Your organization is growing fast. Maybe you just acquired another company or are entering a new market. Perhaps your product or service mix has changed. Or you’re going after a new audience.
When hitting these major inflection points, marketing and company leadership will often ask this question: Do we need to overhaul our brand or even change our company name?
The answer largely depends on what’s actually broken. And the only way to know for sure is to do the strategy work first — before you invest in a new name, a new logo, or a new website.
Companies often come to us convinced they need a new name. And sometimes they’re right.
But other times?
The need is not so clear.
Which leaves leaders wondering if it’s the name, or something else entirely.
That’s why you have to start with research and strategy. Because doing that work will tell you what actually needs fixing — and it might not be what you think.
That’s what happened with one of our clients.
How a 100-Year-Old Hospital Avoided a Costly Rename
A few years ago, Deborah Heart and Lung Center came to us asking this question: Should we change our name?
As the hospital expanded its services, there were nagging questions about whether the specialization in their name hindered their growth. Did the name still resonate with the community and patients who needed their services? Would it slow their growth into new specialty areas or cause confusion?
As the hospital celebrated their 100th anniversary and ushered in a new century of service, they wanted to be sure the name still held the weight that it once did.
We worked with them to find the answer.
How Research Helped Us Answer the Renaming Question
We hosted an onsite discovery workshop with 16 members of their executive leadership team and we surveyed nearly 1,000 patients. We also reviewed existing market research and employee feedback and took a deep look at the competitive landscape.
Ultimately, we found that the name wasn’t the barrier. Instead, they were missing focused messaging that set them apart — namely, their world-class care that went beyond what most expect in a healthcare setting.
The research revealed that patients weren’t confused by the name. In fact, they were fiercely loyal to it. It also showed that the hospital had an overwhelmingly strong reputation and a net promoter score that was exceedingly high, especially for healthcare providers.
And overwhelmingly, patients raved about the quality of care — in fact, “care” was the single most common word patients used to describe Deborah, appearing in 42% of open-ended responses.
The brand strategy revealed that they needed stronger messaging and positioning. Not a whole new brand name.
But we would have never been able to come to those conclusions without doing the research. Without gathering insights from patients, staff and the community at large.
Sometimes, the answer isn’t a new name or a rebrand. It’s about repositioning the organization in the minds of your audience so they know how and when to think of you for a solution.
Reposition, Rebrand or Rename: What’s the Difference?
So, how do you know which camp you’re in — rename, rebrand or reposition?
Let’s look at the differences between them first.
Reposition
Repositioning is needed when your name and visual identity are strategically sound, but your overall brand strategy and messaging needs work.
This work is needed if you’re struggling to attract the right clients and customers, your team doesn’t have the right language to describe what you do or your market position has shifted — either through your own pivots in offerings or due to competitive threats.
This is the least disruptive and lowest cost option, but it’s highly impactful work that oftentimes leads to rebranding or renaming work.
Rebrand
Rebranding is when your organization’s name works, but your visual identity no longer matches who you’ve become.
A visual rebrand is always needed alongside a company name change. And if the overall brand strategy and messaging changes, many times the visual identity will need to adjust to match the updated approach — whether that’s a subtle shift or a wholesale change to the visual identity.
Ultimately, visual updates help bring the whole brand into alignment. But the point is that strategy tells you where to invest first. And sometimes the name and look aren’t the most pressing problem.
When looking at the costs and impact, a rebrand is a more moderate investment because all of your visual assets will change, but there are fewer hurdles required for a rebrand than a rename.
Rename
Renaming is needed when your organization’s name no longer fits or it’s actively working against you. When you need a new name, you also will need a new visual identity or rebrand.
This is the biggest investment and highest stakes of the options. Just ask Netflix about their short-lived Qwikster debacle.
After all, renaming a company isn’t just a strategic and creative exercise — it’s also a change management initiative that touches sales materials, contracts, signage, culture, and customer relationships.
There are huge implications to changing your company name. It’s not just the cost of the rename and rebrand itself. It’s implementing those changes and also educating your team, your customers and the market at large about the change.
Renaming is no small feat, which is why it shouldn’t be taken lightly. But sometimes, it’s absolutely critical for the company’s growth and success.
Signs You Need a Rename, Rebrand or Repositioning
So how do you know which one you need? Here are the signs for each.
Signs you need repositioning
- Your sales team can’t articulate what makes you different.
- You’re losing deals to competitors who aren’t better, just better positioned.
- You’re attracting low-value clients and customers.
- Your offerings have shifted and your messaging hasn’t kept pace.
- Your market position is shifting due to competitive threats.
Your organization needs brand strategy if you’ve made significant shifts, but you haven’t adapted your messaging and marketing approach to match.
Signs you need rebranding
- Your visual identity doesn’t match the caliber of work you deliver.
- Your brand looks like everyone else and doesn’t stand out from competitors.
- You have a tough time commanding a higher price point.
- Your customers and prospects are surprised by the quality you deliver.
Ultimately, rebranding is necessary when your outside (the visuals) doesn’t match your inside (the quality of your offer). Here are a few more signs you need a rebrand.
Signs you need renaming
- Your name no longer reflects your offerings or strategic direction.
- You’ve expanded to new markets and the name doesn’t fit.
- Your company makeup has changed due to M&A activity.
- You have leadership or ownership changes that necessitate a new name.
- You suffer from brand confusion with companies with similar names.
Here are a few more reasons you should change your company name.
How to Determine Whether You Need Renaming, Rebranding or Repositioning
When in doubt about your brand, always start with building a strong brand strategy.
It’s the only way to know whether a name change is a $100K solution to a $30K problem — or a necessary investment to grow your business. Either way, you need the data before you decide.
In the case of Deborah Heart and Lung Center, we ultimately determined that they did not need to change their name. And as a result, we easily saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars in a name change they didn’t need.
But they would have never been able to come to that conclusion without doing the research to understand their market, their competitors and their patients.
And while they could have done that research themselves, the client found immense value in getting a clear-headed outside perspective to guide their decision-making. When you’re inside an organization, you’re often too close to the issue to see what’s actually working — and what’s not.
Once we did that work, we were able to build a clear brand strategy and messaging framework to position them in the right way within their market.
Questions Leaders Often Ask About Rebranding
How much does a rebrand cost?
The cost varies widely depending on the size of the organization and the scope of the work.
Building a brand strategy to reposition your brand is a fraction of the cost of a full rename and rebrand rollout — especially when you factor in implementation costs like signage, legal changes, collateral, and marketing to announce the change. The strategy work upfront helps you invest in the right scope so you’re not overspending on a solution you don’t need.
How long does rebranding take?
The length of time for a rebrand also depends largely on the size and scope. But there are some general guidelines to help you:
- Repositioning — Building a brand strategy and message for your company can take as little as 8 weeks and up 6 months for much larger organizations. Much of this will depend on the size and complexity of your company and how much research is needed to gain necessary insights.
- Rebranding — Visual rebrands take 2-3 months for smaller organizations. A visual rebrand typically takes 2-3 months for design feedback and asset development. If you layer in website development and additional assets, the full creative development can take much longer depending on the complexity of your site.
- Renaming — A full rename is the longest path. The strategic and creative work alone can take 4–6 months, and the full rollout (updating legal documents, signage, digital assets, sales materials, and educating your team and customers) can add another 6–12 months on top of that. This is why renaming should never be rushed.
Can we just update the logo and skip the strategy?
Yes, you can. Plenty do. But you probably shouldn’t.
A new logo without clear positioning and messaging is like putting a fresh coat of paint on a house with foundation problems.
The brand strategy is the foundation you need to create a distinctive visual identity. Without that, you’ll find yourself revisiting this work in a few years.
Start With Brand Strategy
Start with strategy. Every time. Then, you can determine how — and where — to invest in the growth or evolution of your brand.
Not sure whether you need a rename, a rebrand, or a repositioning?
Let’s figure it out together. We help companies at inflection points get clarity on what their brand actually needs — and just as importantly, what it doesn’t.
