Rebrand vs. Brand refresh
July 1, 2026
You’ve probably heard the term ‘rebrand’ chucked around a lot, but the term ‘brand refresh’…maybe not so much.
The thing is, a brand refresh is probably just as common, but sometimes gets confused with a rebrand.
Below, I outline the basic differences of a brand refresh and a rebrand.
What is a brand refresh?
To put it simply, a brand refresh is when changes are made to a brand’s messaging and how it appears to its audience. This includes tone of voice and visual messaging.
Now when I say visual messaging, I’m including the logo design in that as well. Yes, that’s right…a new logo doesn’t always mean a rebrand, it can mean a simple brand refresh as well. However, a logo change isn’t always needed in a brand refresh.
A brand refresh can be simple maintenance. The idea of it is to help keep brands alive and stay up-to-date. Overuse of the same marketing visuals can make a brand become stale, especially if they’re spending loads on getting regular reach or they’re using designs trends that’ll soon become tiresome.
It’s a good rule of thumb to stay on top of this at least annually. You can get professional advice from a designer or someone who understands branding who offers this as a service…like myself. See it as an MOT for your brand.
If you have brand guidelines and/or style guides, then these would get looked at and tweaked where needed, which is why it’s always good to date and version control them.
It’s quite common that brands will go for years and even decades without any real strategy behind their messaging, and it really shows in these businesses.
Think of it like that same suit that makes an appearance at every special occasion. At a glance it looks fine, but when you look closely you notice the buttons are working overtime and there’s a gravy stain from the main course three weddings ago. Basically…it’s looking tired and screaming ‘my owner doesn’t care’.
If you feel that your business could do with a new look, then get in touch.
What is a rebrand?
Now…a rebrand is actually so much more than visual and verbal messaging. It’s changes to a brands actual identity.
A lot of people think a brand is just a logo. But branding goes way, way, way beyond that.
In a previous blog I mention about what goes into a brand identity and offer a free interactive workbook in my resources to help you identify your own brand identity. But basically, imagine a brand is a person with a personality, a vision, beliefs and a whole identity and a rebrand is a way of changing that, either minimally or dramatically.
The role of a brand strategist is to help identify a lot of this core identity by hosting focus groups with management teams and company employees. A lot of this is done when a larger brand is created from scratch but can be done as part of a rebrand.
The outcome of such focus groups determine what changes need to be made. In certain cases, a whole new company name is needed.
It’s safe to say that an actual rebrand in comparison is a lot more riskier than a brand refresh. In fact, some brands have had such negative responses that they reverted back to previous versions of themselves.
To summarise on brand refresh vs. rebrand
So to conclude, a brand refresh is simply “I’ve been wearing the same outfit for years and it’s probably best to tidy it up a bit”. Minimal risk but needs to be looked at regularly to avoid tired branding.
A rebrand on the other hand is more “let’s change our whole identity”. More risk but in some cases it’s needed.
If you feel that you might need one or the other, make sure to get in touch.
Cheers.
Adam Hayles
Freelance Graphic Designer
15+ years in the graphic design world with a desire to provide brands with a fresh upbeat visual personality using design, illustration and animation.
Rebrand vs. Brand refresh
July 1, 2026
You’ve probably heard the term ‘rebrand’ chucked around a lot, but the term ‘brand refresh’…maybe not so much.
The thing is, a brand refresh is probably just as common, but sometimes gets confused with a rebrand.
Below, I outline the basic differences of a brand refresh and a rebrand.
What is a brand refresh?
To put it simply, a brand refresh is when changes are made to a brand’s messaging and how it appears to its audience. This includes tone of voice and visual messaging.
Now when I say visual messaging, I’m including the logo design in that as well. Yes, that’s right…a new logo doesn’t always mean a rebrand, it can mean a simple brand refresh as well. However, a logo change isn’t always needed in a brand refresh.
A brand refresh can be simple maintenance. The idea of it is to help keep brands alive and stay up-to-date. Overuse of the same marketing visuals can make a brand become stale, especially if they’re spending loads on getting regular reach or they’re using designs trends that’ll soon become tiresome.
It’s a good rule of thumb to stay on top of this at least annually. You can get professional advice from a designer or someone who understands branding who offers this as a service…like myself. See it as an MOT for your brand.
If you have brand guidelines and/or style guides, then these would get looked at and tweaked where needed, which is why it’s always good to date and version control them.
It’s quite common that brands will go for years and even decades without any real strategy behind their messaging, and it really shows in these businesses.
Think of it like that same suit that makes an appearance at every special occasion. At a glance it looks fine, but when you look closely you notice the buttons are working overtime and there’s a gravy stain from the main course three weddings ago. Basically…it’s looking tired and screaming ‘my owner doesn’t care’.
If you feel that your business could do with a new look, then get in touch.
What is a rebrand?
Now…a rebrand is actually so much more than visual and verbal messaging. It’s changes to a brands actual identity.
A lot of people think a brand is just a logo. But branding goes way, way, way beyond that.
In a previous blog I mention about what goes into a brand identity and offer a free interactive workbook in my resources to help you identify your own brand identity. But basically, imagine a brand is a person with a personality, a vision, beliefs and a whole identity and a rebrand is a way of changing that, either minimally or dramatically.
The role of a brand strategist is to help identify a lot of this core identity by hosting focus groups with management teams and company employees. A lot of this is done when a larger brand is created from scratch but can be done as part of a rebrand.
The outcome of such focus groups determine what changes need to be made. In certain cases, a whole new company name is needed.
It’s safe to say that an actual rebrand in comparison is a lot more riskier than a brand refresh. In fact, some brands have had such negative responses that they reverted back to previous versions of themselves.
To summarise on brand refresh vs. rebrand
So to conclude, a brand refresh is simply “I’ve been wearing the same outfit for years and it’s probably best to tidy it up a bit”. Minimal risk but needs to be looked at regularly to avoid tired branding.
A rebrand on the other hand is more “let’s change our whole identity”. More risk but in some cases it’s needed.
If you feel that you might need one or the other, make sure to get in touch.
Cheers.
Adam Hayles
Freelance Graphic Designer
15+ years in the graphic design world with a desire to provide brands with a fresh upbeat visual personality using design, illustration and animation.
Rebrand vs. Brand refresh
July 1, 2026
You’ve probably heard the term ‘rebrand’ chucked around a lot, but the term ‘brand refresh’…maybe not so much.
The thing is, a brand refresh is probably just as common, but sometimes gets confused with a rebrand.
Below, I outline the basic differences of a brand refresh and a rebrand.
What is a brand refresh?
To put it simply, a brand refresh is when changes are made to a brand’s messaging and how it appears to its audience. This includes tone of voice and visual messaging.
Now when I say visual messaging, I’m including the logo design in that as well. Yes, that’s right…a new logo doesn’t always mean a rebrand, it can mean a simple brand refresh as well. However, a logo change isn’t always needed in a brand refresh.
A brand refresh can be simple maintenance. The idea of it is to help keep brands alive and stay up-to-date. Overuse of the same marketing visuals can make a brand become stale, especially if they’re spending loads on getting regular reach or they’re using designs trends that’ll soon become tiresome.
It’s a good rule of thumb to stay on top of this at least annually. You can get professional advice from a designer or someone who understands branding who offers this as a service…like myself. See it as an MOT for your brand.
If you have brand guidelines and/or style guides, then these would get looked at and tweaked where needed, which is why it’s always good to date and version control them.
It’s quite common that brands will go for years and even decades without any real strategy behind their messaging, and it really shows in these businesses.
Think of it like that same suit that makes an appearance at every special occasion. At a glance it looks fine, but when you look closely you notice the buttons are working overtime and there’s a gravy stain from the main course three weddings ago. Basically…it’s looking tired and screaming ‘my owner doesn’t care’.
If you feel that your business could do with a new look, then get in touch.
What is a rebrand?
Now…a rebrand is actually so much more than visual and verbal messaging. It’s changes to a brands actual identity.
A lot of people think a brand is just a logo. But branding goes way, way, way beyond that.
In a previous blog I mention about what goes into a brand identity and offer a free interactive workbook in my resources to help you identify your own brand identity. But basically, imagine a brand is a person with a personality, a vision, beliefs and a whole identity and a rebrand is a way of changing that, either minimally or dramatically.
The role of a brand strategist is to help identify a lot of this core identity by hosting focus groups with management teams and company employees. A lot of this is done when a larger brand is created from scratch but can be done as part of a rebrand.
The outcome of such focus groups determine what changes need to be made. In certain cases, a whole new company name is needed.
It’s safe to say that an actual rebrand in comparison is a lot more riskier than a brand refresh. In fact, some brands have had such negative responses that they reverted back to previous versions of themselves.
To summarise on brand refresh vs. rebrand
So to conclude, a brand refresh is simply “I’ve been wearing the same outfit for years and it’s probably best to tidy it up a bit”. Minimal risk but needs to be looked at regularly to avoid tired branding.
A rebrand on the other hand is more “let’s change our whole identity”. More risk but in some cases it’s needed.
If you feel that you might need one or the other, make sure to get in touch.
Cheers.
Adam Hayles
Freelance Graphic Designer
15+ years in the graphic design world with a desire to provide brands with a fresh upbeat visual personality using design, illustration and animation.