Why South African Businesses Need To Rebrand

April 30, 2012 / Kagiso / 4 Comments

Why should I rebrand my business?

This is a question I come across on a daily basis and due to the scope of the answer that usually follows, I just decided to create the first of this series to just communicate exactly what branding encompasses, what it can do, and what it can’t.

Your logo is the face of your business, the first impression people get when they come across your website, or stationary, giving those people the ability to recognize, identify, critique then buy or not buy from your business. Any drastic changes made can be devastating to your bottom line. An update to your logo also means an update to your business cards, letterhead, and website. These changes can be costly—The last thing you want is to invest in a poor re-branding effort.

So how do you know you getting a good deal when you decide on the task to rebrand? Ask yourself some key questions first on if you need to begin searching for a rebranding solution. The first of these questions being: Why do you need to rebrand?

• Has your target audience changed or moved on, leaving a gap where your sales used to be?
• Is your logo the same one you created 10 years ago in Microsoft Paint on your old school Windows 95 machine?
• Do you have a new message you’d like to share with your customers, or has bad publicity created a rift in your brand?
• Are your competitors getting a better response from their brands than you are?

This is where you now decide why you need to rebrand. The “why” is the most important step, and it will make the design process easier and more efficient. Here are a few cases of rebrands where the “why” is shown in the result.

Industry/Sector: General Clothing Stores
Brand Strategists/Designers: Dalziel and Pow (UK)

The approach taken by Dalziel and Pow was to identify and reinforce the common identity of each brand, yet encompass the inherent characters of the individual fascias and set them apart as strong identities in their own right.

Using scale, changing pace, and sensitivity to materials and colour palette, three strong schemes have been achieved. To support the new brand identities, packaging and in-store communications are being developed for each, holistically delivering the Mr Price personality.

The new logo carried over the same theme from the old logo, with a much more modern and cleaner look. This has allowed them to retain the customers who have been with them since the beginning, while keeping the brand edgy and modern to compete with newer competitor clothing brands like YDE, Identity and Legit.

Industry/Sector: Convenience Stores
Brand Strategists/Designers: Frost Design (Australia)

The above are just 2 examples of South African brands that already knew what they wanted with the refreshes and why they needed to rebrand.

All of the ideas explored here are targeted to understanding “why”, and taking the necessary precautions before there is no turning back. Do it regularly, and you’ll find people visit regularly just to see what you’ve done. Keep in mind, however, this concept doesn’t necessarily work for all industries and companies. You’ll also want to keep some basic elements the same, so people can still identify the brand as yours.

Our next rebranding article we’ll cover the basic process and time frames to expect when you do decide to refresh your brand and aligning a new business philosophy.