How to find the best rebranding agency

Companies that want to go through the rebranding process have two options. They can do it in-house or outsource this project to an external rebranding company. From many perspectives, the latter approach is far more beneficial. But how can you find the best rebranding agency? Let’s find out!

Every once in a while, companies all over the world go through the process of rebranding. There are many reasons behind each brand transformation project. Sometimes, the vision for the development of a specific company changes. In other instances, the company is acquired by a larger group and needs to be “adjusted” to its new business ecosystem. And finally, the old brand can have some adverse connotations that you want to eliminate.

Rebranding examples

One of the latest, most high-profile examples of rebranding was Facebook. In late October 2021, Mark Zuckerberg’s company announced that from now on, they are Meta: A Social Technology Company.

What were the reasons behind this rebranding? As the company said, this brand transformation will help them “better encompass what it does, as it broadens reach beyond social media”. That’s a textbook example of rebranding – the vision for the company changes, and you need a new name and identity that will help you communicate this change effectively.

On the other hand, your company’s brand identity can simply become outdated. Apple is a good example. Did you know that the company’s first logo was designed by Ronald Wayne, one of Apple’s co-founders? That logo did not last for long (primarily because it didn’t suit a tech company very well), and was replaced with the famous half-eaten apple we know today:

Now that you know why companies go through rebranding let’s talk about the service itself.

What is a rebranding service?

Generally speaking, the rebranding service comprises a whole range of actions and changes that lead to the rebranding of your company. In order to understand how vast this project usually is, let’s talk about what constitutes a brand and brand identity.

What makes up a brand?

Certainly, we could say that brand is the essence of your company; what it represents and what associations it evokes. Every brand is made of several important elements, starting with attributes/characteristics (Toyotas are reliable), brand values and benefits (Rolexes communicate wealth), and ending up with the culture (Mercedes represents German precision) and specific personality (Alfa Romeos are an epitome of the Italian spirit).

However, on the more “production” level, brand identity is made of six crucial elements. And these are as follows:

Logo
Name
Brand colours
Tagline/slogan
Font

These are quite obvious and the most basic elements of brand identity.

6. Additional graphic and textual elements (e.g. icons, presentations, ads, social media profiles etc.)

Last but not least and the most important. The last one is making our brand consistent, strong and is helping to develop our branding.

The rebranding service is basically all about taking your current brand, along with its elements and attributes, and turning them into something new, something better. At this point, you have two options. You can do it yourself or ask a branding agency for help. What do you need to know about both these options?

In-house rebranding

We have to be honest here: This option is risky. This is primarily because company owners and brand managers frequently don’t have an objective view of the brand they create. And that’s perfectly understandable! Therefore, working on a specific project for years simply means that you lose perspective. And that means going through the rebranding process only with your internal resources can result in overlooking something or misinterpreting available data. As a result, the rebranding process will not be entirely satisfactory. And that means time and money lost.

That’s why you ought to think about the second option: Outsourcing to a branding agency.

Working with a rebranding agency

A decent branding agency will approach your project with objectivity and thoroughness. They will start with in-depth research in order to understand wh5at your brand is really about and how the market perceives it. And what’s especially important, because it’s a third party, not emotionally involved with your company, they won’t be biased by tradition or subjective opinions. In effect, the rebranding process will be far more effective and based on real, justified grounds.

Now, let’s talk about services that are included in the rebranding process.

What services does a rebranding agency offer?

Obviously, each rebranding/branding agency has its own scope of best services, but they usually revolve around all the aforementioned elements. At Admind, we divide our services into four major categories:

Brand development

This service is typically ordered by new companies that want to develop their brand, but not only companies going through the rebranding process will benefit from this service.

Here, we deal with several elements. As always, in brand development, we start with research and analysis. Before we can propose any changes, we need to understand where your brand is right now. Then, we can start working on the brand strategy and identity. That’s the very core of this service. We work and refine every single element, from logo to colour palette, tagline and additional materials.

Everything has to be purposeful and serve one common goal. One of the most important features of every mature company is brand consistency. It communicates that your company is reliable and pays attention to details. And these are traits everyone looks for in their potential business partners, correct?

When that’s ready, we can switch to brand principles and brand guidelines. These are to streamline creating future materials. You will get a list of guidelines that will help you create new ads, presentations or websites in compliance with your new brand identity. This relates to all of your future works, including visual, motion and sonic elements.

Brand support and governance

This service is primarily for the brands operating internationally. Our goal here is to balance global brand consistency with local relevance. You see, worldwide brands operate on two different levels. The first one is big and global. You want to make sure that your brand is perceived in the same positive way all over the world. And the second level is local. You want to maintain local relevance because your customers’ needs and expectations can be different in different countries. How brand governance is helping here? Basically, it’s a brand management service, that is supporting all the stakeholders on a daily basis. By creating guidelines, workshops, in-dept surveys, anything that will help you maintain brand consistency. Our teams are here to guide and educate our partners through the visual aspects of the brand on a daily basis.

Brand implementation

This service is all about ensuring that every channel your company uses and every touchpoint there is works seamlessly toward the ultimate goal. Within this service, we take care of the following works:

Print and digital texts and visuals
Presentation design services
Web design
Digital assets
Animation, 3D and motion design
Spatial design and wayfinding
Social media assets
Template design
Trade shows
Workwear design

At the end of this service, you can rest assured that every marketing or sales-related file in your company is refined and verified to work for your brand’s good.

Brand experiences

That’s the last service, usually ordered by the largest corporations willing to exploit new technologies and advanced communication channels. This includes:

Interactive websites and web/mobile applications
Digital and hybrid events
VR/AR experiences

At this point, we have to emphasize that the standard rebranding process doesn’t have to comprise this last service. So don’t worry; if you’re not planning to use augmented reality anytime soon, it doesn’t mean you can’t use our help.

In the last part of this post, we want to address some of the most common questions concerning the rebranding process:

How much does it cost to work with a rebranding agency?

There is no one definite answer to this question. It all depends on what you want us to do. Some companies ask us only to help them design a new logo. Others need a thorough rebranding process, including all of their communication channels (and there can be dozens of them!) in twelve different countries.

For obvious reasons, the second scenario will be much more time-consuming and, therefore, costly. If you want to receive a quote, feel free to contact us. We will get back to you as soon as possible with a direct estimation or additional questions.

When is the high time for your company to hire a rebranding agency?

Shortly put, when you feel that there is a need for a change. Sometimes brand identity simply becomes outdated and needs to be updated according to modern trends. For instance, just like in Facebook’s case, you discover that your current brand positioning is holding you back and blocks many development opportunities. On the other hand, you don’t have to conduct rebranding by force. If you feel like everything works properly, your customers are satisfied and you can grow business, there is probably no need to go through rebranding. There shouldn’t be art for art’s sake in business.

How long does it take to rebrand?

Again, it all depends on many factors and variables. Sometimes, if your brand operates locally, has one office and a relatively straightforward line of business, it will take several weeks tops until the rebranding announcement. Large corporations operating in many countries have to be prepared for many months of intense work. But believe us, the juice is always worth the squeeze!