Businesses rely on brand to set them apart, connect with people, and inspire loyalty in everyone from employees to investors. But in a fast-moving world, it’s easy for parts of a brand story to lose their relevance, or for visuals to no longer reflect a company’s evolving value to customers. Sometimes a rebrand is the right choice—but don’t underestimate the brand refresh. When strategy is born of fresh understanding, updates can powerfully advance a brand.
What is a brand refresh?
Brand refreshes keep a business’s identity, promise and differentiation current. They are more focused than rebrands, as they don’t involve complete overhauls across brand positioning, strategy, design and experience. Instead, they update aspects of the brand that are falling behind as the company speeds forward. And in the best examples, these moments of semi-reinvention refresh the human reasons for choosing the brand. Sometimes brand refreshes just look like a fresh coat of paint: In 2016, Instagram traded up its brown retro camera logo for a sleek, contemporary icon atop a vibrant gradient. The brand also lightened its app UI, offering a simplified visual journey.Instagram’s legacy icon, last updated in 2011 (left) found vivid simplicity after its 2016 refresh (right).
Southwest, while keeping its signature color story (bright hues representing the airline’s warmth, innovation, precision and bright future), modernized its brand by losing the plane illustration from its logo, choosing a more playful font, and accenting its name with a heart.As reflected in its 1998 logo (left), Southwest had always relied on aviation imagery to build brand awareness and recognition. The airline’s refreshed 2014 logo (right) celebrated the name they’d built.
But these brand refreshes were more than skin deep. Instagram recognized its user journey was full of visual clutter—when people just wanted to enjoy the pristine, filter-perfected images and videos in their timelines. Born of empathy, the brand’s new, cleaner logo and muted (even humble) UI made way for what mattered. Southwest recognized its growing reputation as a different kind of carrier. Its joke-cracking flight attendants and friendly policies, like no fees for checked bags, were bringing joy back to flying. And customers were rewarding the experience with loyalty. So, Southwest made their name easier to spot (think Expedia context) while doubling down on travel love as their differentiator. Just last year, an aligned “Go with Heart” campaign drove the message home. A refresh is an opportunity to check, renew and strengthen connections with the people the brand cares about. To respond to new stakeholder needs or feedback, visibly and tangibly, out of understanding for their journey and their hopes. Yes, as part of the process, the visuals often change. But they’re only the tip of the strategic iceberg.When is a brand refresh helpful?
Brand refreshes are both useful and cost-effective when a company is evolving vs. reinventing itself. Businesses are more likely to need full rebrands when making fundamental changes to their positioning and values, or if they have plans to enter and/or define new categories. A brand refresh may be the answer when:- Merging with or acquiring other businesses to offer add-on services.
- Bringing on new leadership that’s planning limited strategic redirection.
- Introducing products that don’t quite fit within the existing brand story.
- Facing competitive landscapes that have shifted since the brand launched.