The rebrand vs brand refresh question usually shows up right after something big changes. You raised funding. You acquired a company. You moved upmarket and your scrappy startup brand isn't cutting it anymore.
Now you're googling at 11pm trying to figure out if you need to update your logo or rebuild everything from scratch. And whether either option will actually fix the problem or just create new ones.
The answer depends on what's actually broken. Here's how to figure that out.
What’s the difference between a rebrand and a brand refresh?
If you search for the difference between a rebrand and a brand refresh, you'll find pretty consistent definitions:
A brand refresh is an evolution. You update your logo, modernize your color palette, refine your messaging. The core brand identity stays intact, but you're giving it a polish to better reflect where your business is today. Think of it as refinement—intentional updates that make your existing brand work harder.
A rebrand is a bigger undertaking. You're making substantial changes to your brand strategy, brand positioning, and often your visual identity, sometimes that includes a new name. A complete rebrand usually happens when there's a major mismatch between what your brand communicates and what your business actually does. Maybe you've shifted your target market or pivoted your product. Whatever the reason, the current brand doesn't fit anymore.
Most agencies will tell you a refresh is cosmetic and a rebrand is strategic.
Both should be strategic. At B2B companies, brand problems are rarely just visual. They're messaging problems. Positioning problems. Alignment problems. Those aren't design problems. You can't logo your way out of misalignment.
A refresh or a rebranding effort needs to start with strategy, not design. What's your unique value? Who are you for? What story are you telling? Get those fundamentals clear first. Then the brand messaging and visual identity decisions that follow actually make sense.
So when do you need a brand refresh vs a rebrand? Let's break it down.
A brand refresh is what you need when...
Your brand was built 3-6 years ago and looks it
Your brand identity worked when you launched it. That was before your product evolved, before you moved upmarket, before you hired a team who actually knows what they're doing.
Now the visual identity feels amateurish. The brand messaging sounds like it was written by a different company. You're trying to close enterprise deals but your website screams "scrappy startup."
If this is you, you might be needing a B2B brand refresh to update how you look and sound, to match the business you've become. This means a new logo, updated brand elements, tightened messaging. You're not changing your name or doing a brand overhaul. You're showing up like the grown-up business you actually are.
You can't thread the needle anymore
You started with one product and one persona. Easy.
But now you've got three product lines, five personas, and every campaign takes six weeks because nobody can agree on the message. Marketing says one thing, Sales says another, Product launched a feature last month and nobody knows how the hell to talk about it.
A brand refresh gives you one clear story. It creates brand guidelines that work across all your products and personas. When everyone's working from the same brand strategy, bringing stuff to market stops taking forever.
You have brand recognition you can't afford to lose
You've built brand equity. Customers know your name. They trust you. A brand overhaul with a new name and new everything? That's expensive. That's risky.
But your existing brand needs work. The visual identity is outdated. The brand positioning doesn't match who you are anymore.
A brand refresh lets you modernize without throwing away what you've built. You keep the brand awareness you've earned. You update everything else.
You're working with limited budget or time
Your CEO asked if you could "refresh the brand" by next quarter. Yet you're also supposed to run demand gen, launch two products, and hire a team. Uh oh.
A brand refresh happens faster than a brand overhaul. You're not rebuilding from scratch. You're updating your current brand. A few months instead of waiting until Q3 of next year.
Plus it costs less! You're not paying for a brand audit, new name research, and a total repositioning. You're paying to make your existing brand better.
The market shifted and you need to catch up
Two years ago your brand looked modern and differentiated. Now it looks like…. everyone else.
New competitors launched with slicker brands. Buyer expectations changed. You're losing deals to companies that aren't even better than you; they just look more credible.
A brand refresh closes that gap. You update your visual identity and brand messaging to match where the market is now. Not because you're chasing trends, but because looking outdated costs you moooooney.
But sometimes a refresh isn't enough. Sometimes the problem runs deeper than how you look or what you say. Sometimes you need to rebuild from the ground up.
It’s probably time for a rebrand when…
You've made a major pivot
Your product changed. Your target customer changed. What you're selling now barely resembles what you started with.
A brand refresh can't fix that. You need new brand positioning that reflects the business you've become. A rebrand gives you a new story, new messaging architecture, and a visual identity that matches where you're actually going.
You're moving upmarket
You hit product-market fit selling to small companies. Now you're going after enterprise buyers and your brand isn't opening those doors.
Enterprise buyers expect credibility and polish before they'll take a meeting. If your brand identity doesn't signal that you belong at their level, you won't get in the room. A B2B rebrand repositions you for the customers you actually want.
You just raised funding
You closed a Series A. Your investors expect you to scale fast. Your competitors are bigger and better funded. Your current brand strategy was built for a company with 15 employees, not 150.
A rebrand or brand overhaul signals growth. It tells the market you're not scrappy anymore. You're playing at a different level now.
You went through a merger or acquisition
You've got two companies, two brands, two sets of customers who are all confused about what just happened.
A complete rebrand creates one unified identity. It gives you a single story to tell the market. It tells customers, partners, and employees where the combined company is headed.
Your brand has serious baggage
Maybe your name doesn't make sense anymore. Maybe you're tied to an old business model you've moved past. Maybe you've got negative associations you need to distance yourself from.
You can't brand refresh your way out of that. A B2B rebranding effort gives you a clean slate. New name, new positioning, new brand strategy.
Of course, sometimes the right move is to do neither. Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is leave your brand well alone.
It’s better to do nothing when...
Your brand is actually working
Your brand identity might look a little dated. Your competitors might have sleeker websites. But if customers recognize you, trust you, and keep buying from you, your brand might just be fine. Sure, new branding is fun and sparkly. If you're new to your role it might make it feel like you're leaving your mark, too. The thing is, a bad rebrand has far reaching consequences.
Tropicana's $50 million mistake
In 2009, Tropicana redesigned their orange juice packaging to look more modern. They changed the logo, typography, imagery, and even the bottle cap. They backed it with a $35 million advertising campaign. Sales dropped 20% in two months. The company lost $30 million and had to bring back the old packaging.
Tropicana "underestimated the deep emotional bond" customers had with the original packaging. Loyal customers couldn't find the product on shelves anymore. They didn't recognize it. Some thought it looked like a cheap store brand instead of the premium product they trusted.
Tropicana changed too many brand elements at once. The total cost of the failed rebrand exceeded $50 million.
The lesson stuck. When Tropicana updated their packaging in 2025, they kept what worked –the iconic orange and straw–and made careful updates instead of a complete overhaul.
HBO Max to Max and back again
In 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery rebranded HBO Max as simply "Max." They wanted to create a broader brand that could house more content types beyond HBO's premium programming.
It failed. Customers were confused. The HBO brand name carried decades of value and equity. "Max" sounded generic. By May 2025, they reversed course and went back to HBO Max.
CEO Casey Bloys called it a misstep in the race to catch up to Netflix, explaining that "the streaming industry's race for volume, years ago, found many brands losing their identity." They threw away brand recognition and customer trust for a rebrand that solved a problem nobody had.
If your existing customers love your brand and your brand recognition is strong, think very carefully before changing it.
You don't have a plan
A rebrand without strategy is just expensive design work.
If you can't articulate what's broken, who you're trying to reach, or what success looks like, you're not ready. You'll end up with a new logo and updated brand guidelines that don't solve anything. Your sales team will still make up their own pitch. Prospects will still be confused.
A bad rebranding effort is worse than no rebrand at all.
You're doing it for the wrong reasons
"Our competitors just rebranded, so we should too."
"The CEO is bored with the logo."
"We want to look more modern."
None of those are good reasons to rebrand. A B2B rebrand should solve a business problem. It should make it easier to close deals, enter new markets, or align your team. If you're changing things just to change them, well, don't.
You can't get stakeholder buy-in
If Sales doesn't agree with the new brand positioning, they won't use it. If Product thinks the new brand messaging is wrong, they'll ignore it. If the CEO isn't bought in, the whole thing will fall apart.
A complete rebrand touches the entire business. If you can't get everyone aligned on why you're doing it and what needs to change, wait until you can.
The timing is terrible
You're about to launch your biggest product. Or you're in the middle of a fundraising round. Or half your team just left.
A brand refresh or rebrand requires focus and resources. If you're already stretched thin or dealing with other major changes, adding a rebrand on top will either fail or distract from what actually matters.
Sometimes the most strategic choice is to leave your current brand alone and focus on the business.
Still not sure which path is right?
Here's what we know: your brand needs something. You wouldn't be reading this if it didn't.
Here’s what we don't know: whether that something is a refresh, a rebrand, or leaving it alone and fixing your go-to-market execution instead.
Most companies guess. They hire an agency, pick a direction, and hope it works out. Six months later they've got a new logo and the same problems they started with.
We'd rather you didn't guess.
Our Brand Exam is a half-day workshop with your key stakeholders - Head of Marketing, Head of Sales, CEO, Product lead. We figure out what's actually broken. Then we tell you exactly what you need to fix it.
You get an Action Plan that shows you where to focus for the next six months. Hire us. Hire someone else. Do it yourself. Whatever makes sense for your business.
What we care about is that you don't waste six months and £50k on the wrong solution.
Book your Strategy Session. Get a plan. Then decide what to do with it.
