Rebrands look glamorous from the outside — a bold new logo, fresh visuals, confident messaging — but inside, those results often materialize from a mix of excitement, anxiety and tough lessons. This article gathers hard-earned insights from clients who’ve recently rebranded, uncovering what they wish they had known before starting the process. Spoiler alert: It’s not just about changing how the brand looks. It’s about rediscovering what the brand stands for.
Lesson One: You may know what the brand stands for, but the brand isn’t showing it.
Many client teams fear a rebrand means tearing everything down to the studs and rebuilding. More often, a rebrand is about clarifying and amplifying what’s already there. In fact, the discovery period of AvreaFoster’s process before a rebrand strategy might be better described as a rediscovery for client teams.
For example: Earlier this year, AvreaFoster engaged with Lyssn on a brand refresh project. Lyssn is a tech innovator using AI to transform how health and human services and behavioral health care organizations train for evidence-based practices and monitor the quality of their services. While the company had amassed a diverse team of experts and cultivated a culture of passion and commitment to the industry, the brand itself leaned too clinical and lacked the human qualities the team possessed along with its powerful technology. The rebrand simply brought that human insight to the surface, balancing what the company did (technology providers) with how they did it (focused on people).
Kendra Pogue, an integrated marketing manager at Lyssn, summarizes the rebrand experience like this: “The most surprising part of our rebrand process was that we realized we had a strong core identity internally; the issue was just that our brand wasn’t fully expressing that to the outside world. Instead of overhauling our entire brand foundation, it was exciting to keep the core elements we felt were genuine to our mission and upgrade our overall look and feel to match the support our team gives our customers every day.”
Lesson 2: Letting go is the hardest (and most necessary) part.
Whether the refresh is for a decades-old brand or a startup ready to expand, all our clients have one thing in common: They’ve achieved success. For that reason — and perhaps because founders often have a deep attachment to the brand — it can be difficult to open leadership up to the idea of change. But the brand process that requires them to release control also helps them to gain clarity.
For example: AvreaFoster partnered with Legacy Knight, an independent family office serving multiple high-net-worth families. Its rebrand focused on elevating its visual identity and more clearly articulating what the brand does — and for whom. Matthew Ogle, founding partner and CEO of Legacy Knight, shared his apprehension: “I had a really hard time with somebody coming in and messing with our brand — especially a group that didn’t know a lot about our business.”
His unease about trusting an external team, especially one unfamiliar with his complex industry, isn’t unique. In fact, many of our clients set out looking for a firm with specific experience in their fields. But trust is often earned through discovery — as AvreaFoster did with Legacy Knight. We substantiated our brand strategy recommendations with clear truths that were revealed during stakeholder interviews and independent market research.
“It was difficult at first,” Ogle says. “But when I let my guard down and just gave the brand team the reins, they came up with something so much more valuable than I could ever do on my own. Having a group come in with fresh eyes and a creative mindset helped us articulate our vision.”
Lesson 3: Prepare to hear what you don’t expect.
If you have the right brand partner, that team digs into research to learn everything they can about the brand’s current market position, how the brand is experienced and perceived, and where leadership wants to take it in the future. AvreaFoster has been in business for more than 30 years, and rarely have our clients not been surprised by something during our discovery findings presentations.
For example: Legacy Knight was presented with research findings that revealed some unexpected insights from both internal and external stakeholders. It’s not uncommon for customers and employees to see the brand differently, which can be humbling but also clarifying if you’re willing to listen. Ogle reflects on his experience: “The client research piece was eye-opening for me. It was sobering to hear their insights and, even though it was surprising how people felt about our logo, it probably shouldn’t have been. That was us on a napkin, sketching out an idea six years ago. The brand had become something totally different, and the logo really needed to fit what we were now.”
A rebrand is an evolution, not an event.
A rebrand isn’t about fixing a broken identity — it’s about revealing the one you’ve already built. It’s also about alignment: aligning the business strategy with the brand strategy; aligning the outward brand with the inner truth; and aligning leadership, employees, clients and prospects. That requires a thoughtful process led by neutral, independent brand experts ready to leave no stone unturned.
Yet many B2B leaders approach rebrands as internal projects rather than strategic transformations. Perhaps it’s because they don’t realize the disconnect between their vision and how the brand is perceived. Or perhaps they simply fear change. To those individuals, we leave a final thought from Ogle: “Brands grow and brands refresh — just like the markets do.”