Rebrands usually start with a problem.
Maybe your messaging feels stale. Maybe your audience has shifted, but your brand hasn’t kept up. Or maybe your team isn’t even sure how to describe what you do anymore. Whatever the reason, a rebrand is an opportunity to reset. A chance to sharpen your story, rethink your positioning, and make sure your brand actually reflects who you are and where you’re headed. Done right, it makes people pay attention, connect, and buy in.
But often brands rush in without laying the groundwork. Without clear foundations (think belief, promise, values, and positioning), even the slickest rebrand will fall flat. And here’s the kicker: if your employees don’t get it, your customers never will. Your team is your first and most important audience, so if they don’t understand your brand’s purpose, how can they bring it to life? If they aren’t aligned, every touchpoint suffers. That’s when it’s time for a rethink.
This is what we do best — branding that actually makes an impact. And recently, we were invited to pitch for a massive brand development project for a seriously epic global brand. So, we figured why not spill the tea on what it really takes to pull off a $100,000 rebrand?
Phase 1: Laying the groundwork
Before starting anything else, we need to get deep under the hood of your brand, answering questions like ‘what’s working?’, ‘what’s not?’, and ‘where do you want to be?’. This phase is all about alignment, and getting key stakeholders on the same page and setting a solid foundation. We consolidate existing brand assets, gather intel from leadership, and lock in a clear roadmap. A structured onboarding process, complete with deep-dive questionnaires and discovery sessions, ensures we’re building on something real, not just guesswork.
Phase 2: Research and analysis
You can’t carve out a unique position in the market without knowing what’s out there. This is where we roll up our sleeves and dig into competitor analysis, audience insights, and industry trends. We use tools like SparkToro, Roy Morgan, and Nielsen to uncover what people actually think, need, and expect from brands in your space. The goal is to find the gaps, identify opportunities, and position your brand in a way that makes it impossible to ignore.
Phase 3: Discovery and alignment
A brand without a strong core is just a pretty facade. Through in-depth workshops, we work with key stakeholders to pin down your brand’s values, personality, and positioning. We break down what makes successful brands tick, analyse reference brands, and map out what truly sets you apart. By the end of this phase, we’ve got a rock-solid strategic direction that’s true to your vision — and market ready.
Phase 4: Brand strategy development
Now it’s time to bring everything together into an actionable brand strategy. We develop positioning statements, refine messaging, and establish the key pillars that will drive every creative decision moving forward. This is the blueprint that ensures every touchpoint, from social media to customer service, feels intentional. We also run independent validation if needed, using third-party research to test the strategy before we hit go.
Phase 5: Building the brand identity
A brand’s identity needs to cover how it sounds, as well as how it looks. We start with verbal identity, defining tone of voice, key messages, and a structured messaging hierarchy. Then, we bring it to life visually with logos, typography, colour palettes, and other design elements. The result is a seamless verbal and visual identity system that works across every channel. And to keep things tight, we create detailed brand guidelines that ensure consistency, no matter who’s executing the brand.
Phase 6: Bringing it to life
Brand guidelines are all well and good, but brands don’t live in presentation decks — they live in the real world. This phase is all about application, where we mock up how the brand rolls out across digital and physical touchpoints. From websites and social media to signage, packaging, and campaign assets, we make sure the brand feels cohesive everywhere it appears. When it’s time to launch, everything is in place for a high-impact rollout.
Phase 7: Embedding brand culture
A brand is only as strong as the people behind it. If your team isn’t aligned with the new brand, neither will your customers be. That’s why we focus on embedding the brand internally first—through brand culture guidelines, ‘brand commandments,’ and internal engagement strategies. We create tools like brand videos, workshops, and structured rollout plans to ensure employees don’t just see the new brand, they live it. Because a brand that’s deeply understood from the inside out is the one that truly sticks.
Outcomes
A $100,000 rebrand doesn’t just happen overnight — it’s built with intention, strategy, and a whole lot of groundwork. Here’s what that investment typically covers:
- Brand book – A strategic document that consolidates all foundational elements of your brand. It includes:
- Brand foundations: Who you are, what you stand for, and where you fit in. This includes brand architecture, positioning statements (mission, vision, purpose, values, brand belief, and promise), audience personas, and brand personality.
- Brand identity: The verbal and visual tools that bring your brand to life. We define your tone of voice, key messages, taglines, and a word bank that aligns with your brand personality. Then, we lock in the visual side — logos, typography, color palettes, and execution guidelines to keep everything on-brand.
- Brand expression: How your brand shows up across every touchpoint, including mock-ups that show how your brand lives in the real world across social media, websites, EDMs, advertising, and print materials.
- Brand culture: A brand is only as strong as the people behind it. This chapter outlines how to embed the brand internally with brand commandments, real-world behavioral scenarios, and an internal communications strategy to ensure employees can truly live and breathe the brand.
- Brand guidelines – A technical document that ensures designers, marketers, and content creators execute the brand correctly. Think of it as the go-to reference for keeping everything aligned, from typography and colours to messaging and content.
- Messaging matrix – A structured framework defining core messages, audience-specific variations, and adaptable messaging for different channels.
- Internal communications strategy – This plan maps out exactly how to roll out the rebrand internally — introducing the brand book, engaging leadership, training employees, and creating feedback loops to make sure the brand sticks.
- Brand campaign – A strategic initiative designed to launch the rebrand effectively, driving awareness, improving brand tracking metrics (share of voice, brand and offering awareness), and ultimately contributing to revenue growth.
The value of a strategic rebrand
A rebrand shapes how people see, feel, and connect with your business. It creates clarity, builds trust, and ensures your brand stands out for the right reasons. Internally, it aligns teams, sharpens messaging, and reinforces company culture. Externally, it strengthens recognition, attracts the right audience, and positions your business for growth.
A $100K rebrand is a strategic investment with long-term impact. It refines how your business shows up at every touchpoint—website, social, advertising, internal communications—and makes sure everything works together seamlessly. It gives your team the confidence to communicate the brand with consistency and purpose, making every interaction count.
Strong brands don’t happen by accident. If yours isn’t cutting through, it’s time to rethink how you show up — and we can help you.
