Hit Refresh: 4 Design Principles and Branding Strategies to Consider When Revitalizing Your Brand

27 Oct

If your brand is lagging behind a fast-growing competitor, struggling to retain existing audiences, or simply feels stale and uninspired, it may be time to revitalize and refresh your look. Don't be like Blockbuster, which failed to reinvent its strategy and its brand in the face of a threat like Netflix. A brand refresh is a perfect time to re-think your brand story, and upgrade how your different branding elements and marketing channels share your message in a way that generates buzz, builds revenue, and sparks growth.

Refreshing Your Brand: 4 Tips For Success

1. Put the Customer First

A brand revitalisation project is no time for ego. If you're looking to refresh your brand, now is the perfect time to put your customer front and centre and rebuild your entire brand identity around your ideal customer.

When Delta Airlines did its last major rebranding, the company literally put the customer first by bringing back its old-school "red coats" — customer service agents wearing scarlet jackets.

Delta's research showed that their ideal passenger was seeking a more elevated approach to customer service. It was the perfect exercise in "show" versus "tell": Rather than telling their customers that the airline cared about customer service, Delta showed their commitment by hiring more agents and ensuring their bright uniforms stood out in the crowd.

This can help bring back old customers that you've lost to competitors, and also bring in new customers who gravitate towards your new, customer-centric branding. Sample ways to start this process include:

Surveying past customers on why they decided to use a competitor instead.
Researching existing clients to get insights on how they perceive your brand, and comparing their perceptions to the actual branding you use.
Doing general market analyses on what your ideal customer is seeking in your specific industry (e.g. the circular economy, the gig economy, etc.).

The information gleaned from these surveys can help you to ensure that everything — from your logo to your tagline to your marketing collateral — shows (and doesn't just tell) your client that your brand meets their needs.

2. Find Ways to Amplify Your Brand Story and Harness the Power of Emotion

Gone are the days of cold, aloof corporate brands and logos. Today's consumer wants brands and corporations that care, and it's up to you to tell the story about what your brand cares about!

In one study, eight out of 10 adults in the United Kingdom said that they prefer brands that have a strong story that they connect to and care about.

A great case study includes brands in the circular economy. Because more and more consumers care about the environment, branding elements (e.g. natural branding palettes, plant-inspired iconography, nature-based packaging) can help tell a story about how a circular economy company cares for the planet around us.

Other ways to tell a story and tap into emotions that can connect a customer to your brand include:

Playing with nostalgia: Are there typefaces or marketing approaches or icons that plug into the consumer's childhood or pleasant memories?
Using the founder: Why was your company established? What vision did the founder have? If it's an inspiring story, an empowering story, or an overcoming-the-odds story, it can help to inspire and empower your ideal consumer.
Using the customer: How does your brand create powerful moments for the ideal customer? A great example of this is how laundry detergent companies tell a story. It's not about cleaning the clothes, but about smiling moms, happy families, and nostalgic views of childhood.

3. Keep It Short and Sweet

A busy, cluttered look serves no one. It makes your company appear messy and unprofessional. It makes your logo and branding disappear into the crowd. And it makes it hard for your clients to know exactly what it is you offer (and makes it even harder for them to recall your brand later).

What is the clearest, simplest way to communicate who you are? Your branding may need a big overhaul if you're finding that you need 50 different logo elements, and an entire paragraph of text, just to explain what you do to someone who is unfamiliar with your company.

Some general design principles to consider include:

Keeping your brand's main palette at just a handful of colours (three colours maximum!)
Keeping your logo simple enough that when it's on its own, your customer can guess what your brand is about
Keeping your tagline as short as possible

A powerful example is the World Wildlife Fund's iconic panda logo. It's minimalistic, yet simultaneously carries so much of the non-profit's messaging.

4. Rename or Repackage Your Core Offering

Rethinking how you position your brand, and how you position your core offering, can bring back lost customers, inspire existing customers, and get you into new markets with new opportunities.

Brands in the circular economy (e.g. DyeCoo in the Netherlands, Close the Loop in Australia, and Enerkem in Canada) do literally that, helping to take one old product and upgrading it into a new use.

On a branding level, it runs even deeper. How can you reposition your brand or your core offering in a new way, with a new message, even though it's the same product?

For example, take the egg industry for example. While there is very little legal difference between certain "ethical" labels, brands are repackaging the same product in a new light in order to appeal to new customers. Another great case study is the New Zealand deer farm lobby's efforts to rebrand its venison as "cervena" to stand out in a crowded field of venison suppliers.

Your approach may be as "simple" as a brand name change, or a product name change. Or, it could be more involved, such as changing the branding, packaging and labels on a product you sell.

Ready to Revitalise Your Brand?

A brand refresh isn't just about changing a logo or swapping in a few new colours. For the best return on your investment, the ideal rebranding design process includes a discovery phase (including competitor research and market studies), a brainstorming phase (identifying and fine-tuning your message and USPs), and the actual process of revitalising your visual identity.

Don't navigate this branding journey on your own. THAT Branding Company has helped your competitors to build and establish their brand and marketing. Isn't it time you partnered with THAT Branding Company to revitalize your brand? Contact us today for a free consultation!