Is 2025 time for a brand refresh?

Is 2025 The Year for a Brand Refresh?

The new year is a good time to revisit your brand to assess whether you need a brand refresh.

Is your brand still relevant? Does it cut through the noise in an increasingly crowded market?

Consumer expectations and design trends change rapidly, so it makes sense to reevaluate whether your branding is still working.

A brand refresh ensures your business remains relevant in today’s market.

This blog explains why revisiting your brand is essential to adapt to market changes, move with the times, respond to competitor activity and remain relevant to your target audience.

Signs You Need a Brand Refresh

  • Do your brand visuals look outdated?

Compare them to your competitors. Has the market moved on and left your brand behind?

If your logo, colour palette or font looks old-fashioned, it is time to rethink to make sure it is memorable whilst retaining brand equity.

  • Have sales or audience engagement started to falter?

It may be because you are no longer connecting with your target audience. You need to step up to engage customers and make those important connections.

  • Have new competitors been grabbing market share?

If they are taking attention away from your brand, you need to up your game, so your brand remains competitive and stays relevant in the market.

  • Have you ventured into new markets with your products or services?

If your focus has shifted, your brand needs to adapt, too.

  • Your brand evolves over time

Your brand story and values evolve constantly, and messaging needs to reflect this.

A well-timed brand refresh ensures your brand is contemporary, competitive, and aligned with audience needs.

If you answered yes to any of the above prompts, it is time to revisit your brand and assess its relevance in today’s marketplace.

If this sounds a bit scary, relax, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel!

A brand refresh involves subtle changes or tweaks to reflect current design trends, changing customer expectations and an evolving market.

The Make a Brew team specialises in helping brands to refresh their identity and refine brand strategies. If you need advice, contact the team or book brew with me Clare, to discuss what actions you can take to ensure brand relevance.

Why Is Revisiting Your Brand Essential?

As the market evolves, your brand has to move with it. You can’t be complacent if you want to grow.

What resonated with your audience last year may no longer hit the mark as market and audience expectations change.

Here are a few reasons why revisiting your brand is essential:

Uniqueness

Remember that your brand is unique!

Revisit your brand to clarify the elements that differentiate it from competitors and communicate this uniqueness clearly to your target audience.

Growth

Your brand needs to reflect how it has evolved.

If you have developed new brand values, services, products or goals, your brand should mirror this progression.

If you have changed direction or entered new markets, your customer base will have expanded. The subtle changes of a brand refresh will ensure you appeal to new audiences, whilst reengaging your loyal customer base.

Relevance

Your brand needs to be relevant.

As design trends and customer preferences change rapidly, a brand refresh will reinvigorate your brand visuals to ensure they have a contemporary edge while retaining the familiarity associated with your brand.

Reconnect

You know that relationships take work.

The connection with your target audience is a relationship that needs constant tweaking. The interest in your brand can fade if you do not work at it, and the competition from new brands can draw their attention away.

Customer Experience

As well as connecting with your audience, the experience of doing business with your brand should be smooth, positive and enjoyable.

Take it for a test drive yourself to see whether it reflects the brand experience you would like customers to have. Small adjustments in wording or brand voice can really help to enhance the customer journey, building trust and loyalty.

Trading Environment

Your industry and the marketplace are constantly evolving.

There may have been changes in legislation, technological innovations, digital transformation or a shift in focus, for example sustainability – all of which affect the trading environment.

Revisit your brand to ensure it can adapt to trading changes.

What Are the Key Elements of a Brand Refresh?

Okay. So, I have explained why it is important to revisit your brand. Here’s how you can make your brand stand out in an increasingly noisy marketplace.

  1. Messaging

Differentiation really matters! Showcase what makes your brand different from the rest. Ensure you remain focused on what your audience wants and be clear, concise and consistent in messaging.

  • Visual Identity

Your brand may be well-known, but the visual elements could look out of date and irrelevant. Although you want to retain brand recognition, brand visuals have to evolve to be contemporary and attract new customers.

  • Brand story

I have spoken to you many times about the power of storytelling in building your brand. By sharing your brand story and journey, you are building an emotional connection with your target audience.

  • Customer experience

I am sure you remember the old adage ‘the customer is king’?

Providing an exceptional customer experience across all touchpoints, will ensure they come back again. Customer perception is everything, so provide more value than your competitors.

You can employ some of the emerging branding trends for 2025 in your brand refresh to ensure it has a contemporary feel.

Design is becoming more technology driven as advancements are made, but at the same time, remains human centred.

In my last few blogs, I examined three of the upcoming trends:

A couple of new trends have emerged during the last few weeks, including:

  • Boldness – which embraces striking fonts and vibrantly bold colours to stand out in the marketplace and convey brand confidence.
  • Changing reality – Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are developing rapidly, providing brands with new ways of engaging and communicating with their audiences through immersive content.

Reimagining your brand for 2025

Although revisiting your brand may feel a bit daunting, it is imperative that you stay ahead of the curve in order to succeed and grow.

At Make a Brew, we specialise in helping businesses to create, build and market their brand. We can work together to reenergise brand visuals and refine your brand strategy for the year ahead.

Are you ready to make your brand unforgettable?

If you are ready to take the next step to ensure your brand stands out from the rest and resonates with your target audience, get in touch and we will revisit your brand to assess what is needed for a brand refresh. Together, we will brew something extraordinary!