5 reasons to refresh your brand

Just like humans, brands can get tired. And just like humans, when they’re tired, they don’t function how you’d like them to and they don’t work as hard as you’d like them to.

It can be tempting to just leave your brand be… After all, it can be hard to quantify the negative, albeit subtle, impact an outdated brand is having on your business. But there are also a few good reasons why a brand refresh makes good business sense.

1. The components that make up your identity can have a big impact on the first impression that people have. Leave it as it is, looking tired and old, and even something at the bottom of your priority list, like updating your logo, will turn people away.
2. The process of reviewing your identity can raise /uncover valuable questions about the nature of your business, your current direction and strategy. It may uncover things that you were previously blind to.
3. Going through a rebrand process can give you a reason to engage with your staff and customers on a deeper level and make them feel valued. Asking them what they think of your existing identity can give them a sense of buy-in, reinforcing their status as stakeholders in your business.
4. Similarly, the process can galvanise support from colleagues, signalling a company or brand that’s forward-thinking. A rebrand /refresh can instil a sense of pride in employees, sending positive signals out about the levels of investment that employers are making.
5. A refresh is only part of the story. With the right PR and social media support strategy, a brand refresh /relaunch should in itself generate positive publicity and energy for your company /brand, helping you to reach a broader audience.

For small and medium-sized businesses in particular, an identity arguably needs to work harder than for a multinational business; we know who and what the latter are, but if you are a smaller charity, a school, or an arts centre, for example, it’s much harder to ensure your voice is heard through the sector clutter.

At Sherlock, we have recently found ourselves refreshing the brands of medium-sized businesses that have a great service or product but which, frankly, look like they are trading on an identity that has been lifted from a Clipart collection. These jobs for us are actually just as rewarding than jumping over the hurdles which must be cleared in large businesses before you can arrive at an agreeable solution.

These smaller jobs aren’t the pillars of our design business, but they are usually briefed by clients who let our designers exercise their core creative muscles and as a result, we can produce astonishing results for our clients.