Business Rebranding Tips
In this article our primary focus is brand renaming which inherently involves changes in business name, logo, and creation of new website.
You should avoid rebranding of business name if it could be possible. You can reap rebranding benefits as a long-term strategy. Immediately after rebranding, the company is more likely to incur losses in sales.
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However, sometimes rebranding becomes imperative to keep in line with larger and changing scope of products or services. Some companies try to rebrand when they are in bad financial situation, as a last resort to avoid bankruptcy.
Follow Gradual Transition Process for Rebranding
Large companies should opt for gradual transition process of rebranding. They should also test it before official name changing. For example, though the word Donuts was removed in 2018 from ‘Dunkin Donuts’ but as early as in 2006 the company released a slogan ‘America runs on Dunkin’ which had no mention of the word Donuts. [RD]
Smaller business can rebrand relatively in quick time with little damage. However, abrupt rebranding for a big corporation can become disruptive and sometime may lead to total failure.
Try to rebrand the name partly as did by Dunkin’ Donuts by keeping the word Dunkin. Avoid completely changing the brand name as wrongly done by Weight Watchers to WW.
Merge Logos and other Business Identities
Before ultimate change in brand name, company may also start using both current and planned logo and name on website, social media accounts as well as other printing materials related to marketing. For example, after merger of Tomy and Takara the website is displaying a logo having names of both of previous brands – shown in video. I expect that after some time only single name will be shown in the logo.
Mention Old and Rebranded Names in Homepage Title
In my suggestion, it is also a good idea to include both new and old names in the title of website homepage for some time, so that a user can identify the brand in search engine results.
On the homepage SEO title of website, clearly mention the name change. For example, when you search wise or transferwise in search engine, the title of wise.com is, “Wise, Formerly TransferWise: Online Money Transfers” and it manifests that the company owners are practically wise.
On the other hand, SutroVax, Inc. changed name to Vaxcyte.com but made mistake of not mentioning the old name either in SEO title or on website homepage. So, when I searched the old name, the search engine was clueless. Please avoid such mistake after rebranding.
Keep Functional Old and New Website
I strongly suggest that after rebranding, you should keep the old website running – just redirect the traffic from there to the new site. For example, Coach inc. changed name to Tapestry inc. in 2017. The website coach.com was redirected to www.uk.coach.com and there on the footer it gives the link to the new website of Tapestry and being wise the homepage of Tapestry mentions Coach for five times.
Similar prudence and strategy were adopted by Jamba Juice when it rebranded by removing ‘Juice’. It retained both websites and redirected the traffic.
Mention the Brand Change on Homepage
After rebranding, it is a good practice to mention the change on top of homepage of both old website and new website, so that visitors can be sure that they are on the right website.
Rainberry changed name in 2017 but still it mentions ‘formerly known as “BitTorrent, Inc.’ on the top of homepage after many years of rebranding.
Similarly, Cryptovoxels rebranded in 2022 to become only Voxels to allow expansion of business scope as well as to remove negative connotation of crypto word. On new website, it clearly mentions (formerly Cryptovoxels) to retain customer trust. [RD]
Register Domain Name before Rebranding
However, the prime precaution you must consider is that register a domain name for the planned name, earlier than showing any intentions of brand change to the world.
For example, Zohoor Al Reef Trading Company, Saudi Arabia made this grave mistake.
The company rebranded from “Zohoor Al Reef” to ZOHOOR in 2020 without purchasing the domain name in .com extension.
Adi Azar from the United States of America registered the domain (zohoor.com) in December 2019.
First, the company tried to purchase the domain from the registrant and on failure initiated a law suit of trademark infringement.
However, the judges panel denied the complaint and allowed Adi Azar to retain the <zohoor.com> domain. [RD]
Now, the domain is listed on premium price.
This example, clearly signifies that before rebranding, make sure to register the relevant website domain, first.
More Resources
Check following helpful resources.
Why Companies Rebrand? Reasons behind Rebranding.
Cost of Rebranding a Business | What is changed during rebranding?
Avoid Repeating the Mistake while Renaming a Brand | Companies that did this Mistake.
18 Inspirational Examples of Companies that Successfully Rebranded.
Reason to Choose Non-Restrictive Business Name for Rebranding.
Explore Branding ideas and tips.
