Why companies change their name: reasons for rebranding
Rebranding and logo redesign are not the same thing. Confusion between these concepts is the source of half of clients’ disappointments. Logo redesign solves a narrow task: to make the sign more modern, more readable on smartphone screens, and more convenient for adaptation in social networks. The company remains the same — with the same name, the same audience, and the same product. Rebranding goes deeper: the name changes, the brand architecture, sometimes the target audience, and even the business model.
Sberbank in 2009 removed the word 'Russia' from its name and updated its visual code — formally, this was already a rebranding, not just a redesign, because the perception of the company as a state monopoly was changing. And in 2021 a second, more radical step occurred: the bank was renamed 'Sber' to solidify its status as an ecosystem, not just a financial institution. The difference between these two stages clearly shows that rebranding can happen to one company several times — and each time with a different scale of changes.
What signals indicate it's time to change a brand, not just the visual identity
Owners rarely acknowledge the problem in a timely manner. Usually, the decision is made with a delay of a year or two after the signals have already appeared. Here are the main ones:
- The name or logo is associated with a specific negative event — accidents, scandal, bankruptcy;
- The product line has grown so much that the old name has started to limit the perception of the company (for example, 'Siberia' sounds geographically restricted for an airline flying all over the world);
- The company is entering the international market, and the old name is hard to read or sounds inappropriate in other languages;
- A merger or acquisition has occurred, and a new brand is needed to unite the structures;
- The departure of an international player from the market requires rethinking the local successor brand;
- The target audience has shifted to another segment — for example, the company has decided to move into premium.
Here it is important to distinguish two fundamentally different situations. Rebranding as a crisis rescue is a reaction to an already occurred problem: an image catastrophe, loss of trust, or legal pressure. Rebranding as a growth tool is a proactive step by a company that is still stable but wants to occupy a different position on the market. The first requires speed and minimization of rebranding risk, the second — patience and gradual introduction of the new identity. Confusing these strategies is a direct path to failure: a crisis rebranding done slowly and carefully will not stop reputational bleeding, while a growth-oriented rebranding done in a rush without audience preparation will destroy accumulated trust.
Four types of reasons: from business strategy to politics
Scientific classification identifies twelve strategic reasons for rebranding — from specific activity definition to entering the international market. But in practice, it is more convenient to group them into four categories, as each requires its own decision-making logic.
Strategic reasons
This includes expanding the product line, entering new geographies, mergers and acquisitions, and seeking strategic partners. These are rational, measurable decisions — they are the easiest to justify before the board of directors.
Psychological reasons
The company wants to change how people perceive it — without changing the product itself. The rebranding of S7 (formerly "Sibir") in 2005 year is a classic example: the airline wanted to get rid of associations with disasters and 'rebuild' the emotional connection with passengers through a bright green livery and a new brand sound.
Cultural reasons
The brand no longer aligns with the values of its audience or society. Love Republic's entry into the premium segment is a cultural shift: the company changed not only the price but the entire code of interaction with the customer, which resulted in revenue growth of 9% in 2022 year and 40% in the first quarter of 2023 relative to the same period a year earlier.
Political and economic reasons
This is the most underrated category in Russian-language articles about rebranding. The departure of international players from the local market forces successors to build a brand from scratch while maintaining audience loyalty. 'Tasty — and that's it' after 2022 year did rebranding exactly along this logic: communication was built around emphasizing the continuity of taste and assortment, not breaking with the past — because a sharp break would have killed customer trust, accustomed to a specific product.
Jaguar case: when rebranding for growth turns into self-rescue
In 2023 year, Jaguar made one of the most radical rebrandings in automotive history: it removed the animal image from its logo, launched an advertising campaign with no cars in the frame, completely rebuilt the brand's visual language for a premium electric audience. The idea was growth-oriented — the company wanted to leap into a new segment and break free from the image of a conservative British automaker.
The result was the opposite. By April 2025 year, sales in Europe dropped by 97,5%. The general director, who had worked at the company for 35 years, announced his resignation. The problem was not with the idea of updating itself — premium electric cars indeed require a different brand language. The problem was with the speed and the break: the audience that had recognized Jaguar for decades received no recognizable anchors in the new communication. The company tried to simultaneously change the product, the audience, and the visual code — but it should have done this step by step, leaving at least one stable element of identity for existing customers.
How much does rebranding cost and where do hidden expenses go
The cost depends significantly on the company's scale and the depth of changes. Approximate market ranges look like this:
| Expense item | Budget range |
|---|---|
| Naming development | 50 000 – 300 000 ₽ |
| Logo | 30 000 – 250 000 ₽ |
| Corporate Identity | 80 000 – 400 000 ₽ |
| Full rebranding turnkey | 500 000 ₽ – 5 000 000+ ₽ |
These figures reflect only development costs — and implementation budgets are almost always higher than development budgets. Replacing signs at branches, repackaging, website, documents, transportation, employee uniforms updates — these are items rarely calculated at the start, yet they can exceed the creative budget several times over.
But the most expensive costs often don't even appear in the budget, because they aren't counted as money. This is the time employees spend on endless approvals and revisions, the paralysis of marketing processes during the transition period, confusion among clients and partners who are looking for the company by its old name and can't find it. New Coke from Coca-Cola in 1985 year cost the company $4 million on R&D and marketing and another $30 million on unrealized inventory — and this is without accounting for the reputational damage from the wave of consumer complaints, which led to the original recipe being reinstated in less than three months.
Why rebrandings fail: typical mistakes
Failed cases are almost always united by one logic: the company changes what the audience considered an inseparable part of the product, leaving no anchor for recognition.
- Breaking away from the visual code that served a function, not just decoration. Tropicana in 2009 removed the iconic orange with a straw from its packaging, replacing it with a neutral juice glass. Customers physically couldn't find the product on the shelf — in two months the company lost 20% of sales, about 30 million dollars, and reverted to the old design in less than two weeks.
- Ignoring the emotional attachment of the audience to the details. Gap in 2010 changed its logo and received more than 2000 negative comments on Facebook and over 14 thousand parody versions of the new mark from users. The classic logo was reinstated in less than six days.
- Simultaneous change of everything — the product, the audience, and the visual — without a transitional phase. It was exactly this mistake that cost Jaguar 97,5% of sales in Europe.
- Testing changes on focus groups instead of the real market. New Coke performed well in blind tastings, but failed in real consumption, where habit and ritual matter more than taste alone.
- Saving on the implementation stage. Companies often invest in logo development but cut the budget for a smooth transition — and end up with confusion among customers instead of brand strengthening.
The overall conclusion is simple: rebranding works when it addresses a real business problem and is done with respect for what the audience already knows and values in the brand. It fails when it becomes a way to beautifully package internal management ambitions detached from how the company is perceived from the outside.
Sberbank in 2009 removed the word 'Russia' from its name and updated its visual code — formally, this was already a rebranding, not just a redesign, because the perception of the company as a state monopoly was changing. And in 2021 a second, more radical step occurred: the bank was renamed 'Sber' to solidify its status as an ecosystem, not just a financial institution. The difference between these two stages clearly shows that rebranding can happen to one company several times — and each time with a different scale of changes.
What signals indicate it's time to change a brand, not just the visual identity
Owners rarely acknowledge the problem in a timely manner. Usually, the decision is made with a delay of a year or two after the signals have already appeared. Here are the main ones:
- The name or logo is associated with a specific negative event — accidents, scandal, bankruptcy;
- The product line has grown so much that the old name has started to limit the perception of the company (for example, 'Siberia' sounds geographically restricted for an airline flying all over the world);
- The company is entering the international market, and the old name is hard to read or sounds inappropriate in other languages;
- A merger or acquisition has occurred, and a new brand is needed to unite the structures;
- The departure of an international player from the market requires rethinking the local successor brand;
- The target audience has shifted to another segment — for example, the company has decided to move into premium.
Here it is important to distinguish two fundamentally different situations. Rebranding as a crisis rescue is a reaction to an already occurred problem: an image catastrophe, loss of trust, or legal pressure. Rebranding as a growth tool is a proactive step by a company that is still stable but wants to occupy a different position on the market. The first requires speed and minimization of rebranding risk, the second — patience and gradual introduction of the new identity. Confusing these strategies is a direct path to failure: a crisis rebranding done slowly and carefully will not stop reputational bleeding, while a growth-oriented rebranding done in a rush without audience preparation will destroy accumulated trust.
Four types of reasons: from business strategy to politics
Scientific classification identifies twelve strategic reasons for rebranding — from specific activity definition to entering the international market. But in practice, it is more convenient to group them into four categories, as each requires its own decision-making logic.
Strategic reasons
This includes expanding the product line, entering new geographies, mergers and acquisitions, and seeking strategic partners. These are rational, measurable decisions — they are the easiest to justify before the board of directors.
Psychological reasons
The company wants to change how people perceive it — without changing the product itself. The rebranding of S7 (formerly "Sibir") in 2005 year is a classic example: the airline wanted to get rid of associations with disasters and 'rebuild' the emotional connection with passengers through a bright green livery and a new brand sound.
Cultural reasons
The brand no longer aligns with the values of its audience or society. Love Republic's entry into the premium segment is a cultural shift: the company changed not only the price but the entire code of interaction with the customer, which resulted in revenue growth of 9% in 2022 year and 40% in the first quarter of 2023 relative to the same period a year earlier.
Political and economic reasons
This is the most underrated category in Russian-language articles about rebranding. The departure of international players from the local market forces successors to build a brand from scratch while maintaining audience loyalty. 'Tasty — and that's it' after 2022 year did rebranding exactly along this logic: communication was built around emphasizing the continuity of taste and assortment, not breaking with the past — because a sharp break would have killed customer trust, accustomed to a specific product.
Jaguar case: when rebranding for growth turns into self-rescue
In 2023 year, Jaguar made one of the most radical rebrandings in automotive history: it removed the animal image from its logo, launched an advertising campaign with no cars in the frame, completely rebuilt the brand's visual language for a premium electric audience. The idea was growth-oriented — the company wanted to leap into a new segment and break free from the image of a conservative British automaker.
The result was the opposite. By April 2025 year, sales in Europe dropped by 97,5%. The general director, who had worked at the company for 35 years, announced his resignation. The problem was not with the idea of updating itself — premium electric cars indeed require a different brand language. The problem was with the speed and the break: the audience that had recognized Jaguar for decades received no recognizable anchors in the new communication. The company tried to simultaneously change the product, the audience, and the visual code — but it should have done this step by step, leaving at least one stable element of identity for existing customers.
How much does rebranding cost and where do hidden expenses go
The cost depends significantly on the company's scale and the depth of changes. Approximate market ranges look like this:
| Expense item | Budget range |
|---|---|
| Naming development | 50 000 – 300 000 ₽ |
| Logo | 30 000 – 250 000 ₽ |
| Corporate Identity | 80 000 – 400 000 ₽ |
| Full rebranding turnkey | 500 000 ₽ – 5 000 000+ ₽ |
These figures reflect only development costs — and implementation budgets are almost always higher than development budgets. Replacing signs at branches, repackaging, website, documents, transportation, employee uniforms updates — these are items rarely calculated at the start, yet they can exceed the creative budget several times over.
But the most expensive costs often don't even appear in the budget, because they aren't counted as money. This is the time employees spend on endless approvals and revisions, the paralysis of marketing processes during the transition period, confusion among clients and partners who are looking for the company by its old name and can't find it. New Coke from Coca-Cola in 1985 year cost the company $4 million on R&D and marketing and another $30 million on unrealized inventory — and this is without accounting for the reputational damage from the wave of consumer complaints, which led to the original recipe being reinstated in less than three months.
Why rebrandings fail: typical mistakes
Failed cases are almost always united by one logic: the company changes what the audience considered an inseparable part of the product, leaving no anchor for recognition.
- Breaking away from the visual code that served a function, not just decoration. Tropicana in 2009 removed the iconic orange with a straw from its packaging, replacing it with a neutral juice glass. Customers physically couldn't find the product on the shelf — in two months the company lost 20% of sales, about 30 million dollars, and reverted to the old design in less than two weeks.
- Ignoring the emotional attachment of the audience to the details. Gap in 2010 changed its logo and received more than 2000 negative comments on Facebook and over 14 thousand parody versions of the new mark from users. The classic logo was reinstated in less than six days.
- Simultaneous change of everything — the product, the audience, and the visual — without a transitional phase. It was exactly this mistake that cost Jaguar 97,5% of sales in Europe.
- Testing changes on focus groups instead of the real market. New Coke performed well in blind tastings, but failed in real consumption, where habit and ritual matter more than taste alone.
- Saving on the implementation stage. Companies often invest in logo development but cut the budget for a smooth transition — and end up with confusion among customers instead of brand strengthening.
The overall conclusion is simple: rebranding works when it addresses a real business problem and is done with respect for what the audience already knows and values in the brand. It fails when it becomes a way to beautifully package internal management ambitions detached from how the company is perceived from the outside.
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