when not to rebrand
Updated: 3 days ago
most rebrands flop because someone changed the one thing consumer used to recognise the brand by. rookie move.
mclaren’s refresh has just taken a public pasting and jaguar ran the same play before it. so before anyone signs off a rebrand, ask the awkward question:
what are we fixing, and was it actually broken?
why everyone’s suddenly a critic
a logo now reads as a statement about who a brand is for, and the brand doesn’t control the story.
edelman’s 2026 research found people trust unpaid voices over a brand’s own messaging.
launch without a word and the comments will tell the story for you.
the people complaining are mostly defending a feeling: something they owned got taken away without a word.
exhibits a and b
take mclaren (sep 2026). new wordmark, wider palette, one system across racing and automotive. papaya, the speedmark and the speedy kiwi all stayed and the internet came for it anyway.
image: mclaren racing
our take: for a brand built on moving forward, fast, reaching back to a family service station is an odd direction. why check the rear-view mirror at that speed?
now look at etisalat (oct 2026). in 2022 it became e&, pitching itself as a global tech and investment group. four years on, for its 50th anniversary, the original name is back and the company says it reflects its heritage and its ambitions for the ai era. one of the most recognised names in the region left and then returned, which tells you what a name like that is worth.
so fit decides it, whether a brand leans on heritage or on the future.
coca-cola (jul 2026) shows the other route. refined script, vertical wordmark, brand guidelines turned into code. the logo barely moved and the real change lived in the system, which takes serious nerve. shoppers did grumble that zero sugar now looks a lot like regular, which is an easy fix.
so how do you tell a loud reaction from a damaging one? ask whether the change took away something people recognised, trusted or felt belonged to them. if yes, put it back and swallow your pride. if no, explain the continuity and hold your nerve.
when to leave the logo alone:
the thing you’re about to change is the thing people recognise. on a shelf you get half a second, so make it count.
you want a change because change feels like progress. keeping a strong logo takes more confidence, and coca-cola barely touched its own.
your guidelines keep slipping. a pdf nobody opens and a second blue from a regional office are how brands drift. fix the system first.
before you hit publish
three questions.
1. what do people think they own and what are we taking away?
2. can we explain the change in one sentence they’d accept?
3. is the logo the real issue or is it what sits behind it?
change the logo if you must. just keep what people know you by.
