There are some dodgy rebranding projects out there and I usually don’t like to pick them apart. I know that there is a variety of internal political hurdles to jump, opinions to listen to, and history to keep. However, Burger King’s rebrand is something that will be showcased as a perfect example of how to do a rebrand. Instead of creating something new, they adapted what they were currently using and added in a bit of their heritage to make a banging new logo.
It worked exactly as it should have, with no mess and no fuss. But why did everyone fall in love with it? What made it so great?
KISS.
There are some rebranding projects that don’t work that well, because the designers or, more often than not, the executives don’t follow one simple rule – Keep It Simple Stupid. There are some branding projects that really try to change everything about who they are, going for a modern look without the need to, try to jump on trends when they shouldn’t. I am not one to call out anyone in particular, *cough*GAP*cough*, but there have been some absolute corkers in recent years.
Complex rebrands, where the essence of your brand is completely changed usually don’t turn out well and if you haven’t been overthrown by a new governing body, then usually slow and small changes work better. Removing something so iconic from your brand is a big no-no – a colour, a typeface, a design, anything that you have spent years building an image and trust around.
Modernise and change is a requirement to keep a brand interesting or new, but changing the essence? Something we should all take into account when thinking of a new brand project is K.I.S.S.
Build on what you have – don’t reinvent the wheel
Usually, a brand has some key elements that people really enjoy or things that really stand out about your company. Colours are a great example here like easyJet would be mad to change their trademark orange or Cadbury’s deciding that purple really isn’t their thing and become bright green or yellow.
Burger King’s Marketing team obviously knew this, because they took what worked and adapted it. They introduced interesting new colours into their brand palette, had a bit of fun with imagery, and enjoyed a brand new typeface for their heading and logotype.
Something that seems as simple as this is actually something really hard to master and the Burger King crew pulled it off with excellence. So well, they made it look a little too easy in my opinion.
Heritage
Don’t forget where you have come from, remember your fans, and don’t become too cocky. These are all things people say about celebrities or individuals, but the same can be said of companies and brands. Where your brand comes from is incredibly important and you need to figure out how to utilise that as your brand grows.
For example, the GE monogram logo we all know and love is from the early 1900s and you can even see some of the monogram appearing in the early work in the 1800s, GE has in fact done a blog post about the monogram which is worth a read. You’d be mad if you came into GE and wanted to make an impact by removing such a huge part of your organisation’s heritage. Adapt, sure, but never get rid.
Again, this is done to perfection with the new logo from the team behind Burger King’s rebrand. In fact, the new brand takes its inspiration from the logo that the fast food joint used in the 1960s. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it.
What can we learn from Burger King?
Every project that goes off well is a learning point for anyone in marketing or design – whether you are just starting out or have been in the industry for a while. What did the team behind the Burger King rebrand do so well? They stayed true to their brand values and only updated what they felt they needed too, they didn’t over-complicate things, and they made sure the new brand built on the heritage of Burger King but also looked to make sure it played well in new contexts.
Yes, this technique is hard to master and not everyone will be able to do it as well as these guys did it but not every rebrand will become textbook. In fact, if every rebrand was one for the ages, we need a bloody big book for them all.
I am sure that this won’t be the last change they make and I look forward to seeing future iterations or tweaks to their design as the brand grows.