual areas.

  1. Rebranding- what is it actually?
  2. When rebranding makes sense
  3. The 3 steps of the rebranding process
  4. Practical rebranding examples
  5. 7 steps from rebranding strategy to implementation
  6. Challenges of rebranding with MS Office
  7. Successful rebranding with empower®

Rebranding - what is it actually?

Rebranding is the reorientation of an established brand with the aim of changing the public image of the brand. It involves realigning the brand image by adjusting the brand's external appearance. Brand name, logos, design, or even the entire brand concept can evolve.

Rebranding can take place loudly or quietly. A loud rebranding is explicitly communicated to the outside world, while a quiet one takes place without any explicit communication.

When rebranding makes sense

There are many reasons for rebranding. In any case, the process should be well thought out and planned, as an ill-considered rebranding can definitely harm a brand. It makes sense to think about a rebranding if:

  •  the image of the brand is negative
  • the brand struggles to establish itself in its market
  • the brand does not differentiate itself enough from its competitors
  • customers and employees no longer identify with the brand
  • the orientation of the brand has changed
  • the design is no longer up to date
  • the brand needs to be reintroduced to customers
  • an inconsistent brand image pervades the corporate identity

The rebranding process step-by-step

Once the decision to rebrand has been made, the actual rebranding process follows. This process is a complex undertaking and can quickly become intimidating and daunting.

To give you the easiest possible starting point for your rebranding, we've broken down the rebranding process into 5 steps: Analysis, Planning, Design, Briefing and Rollout. Find out what to consider in each step and how to get your rebranding rolling.

Practical rebranding examples

To get a better understanding of the effects, opportunities, and risks of rebranding, it makes sense to look at real-life examples. Of course, the rebranding of one brand cannot transfer seamlessly to another, but you can and should learn from the experiences and mistakes of other brands. We have compiled 3 examples of successful and less successful rebrandings:

  • Microsoft demonstrates how rebrandings take place in large companies and with established brands. This graphic shows the development of the Microsoft logo:

rebranding guide example microsoft

  • An ill-considered rebranding can certainly go wrong. The fruit juice brand Tropicana, for example, lost tens of millions of dollars in sales when it redesigned its iconic beverage carton.
  • The multinational corporation Merck shows how rebranding works both conceptually and operationally. In 2015, Merck repositioned the entire corporate design to convey a more contemporary, colorful brand image.

rebranding guide example merck

Merck’s experience also shows how empower® helps implement a rebranding throughout an organization. On the one hand, this ensures a carefree transition and, on the other hand, it prevents documents with the old corporate design from being distributed further. Find out more examples in our article 3 rebranding examples and what you can learn from them.

7 steps from rebranding strategy to implementation

Rebranding is a complex process that cannot be done overnight. The process must be well thought out and carefully executed to avoid problems. We have formulated 7 steps that you can use to guide your rebranding:

  1. Identify mission, vision, and values.
  2. Develop a holistic rebranding strategy.
  3. Evaluate existing brand elements.
  4. Research the market and competitors.
  5. Plan the rebranding strategy and its implementation in the team.
  6. Manage the rebranding project consistently.
  7. Communicate the new rebranded brand.

Never lose sight of the goal of the rebranding. Our article on rebranding strategy explains in detail the goals behind rebranding and what you need consider.

Challenges of rebranding with MS Office

If you decide to rebrand your company, you need to consider several things to make it a success. A corporate design relaunch can quickly become a mammoth undertaking. There are many operational tasks to implement the new design brand-wide and without gaps. The following 4 challenges await you during a rebranding:

  1. All MS Office programs must be optimized for the new corporate design.
  2. New design templates must be made available to employees.
  3. Existing documents and content must be adapted to the new design.
  4. Future-proof any design relaunch to minimize workloads later.

empower® will help with all those challenges. Learn how in our blog post “4 Corporate Design Relaunch Challenges in MS Office Programs". 

Also, find out how to Update PowerPoint presentations with 2 clicks in our article about corporate design relaunch. 

Successful rebranding with empower®

As the above-mentioned challenges show, there is a lot to do especially operationally around MS Office programs during a rebranding. empower® delivers well-thought-out software solutions for rebranding that remove roadblocks standing in the way of implementation and make it easy for people to make the switch effortlessly.

Our add-ins ensure that the new corporate design is implemented on all levels. For example, you can easily transfer existing presentations into your new corporate design. That saves a lot of valuable working time because existing presentations do not have to be redesigned and redeployed; instead, people can update their own presentations quickly and in compliance. Content creators can concentrate fully on content and do not have to bother with operational tasks.

Rebranding in M&A whitepaper

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