In the world of marketing, a “love brand“ is a proper gem. These are brands that don’t just attract loyal customers, they inspire a deep, emotional connection with them. Think Lego, Starbucks, or even Dunkin’ — these are brands that people feel personally connected to. But as markets evolve and customer expectations shift, even the most beloved brands must adapt. This means rebranding is due; a process that risks alienating loyal customers while aiming to attract new ones.

The business landscape today changes at an unprecedented pace, driven by new competitors, evolving cultural trends, and shifting consumer demands. Younger generations, like Gen Z, expect brands to reflect values like authenticity and inclusivity, while older audiences want familiar brands to grow alongside them. At the same time, digital transformation has reshaped how customers interact with brands, raising the bar for innovation and relevance.

For love brands, the stakes are even higher. Their deep emotional connection with customers makes change risky: too much evolution can alienate loyal fans, while too little can lead to stagnation. Balancing tradition with innovation is key to ensuring love brands remain both timeless and relevant.

That’s why remaking a love brand is more than refreshing a logo or tagline. It’s a strategic shift to realign the brand’s story with the current cultural landscape, while preserving the existing emotional ties built over years. So, what’s the secret to a successful rebranding for love brands?

Here’s what we can learn from a combination of case studies and research.

What makes a brand lovable?

When considering what elevates a brand to “love brand” status, Lego stands out. Lego’s appeal goes beyond functional loyalty. It fosters an emotional connection that resonates deeply, driving consumers to both advocate for it and pay a premium for the branded products.

For Lego, the key to building this emotional bond lies in shared experiences that tokenise the brand, by creating specific, memorable interactions or moments that become symbolic of the brand itself. Parents who once played with Lego in their childhoods create new memories by building sets with their own children, forging a multi-generational relationship grounded in nostalgia. This effect is complemented by the brand’s ability to evolve while maintaining its timeless essence. By launching themed sets like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings and designing intricate kits for adults, Lego keeps long-time fans engaged while attracting new audiences, ensuring the brand remains relevant across demographics.

By extending the portfolio, Lego manages to tap into its fans’ identities, enabling them to express their creativity and passions. Whether crafting a replica of a favourite building or designing a robot, Lego empowers individuals to tell their own stories, making the brand more than a product. Lego bricks have become a platform for personal expression.

Coming back to the need to evolve — rebrands are a necessity even for the most established players. After all, Lego is 75 years old. The rebrand is the strategic refresh to keep the love alive.

Recognising brand inflection points

Rebranding isn’t about abandoning what works but about growing with the market on their own terms. For love brands, this ensures they preserve their emotional value and continue to lead.

Some signs that show it might be about time include:

1. Declining Relevance: Changing customer expectations triggered by changing tech can make even iconic brands seem outdated. As a countermeasure, Lego, for instance, successfully extended its appeal beyond children to adults by introducing complex, collectible sets tied to franchises like Star Wars and Harry Potter.
2. Crisis Management: A crisis can tarnish a brand’s reputation, and rebranding is one way to reset public perception. Volkswagen, for example, rebranded following its emissions scandal, debuting a simplified logo and a fresh “no filter” approach to signal a commitment to transparency and sustainability.
3. New Demographics: As a brand’s audience grows or diversifies, its messaging and positioning may need to change as well. McDonald’s introduction of McCafé allowed it to engage with the growing coffee culture, attracting a new segment of customers.
4. Shift in Corporate Vision: When a company repositions itself, it often issues a rebrand to communicate the change. Meta’s shift from Facebook to a new encompassing metaverse-focused brand illustrates how a name change can signal a bet on the future.
   

Rebranding is increasingly common. In fact, research shows that 74% of companies on the S&P 100 rebranded within their first seven years.

Is there a secret sauce?

Whether there are guardrails around successful rebranding is debatable. One factor to look out for is the ability to communicate the brand’s values comprehensively. Dunkin’, for instance, transitioned smoothly when it dropped “Donuts” from its name, signalling an expansion beyond its original product focus while maintaining an inclusive, welcoming feel. The subtle name change allowed Dunkin’ to evolve its brand while holding on to its core identity.

Preserving essential elements is equally important to rebranding. Coca-Cola offers a masterclass in this balance. Over decades, the company has modernised its logo and packaging but has never strayed from its iconic red-and-white colour scheme nor its focus on joy and togetherness. This consistency has helped it retain emotional resonance while staying in tune with younger consumers.

A vague but strongly felt notion is that successful rebrands align with current market trends and stay rooted in the core of what made the brand beloved in the first place. Preserving what customers value while addressing contemporary needs is the fragile but necessary balance you need to strike.

As usual, there is a flip side: rebrands are extremely tricky and can create trouble for a brand, too. An example is Tropicana’s branding and packaging redesign, which replaced its recognisable “orange with a straw” imagery with a minimalist design and emphasised a plain text logo. While modern and clean, the redesign alienated loyal customers, which resulted in a drop in sales, forcing Tropicana to revert to its original design. The debacle highlights the importance of maintaining familiarity and recognition, even when pursuing a noticeable change.

Actionable steps for successfully rebranding a love brand

But what can we now actually learn from these examples? Based on successful rebrands, here are some practical steps for brands navigating the rebranding process:

1. Engage with Your Audience: Get feedback from loyal customers through surveys or focus groups to understand what they love most about the brand. This can help you retain essential elements in the rebrand.
2. Create a Compelling Brand Story: Craft a narrative around why the rebrand is happening and how it benefits the customer. Highlight the brand’s mission, vision, and values, and show how the rebrand aligns with these core principles.
3. Evolve the Brand, Don’t Replace It: Update visual elements and messaging to reflect a fresh direction, but keep recognisable features intact. This preserves brand recognition while adding relevance for new customers.
4. Measure and Adapt: After launching the rebrand, track metrics like NPS, CLV, and Emotional Connection Score. While the right metrics change from case to case, having clear KPIs in mind is crucial as it reveals how the rebrand impacts customer perception and provides insights for fine-tuning the strategy.
   

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• Net Promoter Score (NPS): This score reflects how likely customers are to recommend a brand to others, which is a strong indicator of loyalty.
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Measuring the total revenue expected from a single customer, CLV can provide insights into the economic impact of loyalty.
• Emotional Connection Score: This newer metric assesses the strength of the emotional bond between a brand and its customers, helping brands understand the depth of customer relationships.

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Final thought: evolve with intention

Rebranding is fascinating and challenging, as it requires both art and science. Love brands must approach the task thinking about their legacy while developing a vision for their future. For business leaders, rebranding is an opportunity to future-proof their brand by embracing shifts in technology, consumer values, and market dynamics. When executed thoughtfully, rebranding enables love brands to mature and be loved in a whole new way.

Image by Jamie Street (Unsplash).