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Thinking of Rebranding in 2023? Get Inspiration from these Top Rebrands by Popular Companies
Every brand needs to evolve and grow to stay relevant in its marketplace. Rebranding is one of the most effective ways to improve on what is already offered by a brand, expand into new market spaces, and provide unique value to existing customers while acquiring new customer segments. It can involve new logo designs, packaging, brand new or redesigned websites, a complete shift in brand strategy or identity, mission, and everything associated with the company.
Rebranding can be classified into three broad categories –
- Full Rebrand: This involves a complete overhaul of the brand, including market positioning, mission and vision, new brand direction, and presentation to re-establish the brand image and connect better with the target audience, especially when there is a merger, a change in leadership, or a history of failure to acquire the target customer base.
- Brand Reboot: This is done mostly when a company outgrows its initial brand identity with massive growth in product lines and changes in company vision and positioning. It is a partial overhaul of the brand, which involves a large scale of research and strategic thinking and includes changes in the corporate logo, typefaces, colour schemes, website design, tagline and slogans, marketing collaterals, corporate stationery, and a lot more.
- Brand Refresh: This entails basic, small-scale changes in the brand image when an already successful company makes subtle shifts in its mission, vision, or goals and wants to stay relevant with an updated, modernized visual identity to connect with a larger audience across different platforms. It is similar to a brand reboot but happens on a smaller scale.
For popular companies, rebranding becomes more challenging and trickier because the old brand identity is already established. It includes the risks of establishing not only a new visual identity but also fulfilling the expectations of existing customers. There is a lot of work involved in this process, from researching the past successes and failures of the company’s history, finding out how competitors are approaching similar audiences to generating new ideas, creating new designs, and testing what works best for your consumers.
In this blog post, we will explore a list of popular rebranding cases from where you can learn some valuable lessons, when thinking about rebuilding or updating your business image with a fresh look, voice, message, and feel. Let’s get started.
Fantastic Rebranding Examples of 2023
Some of the best rebranding projects are here in recent times. It’s amazing to see how these big brands are telling their stories with thoughtful elements included in their logos and identities to capture the attention of a larger audience worldwide. Simpler, easy-to-remember, and more impactful, energetic designs are the current norm. Also, take a look at the use of bright colours that exude more life to the brands.
- Nokia
Nokia changed its brand identity for the first time with a new logo in nearly 60 years, focusing on its aggressive new growth strategy. The full rebrand is to remind people that it is no more a mobile phone brand but has come a long way to shift in the networks and industrial digitalization across every industry. The new logo has been developed with Lippincott, a consulting firm, as part of Nokia’s wider rebranding strategy.
The updated logo has dropped the iconic deep, subdued blue colour (the previous logo was designed in 1979) for a brighter shade as well as a range of colours based on use, which unlocks the potential of networks and gains in productivity, accessibility, and sustainability. The blocky design is also simplified with slender characters to make it feel more angular and minimalist. The strokes from the letters N and A are removed and the O is changed to a circular shape to create a modern, abstract look. The upright stem of the letter K is also removed while the diagonal strokes are kept in the redesign in an arrowhead shape.
The new brand design acts as a symbol of collaboration, and reflects and asserts the value, mission, and vision of Nokia, emphasizing the strategy shift towards technology leadership, networking expertise, collaborative partnership, and pioneering innovation.
The rebranding successfully reflects the current identity of the new Nokia as well as the modern and creative business practices of the company while aligning with the latest trends to make it feel more digital and contemporary.
- Pepsi
Marking the 125th anniversary of the iconic global brand, Pepsi implemented its new logo and visual identity this fall in North America across all brand touchpoints. The complete global roll out of the new look will be launched in 2024. The new design aims to represent the most enjoyable and unapologetic qualities of the brand and its commitment to Pepsi Zero Sugar, giving fans the best tasting experience in the zero-sugar category. This design update is the first for the Pepsi globe logo in 14 years.
An updated colour palette introducing electric blue and black; the signature Pepsi pulse evoking the “ripple, pop and fizz” with movement, rhythm, and energy of music; a bold custom typography reflecting the brand’s mindset; a visually distinct black colour highlighting; and the unity of the Pepsi globe and wordmark are the key elements of the new design.
Pepsi has always had a strong link to pop culture and delivered unique fan experiences by continuously reinventing itself, from creating some of the most celebrated ads, to reimagining the Super Bowl Halftime Show and the Pepsi Challenge. It has always showcased a brave approach towards product innovation and marketing over the years while successfully retaining its iconic, timeless status. Targeting the next era and future generations, the brand introduces movement and animation into the revitalized design and visual identity to seamlessly adapt to the digital spaces from retail shelves.
Pepsi’s rebranding strategy for 2023 is a perfect example of how important the target audience is to brand recognition. Intending to connect with younger consumers who prefer sugar-free alternatives and are more health-conscious, the new logo, font, border and the pulse campaign perfectly represent the brand’s bold focus on the zero-sugar line and the younger generation’s love of music and social media.
This rebranding is a great move to attract the future generation and manage to stay relevant in an ever-changing market while reflecting the company’s mission, vision, and continued connection to music.
- 7up
PepsiCo unveiled the new visual identity for 7UP in February. After 7 years, the lemon-lime soda power brand has a significant global redesign, and it is the first major rebrand. Aiming to offer quick relief from the mundane life with ‘uplifting’ soft drinks, PepsiCo gave the new brand refresh more energy and dynamicity that align with the spirit of the present times.
Retaining 7up’s core design elements but in a modernized version, the redesigned branding uses the signature green colour, however, a brighter tone, and pairs it with citrus-inspired neon hues. The colour combination is reversed for 7up Zero. There are long drop shadows to add more excitement to the packaging. The can design is simplified, on the other hand, that includes empty circles like bubbles, and circular shapes resembling lime and lemon wedges.
The brand has always played with the idea of creating moments of upliftment throughout its history, and its rebranding is inspired by the same mission and vision. The concept resonates with people across regions, cultures, and languages. The new visual identity of 7up rolled out in India, Bangladesh, Latin America, the UK, Europe, China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ireland, and Pakistan in March 2023.
- LG
LG tried to reimagine its brand identity by aiming for a more youthful and dynamic appearance to appeal to a larger group of consumers beyond locations and generations, including Generation Z. It launched its new visual identity in April 2023 featuring a lighter but more energetic shade of red and a flatter digital logo. The shade of red is named LG Active Red.
In addition to the new shade of red, various gradient elements, white and black are also introduced, which offer variety and can be applied according to the unique feature of each product or service. The iconic tagline of the brand – Life’s Good – now features a new typeface, and it will be used in product packaging and advertising more widely.
LG didn’t stop here. It has also brought more personality to its logo in the digital space by incorporating an animated logo with a new level of expressive motions like smiling, winking, nodding, and spinning. The reinvented brand symbol can perform eight distinct motions and is capable of greeting customers in a variety of ways on digital platforms.
The new branding strategy reinterprets the sense of togetherness and the existing warmth of the popular brand while reiterating its core values of ‘Warmth to Power a Smile’, ‘Human-centered Innovation’, and ‘Uncompromising Customer Experience’.
- Castrol
A global leader in lubricants, Castrol unveiled its refreshed brand identity in February 2023 with an aim to better meet the consumers’ changing needs, and reflect its unique market positioning. The company supplies a range of EV fluids and is now exploring new opportunities to complement its core business and provide additional solutions and services to customers.
The new logo features the iconic red, green, and white colours of the brand but with a more dynamic, modern, and vibrant approach to appeal to a more diverse customer base. It focuses on the core strengths as well as differentiators of the lubricants giant, which is ready to invest in a sustainable future and create transforming opportunities for growth and success.
The updated design is a part of the new brand strategy to improve brand memorability across digital platforms. It also includes a new sonic identity with sound design and music that strongly enhances the brand’s commitment to forward momentum, acceleration, and dynamic movement.
Memorable Rebrands in 2021-2022
These two years witnessed some of the world’s biggest brands update their brand identities as people entered a more hopeful phase after the pandemic. Most designs focused on re-introducing the brands to a new beginning by creating a more accessible and inclusive space for everyone. It is also interesting to note how engaging brand story elements that captured the brand’s character were introduced to the designs to breathe life into the logos. Simplicity, colour palettes, legibility, and visual hierarchy are some of the elements that were given more importance when designing.
- Meta
Facebook’s parent company changed its name to Meta and went through a major rebranding in October 2021. With a shift in its focus to become a metaverse company and create virtual reality experiences from a social media platform, the rebranding effort included a new logo design and a whole new visual identity.
The new logo, created in the familiar 2019 typeface, is an infinity loop that looks like the letter M and is currently used within WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and all apps owned by the company, including Oculus, the virtual reality brand that Facebook acquired in 2014. The new design is presented in a variety of colours, and also in the same blue colour associated with the brand’s identity. It comes in 2D and 3D versions, and users in the metaverse are able to move through and around it. According to Mark Zuckerberg, the company chose the name Meta because it translates to ‘beyond’ in Greek and reflects the future that the metaverse aims to achieve with technology.
Facebook identified the evolving changes in the marketplace and the growing inclination of people towards new creative ways to connect, engage, communicate with each other, and create, play, and shop as well. It aimed to position itself as an authority in the emerging field of AR/VR to stay ahead of the competition.
From this example, marketers can learn about the importance of innovation, the willingness to make bold moves to emerge as a leader, and also the importance of staying relevant while adapting to changes in consumer needs and preferences.
- Burger King
The American fast-food restaurant chain unveiled its new global visual identity with an updated logo, new packaging, and uniforms designed by creative agency Jones Knowles Ritchie. The new brand positioning and advertising campaign were developed in partnership with the creative agency OKRP. The last brand refresh was done twenty years back.
The new design pays tribute to the brand’s heritage with a refined version of a flat logo that was used by the brand throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The new logo, inspired by the brand’s original logo, is simple and fun with two clear bun halves sandwiching the words Burger King. Besides the new logo, the redesigned food packaging includes the names of the items written in Flame Sans, a new custom bold typeface.
The new colour palette is warmer, which exudes freshness and vibrancy in crew uniforms, packaging, and digital experiences, bringing Burger King’s trademark frame-grilling perfection to life.
Restaurant signage, menu boards, merchandising, and marketing assets also include the revised colour palette and font. The new staff uniforms use a deep brown as the base colour along with the new logo, and a trim in white, orange, and red at the collar.
According to Raphael Abreu, head of design at Restaurant Brands International, which owns the fast-food brand, design “plays a vital role in creating desire” for the food at Burger King. The overhaul aims to make the brand feel more real and tell memorable stories like never before.
Burger King’s rebranding is an excellent example of how design can be used as one of the most essential tools for communicating about the brand and its value, getting people to crave the food and its taste, and maximizing customer experience.
- Volvo
The Swedish car manufacturer joined the likes of Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota, Nissan, and MINI in officially replacing its previous 3D logo version in favour of a flat 2D design with an aim to adapt to the digital world. The logo redesign still retains the same shape and upward-pointing arrow, which were used by the brand in 1927.
The company believes that the new logo (a flat and all-black variety of its iconic Iron Mark emblem) is a reinterpreted but modernized version of the original logo. It resembles the shape of the scientific symbol for iron and also the male symbol. It associates itself with properties of steel and strength such as quality, durability, and safety, and resonates with the traditions of the Swedish iron industry.
The updated minimalist logo has a slimmer circular shape than the previous designs, adding a more streamlined look. It has a simplified appearance with a refined font. The banner that ran around the middle of the previous silver and blue 3D logo has been removed from the 2D design. This is a major change in Volvo’s logo design for the first time in seven years.
The new visual identity is used on all new models of Volvo in the centre of the wheel hubs and the steering wheel, as well as in all marketing collaterals.
- Evri
The established courier company, Hermes, has rebranded under the new name Evri, and it is almost entirely typographically driven. This full rebrand story is a notable example of how brands can create unique and memorable interactions with their customers with the emotive use of typography.
The new master logo in use is a bit quirky as it uses different fonts for each letter. It has four characters that visually mix up varying type styles like slab, sans, and serif. The master logo is distinctive, and stable, and evokes the dynamic nature of the Evri brand. The letters are put into one cohesive set by balancing the shapes, type weight, and variety.
Interestingly enough, Evri wanted to take its rebrand story a step further where the brand can personalize engagement for different customers while being completely recognizable. It created a generative logotype system where it could utilise variable font intelligence technology to create 194,481 bespoke logo artworks for its brand estate and delivery fleet. This enabled the brand to generate this many numbers of logo combinations for a fleet of 5000 courier vans, and also on signage and advertisements across the UK. So, the brand introduced an ever-changing logo, making every vehicle across the Evri fleet sport its own logo! This was unlike any other rebranding case seen before.
The Monotype Studio worked with the creative technology team of Superunion to create this fascinatingly experimental type work and innovative generative tool for the major revamp of Evri. “Each character is accompanied by 20 OpenType alternate glyphs, all of which are completely different with their own display design. The set also includes numerals 0-9 with four style variant sets and a single default set of punctuation and symbols”, the release from Superunion explains.
The idea behind using different lettering within the logo is that the delivery service wanted to convey that it is reliably capable to deliver to everyone at any location and that every person can benefit from using the service. It wanted to promote inclusiveness by representing all the different people, places, communities, and parcels which engage and interact with the company and its messengers.
Undoubtedly, the Evri name and logo is a creative, sustainable, and rare innovation in branding, and it successfully expresses its brand mission of creating positive customer experiences.
- Olympics
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) unveiled its brand identity for the Olympics in 2022, which includes three custom typefaces, seventeen illustrations, a series of graphics, and a set of guidelines that aim to bring the legacy of the games into the modern world. Developed in partnership with Canadian creative agency Hulse & Durrell, this is the first time that a global identity has been created for the sporting tournament.
The new design system with a vibrant extended palette based on the Olympic colours (primary colours – white, red, green, black, yellow, and blue found in the Olympic symbol), tailor-made typography, and inspirational illustrations communicate the brand values with emotion, adapting to the new digital environments. The Pantone have not been altered but other specs like CMYK and RGB are changed for digital interfaces.
Some design aspects, such as the custom typefaces Olympic Headline, Olympic Sans, and Olympic Serif, have already been launched, and the full brand rollout is expected to be completed in time for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The updated brand identity will be used across all touchpoints of the brand, including banners, press releases, and social media platforms.
The Olympic logo with its widely recognised five interlocked Olympic rings, which were designed by the founder of the modern games Pierre de Coubertin in 1913, however, remains unchanged.
The new visual identity of the evolved brand was created with the help of tremendous research conducted by the IOC’s team, as well as international federations and national Olympic committees, and the valuable insights collected from athletes, consumers, and the internal teams of the organization.
The new corporate identity is also designed to have a lower environmental impact in its print and digital mediums, conveying the tournament’s commitment to sustainability.
Rebranding by Famous Companies in 2018-2020
The most notable rebranding trends during this time included creating flatter designs for digital applications, easier-to-read and bolder fonts, removing outlines, drop shadows, and 3D effects, using brighter colours, removing icons or symbols, and using all lowercase or all uppercase letters in wordmarks.
- Adobe Creative Cloud
In 2020, Adobe decided to refresh its entire brand identity. It designed fresh new icons for its broad range of apps and tweaked the all-red logo that it had since 1993 to become more consistent and make it an easier experience for customers to understand and navigate. The new Adobe logo used a warmer red colour to feel more polished and contemporary.
Besides these changes, Adobe also created a new Creative Cloud logo with a colourful gradient to represent creativity and its significance. The gradient is created from colours extracted from various Adobe products and the updated corporate red Adobe logo. This was to ensure that the Creative Cloud unites Adobe’s many apps, enjoys a more creative and artistic look, and most importantly, makes the suite easier to distinguish and navigate.
It changed all the icons too to make them look similar and consistent. The borders from the previous icons were removed, making the design flat, and the previous square shape was replaced with rounded edges. The brand used a 2-letter mnemonic system for product logos across the entire portfolio and also added 3-letter mnemonics to make product families more identifiable for users, such as Adobe Photoshop (Ps) and Adobe Photoshop Camera (PsC).
Colours are also used to organize products into categories so that users can easily discover the products they need. For example, all apps in the Video & Motion category on the Video product page uses similar shades of blues and purples. The logo colours for products are also optimized for accessibility. With more than 50 apps available, it makes sense that Adobe needed to address the issue of organizing its products better. The refreshed logo and updated icons helped users differentiate between apps and also boost the creative aspect of the software.
- GoDaddy
The web domain giant and hosting service needed a big upgrade as its previous image was getting quite outdated and less integrated. In 2018, it dropped the “Daddy” mascot from its logo and website and operated with its wordmark without replacing the icon with anything else since then.
It created a new logo and identity, redesigned its website, and started fresh marketing campaigns in 2020 to target its audience in the new era. Inspired by everyday entrepreneurs, GoDaddy changed the logo name to GO, which represents “the indomitable spirit of everyday entrepreneurs” and their empowerment. The brand voice aimed to be warm, casual, and friendly with a human touch.
The new design, created by the company’s internal design team in collaboration with Lippincott and Codo, has a contemporary look paired with colourful visuals, a bold serif font, and hand-drawn illustrations to stir up a sense of joy, inspiration, and celebration. The logo design is an interlocking G and O with a curvy heart-like shape, which somehow reminds us of the new Airbnb logo.
With a shift in the company positioning (GoDaddy introduced website-building services and templates), the brand refresh was a welcome change, which clearly aims to bring users to the centre of its brand story. The new streamlined design promotes and firmly backs the new brand message “Make Your Own Way”, which represents the entrepreneurial spirit.
- Mailchimp
Mailchimp updated its brand identity and design system to grow and connect with an expanded customer base, including more small businesses. The company started doing much more than email marketing, from designing landing pages, postcards to ads and automations. So, to highlight the other areas of work that the brand name now represents, the company presented its name as a single word and made the “c” lowercase in Mailchimp (instead of the previous “MailChimp”). It also wanted a revamped website that customers could access from different devices instead of only desktop computers.
In partnership with US-based agency Collins, the leading email marketing platform created its new visual identity keeping both the logo name and the cute icon of Freddie (the chimp) together. Previously, they were never used together, which sometimes led the icon to be less recognizable on its own. In the new logo, the single colour treatment to Freddie and the logo script have made it more modern, functional, and memorable. On the other hand, the bold wordmark brought the unique spirit of Freddie alive. The new type family is customized for Mailchimp.
The good part of the new design is that it retained all the elements popularly liked by existing customers while making space for the refresh. The brand didn’t lose its heritage and focused on its essence and prevalent quirkiness to kindle the same feeling in addition to making the new visual identity cool and up to date.
- Animal Planet
For more than twenty years, Animal Planet has been a very popular brand around the world. The channel wanted to engage more with mass audiences who feel the same emotional and personal connection with animals. So, it created its new logo and the tagline “Bringing people up close in every way”. The fresh brand identity reflected the brand’s mission and represented the brand’s mood just right, focusing the programs around the joy and wonder of animals.
Since the elephant with the globe in the historic logo was much loved by the audience, Animal Planet retained the elephant (which is majestic enough to represent the entire animal kingdom), but in a new, distinctive rendition in the design (leaping through the air) to resonate the same affection and recognition it enjoyed previously. The new elephant comes with the energy and joy that the brand stands for, also reflecting its vision to travel across different regions of the world, audiences, and platforms. The new logo is designed by Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv (CGH), a New York-based graphic design firm.
The new global visual identity was optimized for use across the world, allowing the brand to expand into several products and services. It also focused on creating a responsive design for digital spaces.
- Uber
Founded in 2009, Uber changed its branding already five times before launching its current brand refresh in 2018. It replaced its famous inverted U in the logo to create a fresh visual identity to highlight the brand’s new growth and improved security. The logo refresh was introduced with more polished branding elements and sophisticated typography.
The current Uber logo is a signature logo and the motion gives the idea of moving forward. Picking up from a reference to the sans-serif font used for traffic signs, the font was called Uber Move. The new logo made the brand simple and accessible. If you go through the branding history of Uber, you can see how it changed its flashy and colourful first and second logos to find a more modern rendition later with thin font and monochrome colours, and finally settled for the simplified signature logo.
Uber’s rebranding strategy is a great example to learn why a company needs a new identity at every stage of growth, and the importance of faster branding changes when a company grows fast.
Key Takeaways
It is critical for companies to continually keep re-inventing their visual identity, brand message, brand voice, and market positioning. And it is even more important to get every rebranding element right to fully express the brand’s values, mission, and vision, and reconnect better with the target audience.
Make sure to completely understand your audience, consider their passions and preferences beyond your products and services, analyze and update the existing content across your website, graphics, logo, marketing and advertising campaigns, etc. to fit the new brand image, and create a dedicated brand guideline to fit the new look and message.
Before you start planning the rebranding strategy for your business, take your time to study the above-mentioned examples thoroughly. Each of these brands brings out the best in their new visual identities, keeping their customers at the forefront, and showing the power of their design to be the main attraction itself.
Remember, rebranding is a process. The more you explore other great examples as inspiration, the better your preparation will get. It depends on you which trends you would like to embrace and which rebranding path you would choose for your business. Think carefully about how you can capture your viewer’s attention and make an impact with the character and tone of your brand identity. Check on the colour palette and find out which colours represent the aspects of your brand and can help you stand out.
At Leidsens, we know what it takes to make your brand a showstopper when it comes to rebranding. Be it a full rebrand, a reboot, or a brand refresh, we can help you create memorable branding that successfully works for both your company and customers.
If you think your business needs some help in branding, get in touch with our team today!
