OUGD601 | Introduction Draft

The purpose of this piece of writing is to investigate the motives (reasoning?), the processes and ultimately the failure of corporate rebrands. This is an important element of graphic design as it affects different trends and strategies used within the design sector. As the internet grows, it allows for more and more people to get their voices heard; meaning many designs are received by harsh criticism and public outcry if it doesn’t live up to the demands of the viewers. Different companies handle this differently, some better than others, which will be explored within this text.

The methodology for this body of work includes both primary and secondary research. The primary research method will be an interview process with a company who have just recently undergone a rebrand; this will help identify some key areas that companies may feel are difficult or misrepresented when it comes to rebranding. I will also conduct a second interview with a company who have built on a redesigned brand image in order to see how it altered their business. As for secondary research; literature and case studies on the matter will be studied closely to find an informed and unbiased answer.

Said answer should educate (inform?) the reader of this text as to what makes a rebrand fail and how the brand/consumer relationship is in any way altered because of it.  

On the surface level a brand appears to be a name, a logo or even as simple as just a colour. However, this isn’t the case - a good brand is much deeper than that; ‘a brand represents the full ‘personality’ of the company and is the interface between a company and its audience’ [M. Healey, What is Branding?]. Brands were created in order to to make consumers feel a connection with the company without them having to view the company as a business but rather a reliable provider of certain products. A main factor why brands work so well and have become a standard in our day to day lives is that ‘Brands allow consumers to shop with confidence, and they provide a route map through a bewildering variety of choices’ [R. Clifton, Brands and Branding]. With the constant growth and obsession with consumerism it is important for brands that consumers pick them over their competitors next to them on the shelves. This is where brand loyalty comes into play and shows why it is an extremely major role in developing a brand.

Loyalty is what all brands want and need, it is almost a way of securing sales if a company has a strong and reliable audience that will buy their products. This idea of reliability is a mutual relationship between consumer and brand. The consumer relies on the brand to deliver quality products and the brand relies on the consumer to buy them. This loyalty is etched into the consumer’s mind by making them believe that the ‘brand is a promise of satisfaction’ [M. Healey, What is Branding?].

In a society fuelled by consumerism, the ‘bewildering variety’ of products means the consumer needs the comfort of having a favourite brand, whether they know it or not. This makes the choice regarding which product to buy considerably easier as they will choose whichever brand their loyalty lies with.