Little Glossary · Brand and product
Rebranding
A rebrand is a change to a brand's identity, which can affect the name, logo, visual identity, messaging or the entire positioning. It ranges from a visual refresh to a transformation of how the company presents itself.
Refresh or full rebrand
- Refresh: logo, colors, typography or tone are updated without changing the name or positioning. This is the most common case.
- Full rebrand: the name, the positioning or both change. Well-known examples are Facebook, whose parent company was renamed Meta in 2021, and Twitter, which became X in 2023.
Common reasons in B2B tech companies
- The product or target customer has changed: from SMBs to enterprise, from a tool to a platform.
- Expansion into countries where the name doesn't work.
- Mergers and acquisitions.
- Trademark conflicts.
- An identity designed in a hurry at the start that no longer conveys credibility.
"We're tired of the logo" usually isn't reason enough: the team sees the brand every day, customers don't.
Phases
- Diagnosis: what works and what doesn't in the current brand, with customer and team interviews.
- Strategy: positioning, messaging and personality.
- Identity: name if it changes, logo, visual system and tone of voice.
- Rollout: website, product, documents, social media, signatures, contracts.
- Launch: communication to customers, team, partners and media.
The technical risk: website migration
If the domain or URL structure changes, the migration has to be planned: 301 redirects from every old URL to its new equivalent, updated internal links and sitemaps, and Google Search Console's Change of Address tool. Rankings commonly fluctuate for a while.
Related terms
Sources
- Google Search Central, Site moves with URL changes.
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