Faced with changes in consumption habits and accelerated digitalization over the past five years, the business world has had to adapt to new marketing rules. Branding was one of the most impacted areas, especially with the growing demand for authenticity, contemporary aesthetics, and genuine connections with the audience. According to a survey by Topham Guerin agency, 74% of global companies have undergone some form of rebranding since 2020, mainly driven by changes in positioning, mergers, or visual repositioning in the digital environment.
To avoid losing relevance or space in the market, companies have been investing in rebranding strategies that go beyond the visual; they aim to translate purpose, behavior, and brand experience."Rebranding has ceased to be an aesthetic issue and has become a business decision. Today, brands that do not revisit their identity and purpose risk losing connection with the audience," says Pedro Assis, CEO of Walks Brand.
To contextualize the necessary actions, Assis, founder of Walks Brand, a agency specialized in branding for e-commerce and retail, highlights the main mistakes that, when reevaluated, can transform your brand's identity and create a genuine connection with today's consumer.
1. Ignore the ESG agenda
The transparency of social and ecological actions has become one of the main requirements for choosing a brand. If your company does not have a social role or acts in bad faith with the public, it is necessary to reconfigure your strategy. By aligning your brand with social or environmental struggles in the ESG agenda, a stronger and, most importantly, emotional connection is created with your customer, attracting their trust and respect.
2. Polluted visual
Polluted visual needs an urgent rebranding. With the new market demand, customers want simple, modern, and clear communication, so it's necessary to change your appearance.Minimalism today has come to dominate and is going beyond aesthetics. Many brands are abandoning their old logos and adopting a strategy that reflects maturity, clear positioning, and a more fluid and memorable visual experience.
3. Very institutional language
The brand's institutional communication is too much, too distant from the language of content creators and new digital narratives, signaling a warning. Today’s consumer connects with companies that have a voice, face, and opinion, and influencers are the most powerful shortcut to that closeness. A good rebranding understands this logic and repositions the brand to be relevant, engaging, and present in the right conversations with the right people.
We are living in the era of the creator economy, so brands that do not adapt to the language of influencers lose direct connection with their audience. Rebranding must go beyond aesthetics: it is essential to reposition the company as an active voice within the cultural conversations that shape consumption today, explains Pedro Assis, CEO of Walks.
4. Lack of storytelling
Companies suffering from a lack of engagement face a dilemma: whether the product is uninteresting or the way it is communicated is lacking. Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to initiate a rebranding, as it creates a narrative capable of touching the audience's emotions and generating a genuine connection. In a market saturated with generic messages, brands that evoke feelings become memorable and, more than that, create lasting bonds with their consumers.
5. The brand's "energy" is low – internally and externally.
A strong brand inspires both its employees and its customers. If internally there is demotivation or lack of clarity about the brand's direction, and externally engagement is low, comments are neutral or negative, and the overall perception is stagnation, the "vital energy" of your brand is compromised. A rebranding can reignite internal passion and rekindle market enthusiasm.
