Rebrand is the most over-prescribed remedy in business. It is visible, it feels decisive, and it produces something you can show the board. It is also frequently treatment for the wrong condition.
Two different problems
An identity problem means people understand what you do and are unimpressed by how you present it. The business is clear; the expression has fallen behind.
A position problem means people do not understand what you are for. No amount of expression fixes that. Done well, it makes the confusion more beautiful and more widely distributed.
A rebrand makes you look different. A position makes you make sense. Only one of those is a growth strategy.
How to tell which you have
These questions separate them reliably.
- When you lose, do prospects choose a competitor, or do they choose to do nothing? Losing to inertia is a position problem.
- Can your salespeople explain in one sentence why someone should pick you over the obvious alternative? If they each say something different, it is a position problem.
- Do customers describe you the way you describe yourself? A gap here is a position problem.
- Are you embarrassed to send the deck, but confident in the conversation? That is an identity problem.
- Has the business changed substantially while the brand stayed still? Usually both.
Why the order is not negotiable
Identity is the expression of a decision. If the decision has not been made, the designer will make it by accident, through a colour, a typeface, a tone of voice, and nobody will have agreed to it.
That is how organisations end up with beautiful work nobody can use, quietly abandoned within a year. Not because the craft was poor, but because it was built on a foundation that had never been settled.
The honest version
Most businesses that come to us for a rebrand need roughly three weeks of strategy and then, often, a much smaller identity job than they expected. Sometimes the existing identity is fine and simply needed something clear to express.
That is a less exciting proposal to receive. It is usually the one that moves the business.
