Branding & Strategy
A brand transition that does not cost you what you have already built, not just a new logo.
We diagnose whether you need a rebrand or a refresh, then run the strategy, the identity, the technical migration and the communication, coordinated rather than separate.
- You have two brands after a merger or acquisition and nobody in the market understands you are the same company
- You have outgrown the brand's original promise, from local to national, from one service to something else
- The current name carries real legal risk: similarity to a registered trademark, or a notice already received
01 · What it costs you today
You cannot tell whether you need a rebrand or the leadership is just bored
Leadership wants change, but there is no clear answer against the criteria that separate a real strategic need from an aesthetic wish.
You are afraid of losing the customers who have known you for years
An abrupt change with no prior validation can break the visual or verbal link between customer and product, exactly what happened at Tropicana and at Gap.
Organic traffic dropped after the name or domain change
Without a URL by URL redirect map, a domain migration can wipe out years of accumulated search rankings.
Hidden implementation costs overrun the creative budget
Signage alone can reach 70% of the implementation budget. Packaging, print, accounts and trademark fees rarely make it into the initial budget.
02 · What you get
Strategic diagnosis before execution
We apply five decision criteria, business structure, real audience, reputation, legal risk, a documented commercial obstacle, including the recommendation not to rebrand now.
A coordinated SEO migration plan
A URL by URL redirect map, coordinated with the technical rebuild of the site, so you do not lose organic traffic built over years.
A map of the hidden costs, before you start
Signage, packaging, documents, accounts, trademark fees, calculated up front rather than discovered along the way.
Preliminary legal clearance of the new name
A prior-rights search before emotional attachment to a name, so you avoid a trademark conflict discovered too late.
An internal communication plan separate from the launch
Reason, timeline and role in the transition for the team, before the public announcement. Internal resistance is the main cause of failure, not the change itself.
At least 90 days of post-launch monitoring
Organic traffic, rankings, mentions of the old versus the new brand and internal feedback, with adjustments along the way.
03 · How we work
- 01
Strategic diagnosis
We apply the five decision criteria and deliver a written recommendation, including the scenario where you do not need a rebrand right now. 1-3 weeks.
- 02
Transition strategy
We decide what stays and what changes, with a risk mitigation plan: legal clearance, internal communication, technical migration.
- 03
Identity & implementation
Naming, tone of voice, logo and visual system, plus domain migration, account updates and signage on a priority basis.
- 04
Launch and monitoring
Internal communication before the public announcement, then a controlled launch with at least 90 days of monitoring.
04 · Results
- 2024Alucard Group
Our own rebrand, carried through to the end: positioning, identity and the transition of every material.
These are the figures reported by the clients themselves, for their own accounts, over the periods shown. We do not turn them into derived percentages and we do not present them as reproducible.
05 · What people usually ask us
- “It is too expensive for a new logo.”
- A revolutionary rebrand is not a logo project, it is a risk transition project. Signage alone can reach 70% of the implementation budget. The comparison is not logo price versus rebrand price, it is the cost of a planned transition versus an unplanned one.
- “We are afraid of losing our long-standing customers.”
- The risk is real but manageable: an evolutionary rather than revolutionary rebrand, if the situation does not justify a full break, plus a communication map and technical migration where the break is necessary.
- “We will do it in-house, with the marketing team.”
- In-house rebranding systematically underestimates the hidden implementation costs and the legal trademark risk, exactly the areas where the documented market cases failed, not the design.
06 · Frequently asked questions
- How do I know whether we need a rebrand or just a visual refresh?
- Five criteria: a change in business structure, a target audience different from the original one, a gap between reputation and real capability, legal risk on the current name, a documented commercial obstacle. If none applies, a refresh is enough and far cheaper.
- Will we lose customers if we change the name or the identity?
- It is the main risk in any revolutionary rebrand, but a manageable one, and it depends on how well the change is communicated and how much of the link to the old brand is kept through the transition.
- What happens to SEO if we change the domain as well?
- We build a URL by URL redirect map, coordinated with the rebuild and migration team, the process that separates a few weeks of recovery from one that can take over a year.
- What does a rebrand actually cost, beyond the logo?
- The strategy budget is only part of it. Signage, packaging, print, accounts and trademark fees can approach or exceed the creative budget.
- Can we rebrand without changing the name?
- Yes, most rebrands are evolutionary: the positioning, the tone of voice and the visual system change, but the name stays. The technical domain and SEO risks are far smaller.
Shall we talk about your project?
Tell us where you stand. If we are not the right answer for you, you will hear it in the first conversation.
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