When there are brands that have been around for over a century, we start to imagine that these companies are just invincible. These brands have been around so long because they have always known when to update and refresh themselves. To breathe new life into a brand ensures its longevity into the next generation and beyond. Those brands that complacently refuse to change and update themselves end up on the scrap heap.
If you’re wondering if it’s time for a brand refresh, then look for the following signs:
Sign 1: The market research shows it
As you keep track of your brand with market research, look out for your key numbers slipping into a trend of decline. A blip here and there is quite normal, but when things are turning against you, it speaks volumes about the current state of your brand. When people are turning away, visiting your online platform less, and appearing less willing to share your brand on their social media channels, you have something of an image problem that needs fixing.
Businesses must act on this kind of customer insight as soon as possible. Refreshing the brand not just with a new logo but with a fresh new set of ideas and principles to follow can do wonders to win back your customers and market share.
Sign 2: Your logo doesn’t translate across new platforms
Long-running companies have frequently run into this problem as media shifts here and there to and from new digital platforms. For instance, a logo that always worked on billboards and glossy magazines might not work as well as a profile image on Instagram or Twitter. It might also not be easy to recreate for a website or other digital marketing.
There could be an issue with color, complexity, size, resolution…the list goes on. Even beyond the logo, it could be that your old brand colors don’t work well when viewed on a high-resolution computer screen and so need softening. Brand refreshing will help you solve all these and other related problems.
Sign 3: There are inconsistencies in the presentation
Does your brand fail to present consistently across different platforms? It could be because you haven’t yet created a branding style guide. This style guide indicates the exact colors, fonts, font sizes, images, and more that should be used when presenting any information or material that carries your brand. It should be very detailed and include instructions for graphic designers on how to present your brand in virtually any context.
Sign 4: You look exactly like the competition
Do people have trouble distinguishing your brand from the competition? If so, then you have a serious problem on your hands. When you start to see that your branding is like that of the competition — similar color schemes, similar advertising messages and styles, near-identical patterns of communication and customer service, etc. — then it’s time for a refresh. There’s no need to change things if they’re working well radically, but at least updating the way things look to differentiate yourself from competitors is very important.
Sign 5: Your packaging is outdated
Finally, when was the last time you updated your product packaging? You might think that it has been working all these years, so why change it, but that’s wrong-headed. It might be that there are easier ways of packaging your types of products nowadays that are easier for customers to open up and use. It might be that the kind of packaging you’re using is non-recyclable, so you should switch to something more sustainable for the good of your brand — not to mention the environment!
Hence, if you see any of these signs, that it is about time that you should go for a brand refresh for all the right reasons. Your brand will thus be revived.
