Brand need a refresh or a total rebrand? The key differences.

These two phrases are interwoven a lot but they are different things and one requires more time and resource than the other. Before you invest in a full rebrand ask the question? Can small strategic updates solve the problems we’re experiencing?

To put it short, a refresh is about fine-tuning what you have and a rebrand is about starting from scratch.

What is a rebrand?

A rebrand means undertaking a full overhaul of the brand identity—new name, new logo, new colour palette, and often a new positioning. It’s a bigger investment.

Why might there be a need to rebrand?

If the current brand has negative perceptions, you’re pivoting and entering an entirely new market or different offerings or there could be legal issues with the current brand around trademark etc. That last one is happening A LOT in NZ, please ensure if you really are taking your business seriously that you protect it, as the big players (even those in completely different categories) are sending cease and desists for those with similar names and they often know startups don’t have the money to fight them on it.

What is a brand refresh?

Strategic updates to your existing brand assets—logo tweaks, colour adjustments, packaging updates, messaging improvements. The goal is to modernise, clarify, or optimise without losing recognition.

Why might there be a need for a brand refresh?

Your brand may have lost consistency across platforms, the logo or packaging maybe recognisable but now looks dated. You could be entering a new product range or market or it could be as simple as the product you have is great but it’s not selling as expected.

A great example of bringing a brand a brand back to life is evident with Old Spice (everyone remembers old spice right?) prior to 2010 they had become redundant and seen as ‘the old mans deodorant’, in rides 2010 on it’s high horse and they gave the brand a complete refresh updating the visual identity of their packaging and aligning it more to the 18-34 yo male demographic. They repositioned, modernised and change their brand messaging. The result? Only a measly +125% growth in sales and an increase of 3% of the market share in the body wash category. Sheesh Old Spice do better (yes I’m being sarcastic) but you see what I mean. Done well, a refresh can be game changing for a business, not to go on but Crocs is another that comes to mind in more recent years but you’ll still never pay me enough to own a pair of those ugly bloody things!

If you’re unsure what direction you should take or whether you need to take one at all, feel free to email us at and we can line a time up to touch base. It’s a big decision and as we said at the beginning, change for the sake of change is not a good enough reason. We want all our projects to see tangible results so if we don’t feel it’s the right thing that’s what we’ll tell you. Straight from the hip? yes that’s us, because ultimately our success stems from our clients success and that is always front and center for us.