New Year, New You: Top Rebrand Examples for Brands

With the new year upon us, brands worldwide are brainstorming ways to reconnect with current customers and attract new customers.

A rebrand — which can include an updated logo and website or new products — is an excellent way to captivate your audience.

While rebranding is exciting, it can be a gamble. You can knock it out of the park like M&M’s did last year when they made their adorable mascots more dynamic and progressive.

It’s also possible to completely miss the mark and upset customers. Gap is an excellent example of a rebrand that didn’t land: In 2010, when the company launched a new and unrecognizable logo, it had to backpedal to its original logo, as noted by The Branding Journal.

If your brand is thinking about going in a different direction for 2023 to capture new customers, look at some of the hottest rebrand examples you can look to for inspiration.

Heinz Wows With New Visuals and Voice

Did you know that if you tap on the small 57 of the old glass Heinz bottle, it makes the ketchup come out faster? Of course, you knew — Heinz is a consumer product in stores and restaurants across North America!

Heinz is a classic, legacy brand and so braving a rebrand was a huge undertaking. The last thing they want is for people to order a burger, look around the table for ketchup, and not be able to recognize the beloved Heinz brand instantly.

But Heinz also wanted to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world and reconnect with its customers in more meaningful ways. Thus, they partnered with the design agency Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR) and went for the rebrand with confidence.

The results were outstanding. The rebrand managed to capture the timelessness of its old look and repurpose it into a hipper visual identity, better packaging, and an updated and more modern tone of voice.

In a case study from Truly Deeply, Jonny Spindler, the managing director of JKR, divulged their team’s secret to rebranding success.

“We wanted to create brand unification across categories, geographies, and brand experience touch points so that no matter how or where you experience Heinz, you’re able to celebrate its simple greatness,” he says.

And that’s exactly what the rebrand accomplished.

Rebrand Examples Tip: Be True to Your Brand (But Better) 

During a rebrand, consider how you can maintain your brand’s integrity, all while delighting customers with new, updated, and more relevant visuals.

Siemens Creates a More Modern Look

Rebranding isn’t always about tackling a more modern look (although Siemens does this with the blue-haired model featured on its website). Rebranding can also mean updating your company's core values to match what consumers care about most. 

For example, today’s consumers want more than affordable prices, cool-looking packaging, and durable products. Consumers across the world have said over and over that they’ll throw their support behind brands who represent something more than consumerism.

Namely, consumers want brands to invest in good causes, work toward more sustainable production, and participate in ethical manufacturing.

Brands that understand what customers what — and rebrand to show they care about customer values — are winning.

One example of this is Siemens. Recently, it rebranded to show it cares more about technology. It cares about society, sustainable energy, personalization, and the future of manufacturing.

Paying constant attention to consumer trends may be one reason why Siemens is nearly 200 years old.

Rebrand Examples Tip: Caring Is Cool

Take a note from this rebrand example: Care about what your customers care about. Highlight what you’re doing to make a difference in your rebrand.

Energizer Ups Its Design Game

Design and consumer trends change often. And what’s popular is often a reaction to what’s going on in the world.

Right now — in a world where consumers are inundated with visual stimulation — the hot design trend is simplicity. 

It’s hard on the eyes to consume hundreds of ads, TikToks, television shows, text messages, and websites every day. As such, when you come across something that’s simple, it stands out.

Energizer clearly caught wind of this recent design trend and gave the people what they want. In other words, it took the “less is more” approach with its new packaging design.

While creating new packaging based on hot design trends was the first smart move, it isn’t the only smart move Energizer made with this rebrand. They also revealed a bigger, pinker, more noticeable Energizer bunny.

If you’ve opened TikTok recently, you may have seen mascots making a huge debut. There’s the Duolingo owl, the Ryanair personalized airplane, the Colts mascot Blue, and many more.

Mascots are huge right now, and a bigger, bolder Energizer bunny is hitting the rebranding nail right on the head.

Rebrand Examples Tip: Be on Trend Watch

Pay attention to design and marketing trends and infuse them into your rebranding efforts.

It’s a New Year, Rebrand (or Refresh) To Level Up Your Business

Consumers have an abundance of choices between old brands and new brands when it comes to making purchases. If you want to stand out this next year, it’s essential to prioritize your brand.

In some instances, this may mean you’re due for a complete rebrand. If so, the companies above are perfect examples to turn to for inspiration. In other instances, you may simply need to refresh your content across customer touch points and invest more in marketing.