On average, organizations and brands change their corporate identities once every seven to ten years. This often involves restyling logos, color palettes, visual language and the photographic style. In every company there comes the day when the shiny luster has worn off its branding and a company starts to wonder if the brand is doing more harm than good.

Here are five reasons why a rebranding might be a good strategy for your company:

1) Outdated image

One of the most common reasons for undertaking a corporate rebrand project is modernization. Trends mean that over time brands come across as old-fashioned if they have not been updated. Although in many cases it is not the main reason, a more modern image is often one of the motivations behind a rebrand project.

2) Changing brand portfolio

Over the years, an organization has to deal with the development and acquisition of numerous new brands. In time this results in an extremely diverse and broad brand portfolio that is no longer logical for anyone and is therefore only still understood by a handful of people. Furthermore, carrying many different brands often leads to high costs when it comes to maintaining and promoting the brand. In such cases, rebranding ensures that the entire brand portfolio is brought into line and tells a clear story about the organization.

3) Your Customer Evolves

As consumer behavior evolves, so should your brand. With so many choices available for your audience, your company must stay relevant and noticed. Today’s speed of business results in changes to the things that are important to a target audience (e.g., technology, pricing, convenience). A proactive, new brand is more powerful than fighting for client retention, or reacquiring your audience after they switch.

4) Further development of corporate identity

A few years ago, for the majority of organizations a corporate identity consisted of just a logo, a primary colour palette and typography. Brand elements such as a photographic style, visual language and a secondary colour palette had not been defined back then. This meant that there was a great deal of freedom when it came to applying the corporate identity, with the result that the brand’s visual image ultimately became something of a mess. In such cases the further development of an organisation’s corporate identity is a must to ensure the creation of a consistent and recognizable brand.

5) New CEO

Brands are commonly linked to a company’s leader, particularly in privately held organizations when the brand takes on a founder’s personality. When the company changes hands, from one generation to another or to an outside owner, a new identity is a way to reflect the transition. The shift is usually about more than the brand; it affects change in other parts of the organization and branding can help bring about and enforce this change.