There has never been a time where there are more brands in the world than today, either competing directly with one another or competing for mind share among their target customers. Brands are a combination of science and psychology that are brought together to form one cohesive ‘experience’ that is memorable and persuasive. Brands offer a promise of something better.
It’s important to realize that products have a natural life cycle. Brands, on the other hand, live well beyond the products they represent. This is why it’s essential to understand that branding’s true purpose is to build a uniform belief of quality, credibility and experience with the brand’s intended audience. It’s far more valuable to have a customer trust your brand than one of your specific products.
We’ve noticed that many brand owners, particularly in the business-to-business market space, are reluctant to rebrand themselves preferring to keep their existing branding in place. We would suggest this is a colossal strategic mistake and a lot like shooting oneself in the foot.
Take any leading brand and you’ll note that they consistently update their brand image. Just to be clear, a logo is not a brand. It’s a logo. But it does represent a brand and so we are comfortable using Pepsi’s logo to make our point.
As you can see from the graphic above, Pepsi has been updating its brand image since 1898! And they are obviously not afraid to do so because they understand it’s the equivalent of staying current, fresh, and contemporary.
So when was the last time you ventured into a rebranding program? If it’s been a long time, it’s probably time now. In today’s world, branding cannot be overemphasized. You need customers to notice you in a positive way to continue to grow your company. Large global brands know the importance of this. That’s one of the ways they became leaders in the first place.