Rebranding is the word owners use for anything from new business cards to a new company name. Those are very different jobs with very different price tags, so start by naming which one you mean.
What does rebranding mean?
Rebranding means changing what customers recognize you by, so the business reads as new or different. There are three sizes of the job:
- Refresh. Same brand, cleaned up. Customers notice it looks sharper. The refresh or start over page covers this one.
- Rebrand. A new identity and usually a new voice, under the same name. Customers notice the company changed.
- Rename. A new name, and everything that hangs off it: the identity, the voice, the domain, the signs, the listings. Customers have to relearn who you are.
Each step up costs more, takes longer, and spends more of the recognition you already have.
When should a business rebrand?
When the brand describes a business you no longer run. The common signs:
- You sell something different now. The name or the look says "printing" and you do digital, or it says "residential" and most of your revenue is commercial.
- You serve a different buyer. You moved from consumers to companies, or from small clients to large ones, and the brand still talks to the old crowd.
- Ownership changed. A sale, a merger, or a founder leaving, and the brand carries a name or a story that is no longer true.
- Two brands need to become one. After an acquisition, customers see two names for one company.
- The name causes problems. People misspell it, confuse it with a competitor, or cannot find it in search.
Weak signs: the owner is bored with it, a competitor rebranded, or sales are down for reasons that have nothing to do with how you look.
What changes in a rebrand?
The identity (mark, colors, type), the voice (how you describe what you do in one sentence and the words you stop using), and everything those touch: the website, the Google Business Profile, signs, vehicles, uniforms, proposals, email signatures, and invoices. A rename adds the domain, the legal paperwork, and the trademark search. Make the list of everything that carries the brand before you start, so the rollout has a plan and a budget.
What should we keep?
Keep anything people recognize and like. A color customers associate with you, a shape on the trucks, a phrase the phone gets answered with, a founder's name that still carries a good reputation. Those are equity, and you paid for them with years of showing up. A good rebrand carries one or two of them forward so customers can connect the new brand to the old one. Keep the old domain live and redirecting, and keep the same phone number.
What has a real rebrand looked like?
At Thread, where I was executive creative director, the company had been called Go East and had about 50 staff. I renamed it and rebranded it.
Speed is possible when the decisions are clear. For U.S. Asset Appraisals, a new machinery and equipment appraisal firm, I delivered the brand identity, the sitemap, and the website copy in one week. The mark is still in use. See the U.S. Asset Appraisals case study.
What does a rebrand cost?
It depends on which size of job you need. A logo tune-up of the mark you have is $1,200. A new identity starts at $2,500. Naming and a full brand, with the identity and the voice, start at $6,000, and a new website starts at $6,000. Printing and signs are quoted separately. Anything over $3,000 can be paid by the month, no interest. The brand refresh cost page breaks down which pieces to pay for first. Tell me what changed on the start form and I will tell you which size you need.
Answered by Jared Lukes, Minneapolis. Twenty-five years in brand, UX, and technology, currently holding fractional AI and technology seats at three companies. About Jared.