Why Companies Rebrand? Reasons behind Rebranding
There can be several reasons for companies to rebrand but following are the prime motives behind decisions for rebranding.
Sometimes, a company decides for rebranding to solve any trademark issue with a chosen business name. For example, Steven Chiocchi founded a coffee shop in Somerville, New Jersey, United States in 2018. The coffee shop was branded as Cheech's Own. But he had to face legal dispute with Richard "Cheech" Marin (a comedy star) over allegations of trademark infringement for using the word Cheech.
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So, in October 2020, Steven decided to rebrand his coffee shop from Cheech's Own to Lucid Coffee. However, the trademark for Lucid Coffee was not approved by USPTO due to naming conflict with name of another existing company. So, in July 2022, the coffee shop was rebranded again from Lucid Coffee to Ambee Coffee. According to the owner, ‘Ambee’ is made-up and fanciful business name invented from the play of ‘ambient’ word. This example also signifies that we should adopt unique and fanciful business name from the very start so that we can save the rebranding later.
Companies also rebrand to make a business name more universal and globally pronounceable as did by the founder of Sony company by rebranding from a difficult name Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo to Sony in 1946 because he realized that Americans feel difficulty in pronouncing the name of his company.
To allow including wider array of products as did by Boston Chicken by rebranding to Boston Market. Now if you search ‘boston chicken’ keyword in Google or Bing, the top result will show you the new website.
Sometimes, a failing and struggling company opt for rebranding to uplift financial position and revamp the general outlook and perception of the company as did by Hermes parcels in the UK rebranding to Evri.
Grown corporations having vast line of businesses require a parent company to work as umbrella for all other branches of the corporation. For example, Alphabet Inc as parent for Google businesses and Meta Platforms Inc. to cover Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and other products and services.
I hope now you understand well the main reasons behind rebranding of a company.
More Resources
Check following helpful resources.
Cost of Rebranding a Business | What is changed during rebranding?
Tips for rebranding and renaming a company name.
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.
