5 Things To Think About Before Rebranding

Before you rebrand, read this

A rebrand is a mythical beast. The expectations placed on it are enormous, a revolutionary shift in business direction, all resting on the creative work. Sometimes that's fair. Often it isn't.

It's a science and an art. It's fickle. And without the right groundwork, it becomes a long, drawn-out process that delivers neither what you want nor what you actually need. A rebrand can be as beautiful as you like. That doesn't mean it will work.

So before you start, here are five things worth getting straight, drawn from years of delivering branding and rebranding for some of the best clients in the country.

Our own brand for our fancy dress brand, Allnutts Wild Supplies

1. Start with who

This is everything. Who is your audience? Not who you think they are. Not who you'd like them to be. Both matter, but they are two completely different questions. Start with who is actually buying your product or service right now, what they respond to, what they want more of. The most common mistake in branding is making something for yourself. Beautiful doesn't mean it sells.

2. Culture first, creative second

Once you know your audience, immerse yourself in their world. What are they reading? Where are they spending time? Which podcasts are on in the background? Who do they actually listen to, and we mean genuinely influential people, not influencers? The better you can map that brand world through culture, the more you can get under the skin of what truly resonates. Social A/B testing is one quick way in. It's never the whole answer, but it's a start.

3. Less is more

AStill true. Always will be. Whatever you've got, you're probably overthinking it, it's an occupational hazard. Strip it back. Go to basics and build it up again. What do you actually need? What's essential to convey meaning? Stop hammering the colour, the pun, the clever concept. Simplicity is what lets good creative breathe.

4. It doesn’t have to please everyone

One of the most consistent patterns we see: clients in the middle of a rebrand process trying to make something everyone loves. Their boss, their partner, their colleagues, their customers. Here's the thing, what your colleagues think is almost entirely irrelevant. What does the target audience think? Test it, repeatedly, with real people. Boosted social posts are a fast, cheap litmus test that most brands underuse

5. If you have to explain it, it doesn’t work

Shouldn't need elaborating, but here we are. When branding is over-engineered, over-laboured, over-cooked, it doesn't come out cleanly. Extracting it becomes a struggle. That's rarely a creative problem. It's a brief that was too bloated to ever be refined into something striking.

Branding should be the most elegant, immediate way to say who you are and what you do. If it needs a paragraph of context to land, go back to step three.

Wildish & Co. are a brand & creative agency with studios in London and Wiltshire. We re-invigorate emerging brands, future-proof the world’s most trusted businesses and helping startups catch their big break.

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