Is Your Brand Ready for a Refresh versus Redesign?

Your brand is not your logo. Marketing strategies are built around brands, not logos. A brand is a representation of a combination of your name, term, symbol, and values, making you distinctly different from your competitors. Creating a unique brand representing your business, or services, will set you apart. “A brand is not what you say it is. It is what they say it is,” (Neumeier, The Brand Gap). The careful distinction between a brand refresh and redesign in the marketing and design world is entirely different.

First, branding takes time. The marketing of your brand is the driver to customer engagement and understanding. Whether you tell your story or showcase your product, it will not happen overnight. As an entrepreneur, I know this process needs to be taken with perseverance, tenacity, and true grit. Believe me, I understand. Once a brand is launched, there may be a series of listening opportunities to your audiences from internal teams, customers, and stakeholders. After discovery, the brand might not have been planned initially as envisioned. Then, you would want a complete overhaul and create a brand redesign. A brand refresh would be needed if you only want to add some aspects to the design, such as color or tone. 

A Brand Refresh will evoke similar elements in your overall feeling, mission, vision, and value statement. Customers trust your brand and clearly understand what they will receive when they buy your product or service. For example, Pepsi's iconic brand has had numerous modifications throughout the years without changing its integrity. Another example, JBe Marketing refreshed our logo without changing the integrity of the original design elements. The brand represents the JBe mission “to passionately create campaigns that drive results using the right mediums at the right time.” The distinct word ‘passion’ represents our signature positioning statement of #AlwaysMarketing. Therefore, our brand needed to encompass all these thoughts and feelings. The logo design is shaped like a diamond to represent the four Principles of Marketing (product, price, place, and promotion), with the “JBe” in the center to represent the people who drive the brand forward. This diamond shape has been constant since inception. However, the colors have changed. The original light blue and black did not speak to me. The new vibrant gold represents a gold medal color, which represents first-class service and style. JBe continually listens and refreshes the brand to meet and exceed expectations. [Show examples]

A Brand Design is a comprehensive transformation that goes beyond surface-level changes. Unlike a brand refresh, a redesign fundamentally reimagines a company’s visual and strategic identity. This process analyzes the brand’s core values, target audience, market positioning, and long-term business goals. A successful redesign is more than updating the color palette or typography; it demands a holistic approach to analyzing the company's mission, vision, and values. Customer perception is critical in brand design.

When a company or product undergoes a brand redesign, it signals a shift in a strategic direction. The redesign process involves extensive research, stakeholder input (i.e. surveys, focus groups, etc.) creative exploration, and a comprehensive strategic marketing plan. The intention of the new redesign might be disruptive in the marketplace to clearly engage the right audience.  The brand redesign is a bold statement that communicates the brand’s commitment to staying relevant in the rapidly changing business environment.

A brand redesign might be needed if the organization has a significant change in leadership, such as a merger or acquisition, or a strategic position to target a new consumer audience. A new brand can effectively communicate core principles and signal the change in perception.

Building a brand is a process that demands continuous adaptation and strategic thinking. Whether your business is in its infancy, launching a groundbreaking product or service, or has been established for decades, the contemporary marketing landscape requires flexibility and a creative approach to branding. Successful organizations recognize branding is not a one-time event but an ongoing journey.

Jennifer Bushong, MA is the CEO of JBe Marketing Group, LLC., a full-service strategic marketing and communication firm in Washington State. JBe serves as fractional Chief Marketing Directors, Designers, or alongside marketing teams to implement marketing, communications, or branding campaigns using a variety of tactics. To learn more, email jennifer@jbemarketinggroup.com or visit www.jbe-marketing.com