What is a brand refresh?

“Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business.”

—Steve Forbes

A brand is so much more than a company name and a logo – it’s a promise of who you are and what you stand for. Establishing a strong brand not only builds equity in the marketplace, it cements the promise to your customers of what they can expect your brand to deliver. A well-executed brand should be authentic, unique, and stand the test of time. However, while your core brand promise should stay consistent, over time, it may be advantageous to update some of your brand’s consumer-facing touchpoints.

A brand refresh can help you retain the brand equity you’ve built while keeping up with changing times. However, a refresh should not be done without significant reason – the best refreshes are intentional, carefully thought out, and have specific goals behind them. Here are three strategies for refreshing your brand without compromising invaluable equity and consumer loyalty along the way: 

How to refresh your brand

1. Brand marks, typography, color palette, and imagery

Designing and maintaining a cohesive suite of brand marks, font collections, color palette, and iconic imagery can be a complex process, but one that is critical in effectively implementing your brand. Something as simple as the thickness of a line, a color choice, font selection, or icon style can elicit an emotional response with your current and prospective customers, be it positive or negative.

While it’s not uncommon for brand imagery to evolve over time, at a minimum, it should at least be reflective of its previous and original iterations. Afterall, a redesign can be risky, even to large, well-established brands. For example, after Uber redesigned its logo, 44% of people were unsure of what it represented. In other words, there should be little to no question of whose brand the new imagery represents.

A brand style guide is an essential tool to track these iterations and ensure that brand marks, imagery and application are current and consistent across all platforms.

 DL Lowry Salon logo refresh

2. Website and digital assets

Did you know 75% of consumers judge the credibility and trustworthiness of a business solely from its website? It should come as no surprise that a website is one of the first places prospective customers go to learn about your company and decide whether they want to buy, adopt, or even convert. If your website isn’t visually appealing and consistent with your brand, quite simply, you’re leaving chips on the table.

MashCraft Brewing complete brand and website refresh

3. Evergreen brand assets to keep your new vision going

Once you’ve breathed new life into your brand, it’s essential to regularly maintain it so your customers will stay connected to your business. On-brand evergreen assets are a crucial part of this process, and will allow you to create a consistent dialogue with your customers, and more importantly, earn their trust.

#consideritdone with PMG

Whether you’re looking to create a new brand for your company or product, or are simply looking to refresh your existing brand, PMG can help. Our team of brand architects, graphic and web designers, and content creators brings together a wide range of skills needed to build the best version of your brand. With all the right pieces, your brand refresh can be the push your company needs. Check out some of our recent brand work here, and contact us to talk through your vision for your brand. Consider it done.

Sources:

https://www.pollfish.com/blog/infographics/did-uber-make-a-mistake-changing-its-logo/ 

https://gomedia.com/insights/business-philosophy/web-design-stats-2018/