Never Make These Top 5 Mistakes in Launching a Rebrand

More times than we can count, we've seen incredible businesses complete a rebrand or identity refresh and make some critical — even fatal — mistakes with launching it. These mistakes affect both internal and external stakeholders and can sometimes have the opposite intended effect or repositioning a company.

Nearly every launch mistake we see can be attributed to one of five scenarios. We'll walk you through each scenario and how to avoid them, so you don't find yourself in the same trap.

We hope this guide helps you avoid these culprits and prevent a bad brand launch — this article is not to shame you if you have previously fallen into one of these categories! The reality is that these situations are easy to do; it's much harder to complete a thoughtful and comprehensive brand launch.

So let's dive into the top five brand launch mistakes.

Rebrand Mistake No. 1: The Slow Release

This rebrand launch is the death knell of excitement. The Slow Release happens when you've conducted a rebrand or visual identity refresh and you gradually update a graphic here... or a logo here but not there... on some internal documents but not others... you get the point. This slow release of a rebrand removes any possibility of your customers and your team rallying around this exciting new time. A rebrand is (r)evolution — let the people join in!

Rebrand Mistake No. 2: The Status Quo

This rebrand launch is anything but a launch. The Status Quo is when an organization conducts a rebrand, but that's all they did. No launch, no announcement, maybe they change a logo eventually, but all the work and time that went into it didn't really disrupt the status quo. In fact, it probably didn't even need to happen in the first place. It was really all for nothing because nothing really changed and nothing really launched. This launch mistake might be a precursor to The Silent Changeover.

Rebrand Mistake No. 3: The Silent Changeover

This rebrand launch can feel like a betrayal to your customers. The Silent Changeover happens when suddenly, overnight, you switched all your graphics and didn't send any notification from going out to the customers and clients who got you to this point. Next time your favorite customer clicks to your site or your Instagram feed, they are unsure what they're seeing. They can't find that familiar face (read: logo) or feeling (read: strategy) they've come to know and love. Now they feel, at best, curious, or, at worst, betrayed.

Rebrand Mistake No. 4: The One and Done

This rebrand launch lacks depth and authenticity. The One and Done is the single social media post or the single email newsletter announcing the change. It doesn't invite conversation about the rebrand or give customers a peek behind the curtain of why you decided to undertake it. You're not appearing enthused about it, so your customers won't be either. It doesn't give your customers a chance to celebrate your success with you and furthers your separation from them as people and your brand as machine.

Rebrand Mistake No. 5: The Chaos Embodied

This rebrand launch is the result of a bad (or lack of) strategy. This scenario is where the rebrand was announced somewhere — even announced with all the right words and images. Perhaps even the best launch you've ever seen! But then content that comes out in the days and weeks after includes both the old and the new brand elements. The About statements on the various social profiles are old, but the logo is new. The hiring details are old, but the website visuals are new. The Chaos Embodied creates inconsistency (read: lost trust) in what you're saying. It creates ample opportunity for poor communication with past and potential customers when you're half in the old and half in the new. Because, in reality, what brand are they really dealing with?

The common thread through each scenario is losing brand equity and trust — both in the old and the new brand. In the old brand because a change was just made and customers didn't get a say in it. In the new brand because, well, it's a change, and you didn't give your customers a chance to celebrate it.

Each of these brand launch mistakes is why we conduct a Deployment phase after our brand strategy and identity projects. Good design in a pitch deck becomes a great identity when sent out into the world with precision.

If you're worried about your upcoming rebrand or face-palming at your previous launch, don't worry. These same mistakes can be avoided when launching a new product, service, leadership, team member, the important piece is to have a thoughtful strategy and execute it with intention.