Rebranding
The process of changing a brand's visual identity, messaging, positioning, or all three to better reflect what the brand has become or wants to become.
Rebranding is not changing the logo. That is a logo redesign. A rebrand rethinks the entire identity system: who the brand is for, what it believes, how it sounds, and how it looks. Slack's 2019 rebrand simplified the logo but kept the warmth. Airbnb's rebrand introduced the Belo and changed how the company presents itself at every level. Most rebrands fail because they are cosmetic. A new color palette on the same broken positioning is decoration, not transformation. The rebrands that work start with strategy and let the visuals follow. The risk is real. Existing customers have built associations with the old identity. Change too much and you lose recognition. Change too little and you wasted the effort. The sweet spot is evolution, not revolution, unless the old brand is genuinely broken.
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Related Terms
Brand Identity
The complete visual and verbal system that makes a brand recognizable, consistent, and impossible to confuse with anyone else.
Visual Identity
The visible elements of a brand: logo, color palette, typography, imagery style, and layout patterns.
Brand System
The interconnected set of visual and verbal rules that work together to produce a consistent brand experience across every context.