The best rebranding examples share one trait: the business first decided what had changed about itself, then changed its brand identity, name or new logo to match.
This article is for business owners and marketers who are weighing a change and want inspiration they can check. Below are five real rebranding examples, from Dropbox, Slack, Mailchimp, Dunkin’ and Meta, with what each rebranding decided and what a growing business can copy.
A rebrand can mean a new name, a new logo, a new color palette or a new message, and the most successful rebrands change only what has stopped working. If you want the full picture first, read our explainer on what rebranding is and our guide to visual identity.
Good rebranding examples start with a business reason, not a new logo
Most lists of the best rebrands show before and after logos and stop. That teaches you to admire the style and miss the substance. The more useful question is what changed in the business that made the old brand identity wrong.
For each of these rebranding examples we name the reason, the change, what the company kept, and one question for your own brand. We use only what each company said on its own pages, so you can check every claim at its source. Treat them as inspiration for your own decisions, not templates to copy.
There is a plain commercial reason to study successful rebrands. Rebranding is an expensive, public decision, and the businesses that handle it well can say in one sentence why they did it. Those that cannot tend to change the look of the brand and leave the real problem where it was.
| Example | The reason | What changed | What was kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dropbox | The brand had not kept pace with the company | New logo, color and look | The idea of the box, evolved |
| Slack | The logo was hard to reproduce | A simpler logo and palette | The spirit of the original |
| Mailchimp | The name stood for more than email | Logo, wordmark, typeface, colors | The quirky character |
| Dunkin’ | Customers already used the short name | The name | Colors and typeface |
| Meta | One company brand for several apps | The parent company name | The names of its apps |
Dropbox rebranding followed a company that had outgrown its brand
On 3 October 2017, Dropbox announced a new look and a global brand campaign. In its own post, the company described it as the biggest change to its brand in ten years, and said that Dropbox had changed in that time while its brand had not.
The old blue box became a mark that the company described as a collection of surfaces, to suggest an open platform rather than a place to keep files. The new look paired contrasting colors and typefaces with bold graphic elements and customers’ own creative work.
The lesson is that the new logo followed the business. Dropbox wanted to be seen as a place where teams work, so the symbol stopped being a literal box. The company kept the box idea and moved it forward, so existing customers could still recognize the brand.
Ask of your own brand: has the business moved on while the mark stayed where it was?
Slack’s new logo simplified a brand identity that was hard to use well
Slack’s January 2019 announcement is unusually honest about the problem. The old logo used 11 different colors and looked poor on backgrounds other than white. Slack also said it had to be placed at a precisely prescribed 18 degree rotation to look right.
Because of this, Slack explained, its team made several versions of the brand logo to compensate, and app buttons ended up looking different from each other and from the logo itself.
The new logo uses a simpler color palette and is easier to apply in more places. Slack said the change was not “change for the sake of change”, and that other visuals on its website, in advertising and in parts of the product would follow over the next few months.
The lesson is practical. A brand logo that needs special handling will be handled badly by someone, sooner or later. Simplifying the mark made the identity easier to use consistently for everyone.
Ask of your own brand: could a supplier, a printer or a new colleague reproduce your logo correctly without calling you?
Mailchimp’s rebranding showed a name can outgrow the first product
Mailchimp’s September 2018 announcement says the company updated its logo, wordmark, typeface, colors and imagery. It also changed the spelling of its name from MailChimp to Mailchimp, with a lowercase c.
The reason it gives is growth. The name began as a playful metaphor, and Mailchimp says it had grown from an email marketing company into a marketing platform for small businesses.
It also said that over time, parts of the customer experience had developed in different directions, and it wanted one recognizable system across accounts, website, marketing and support.
Mailchimp was clear about what it wanted to keep: the quirky elements that appealed to its early customers, with room left to grow. Aside from new colors and illustrations, the company said the in-app experience was mostly unchanged.
The lesson is that rebranding can pull scattered pieces together. A new visual identity gave the company one style to apply everywhere, which is also the job of good brand guidelines.
Ask of your own brand: do your website, invoices, social profiles and proposals look like they come from the same business?
Dunkin’ changed only the name, and kept the rest of its identity
On 25 September 2018, Dunkin’ Donuts announced that it would officially be known as Dunkin’. The reasons it gave were that customers already called the brand Dunkin’, and that the change supported a plan to be a beverage-led, on-the-go brand. Its chief marketing officer described it as moving to a first-name basis with America.
The release is just as clear about what stayed. The pink and orange colors and the typeface introduced in 1973 were kept, and the company said donuts would remain a significant focus. Only the word “donuts” left the logo and branding.
The new branding began appearing on packaging, advertising, the website and social channels from January 2019, and the company said it had tested the logo at locations over the previous year.
The lesson is restraint. When people already use a shorter name and a recognizable look, the smallest change that fits the strategy may be the right one. This is closer to a brand refresh than a full rebrand.
Ask of your own brand: which parts of your identity do customers already recognize, and are you sure you want to change them?
Meta gave several apps one company brand, and kept the app names
On 28 October 2021, Facebook announced that the company was now Meta. Its own post says the new company brand brings its apps and technologies together, and that its focus is to help bring the metaverse to life.
The same post is clear about what did not change. Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp kept their names, the corporate structure stayed the same, and the announcement did not alter how user data is used or shared.
The lesson is that a parent brand and its product brands can be separated. When one company runs several well-known products, renaming the company can reflect a strategic shift in focus without disturbing the names customers use every day.
Ask of your own brand: if you offer several services, does one company name need to sit over them, or does each need its own identity?
What these rebranding examples have in common
Put the five side by side and the pattern is clear. None of the rebranding began with a logo brief. Each began with a statement about the business, and the visual change followed.
- A reason in one sentence. Dropbox had outgrown its brand, Slack’s logo was hard to use, Mailchimp’s name had outgrown its first product, Dunkin’ customers already used the short name, and Meta needed one name over several apps.
- Something deliberately kept. The box idea, the spirit of the original, the quirky character, the colors and typeface, and the app names were all carried over.
- A rollout, not a reveal. Slack and Dunkin’ both described changes arriving over the following months, and Dropbox launched alongside a campaign.
- One system, applied everywhere. Each of these successful rebrands made the brand easier to apply consistently, which is the point of brand guidelines and a clear visual identity.
Our guide to brand identity examples covers brands that built an identity well. Rebranding is the same craft, applied to a brand that already has an audience to carry along.
Companies rebrand to match a shift in the business, an audience or a market
Looking across successful rebrands, the reasons fall into a short list. A company may rebrand to appeal to new audiences, to modernize its brand identity, to streamline several services under one cohesive identity, or to clarify its messaging so it stays consistent everywhere.
Rebranding can also answer a negative public perception, and it can reflect a strategic shift in focus.
Innovative companies in every industry rebrand as they grow. Airbnb’s own company timeline lists July 2014 as the month it introduced a new logo, the Belo, and a new symbol is often how a business tells the world, and its community, that it has changed.
Kia’s own announcement of January 2021 says it removed “Motors” from its corporate name, previously Kia Motors Corporation, as it expanded beyond vehicle manufacturing into new mobility products and services.
In an August 2023 post, Victoria’s Secret says it has moved away from a narrow idea of sexiness toward diversity in its products, marketing, sizing and store design, which is a change aimed at a wider audience.
Treat any launch as a chance to bring that community with you, and to take inspiration from others without copying their style.
Notice that the visual identity comes last in that list of causes. The strategy changes first, and the new logo, color palette and typeface make the change visible.
Dunkin’ matched its name to the way customers spoke. Mailchimp matched its look to a larger platform. Dropbox matched its mark to a company that was no longer only a place to keep files.
Brands must also keep evolving as the values of their audience change, and a rebrand is one way to do it. The test is whether the new image is true to what the company now does. A visual identity that promises more than the operation delivers will confuse the people you want to reach.
Partial brand refresh or complete rebrand: choose the smallest change that works
Not every rebranding example is a total reinvention. A partial brand refresh keeps the name and the core mark, and updates the logo details, typeface, color palette or tagline so the brand looks current. A complete rebrand changes the name, the positioning and the whole visual identity together.
Dunkin’ sits near the refresh end, because it kept its colors and typeface and removed one word. Mailchimp sits in the middle, because it changed the system but kept its quirky character. Our guide to brand refresh vs rebrand sets out how to choose between the two.
Do the research first: the best rebrands begin with the core problem
Before any redesign, understand the core problem and your starting point. Ask what your company stands for today, what the company’s vision is for the next few years, and where the two no longer line up. That gap is the real brief.
Look at your industry as well.
Talk to consumers and existing customers about what they value, which parts of the brand feel relevant to them, and what they would miss if it changed. Good research gives a team the tools to establish a clear direction, and it stops the loudest opinion in the room from winning.
Then write a short brief that names the one thing the rebranding must achieve, and align your team behind it. The key is to identify the reason first and create the new look second. Test two or three concepts with customers before you commit, and avoid anything that makes the brand boring or generic.
A tagline, a slogan or a new logo can come after that, never before. This is how a business that is expanding into new markets, or recently changed what it sells, avoids a rebrand that is only a new image.
Measure the launch of a new brand by sentiment, engagement and sales
A rebrand is not finished when the launch event ends. Plan a structured rollout so staff, partners and customers do not meet the new brand in a confusing order, and align your team early so everyone describes the change the same way. Dunkin’ and Slack both described a phased launch.
Then track whether the change worked. Success shows up in sentiment and engagement first, and in sales and inquiries later. Set the measures before launch, so you can compare them against a baseline and find out whether the new image helped or only looked different.
A brand with strong equity, meaning the recognition and trust it has already earned, should keep that equity through the change.
Some rebrands stall or backfire. Successful rebranding can revive a stagnant company, but it can also alienate loyal customers when the change ignores what they valued. Treat negative reactions as information, listen to the customers who object, and be ready to explain the reason again.
The risk in any rebranding is losing the existing customers you already have
A new image can attract a new audience, but it can also confuse the people who already buy from you. Every one of these rebranding examples handled this the same way: the company told existing customers what was changing and why, and kept the cues those customers relied on.
Think about your own target audience and your existing customer base before you commit.
Who recognizes you today, and what do they recognize you by? A shop sign in Maun, a tender document in Gaborone and a LinkedIn page in Johannesburg all carry your brand, and each one has to change together or the new brand identity will look half finished.
That is also why a partial brand refresh is often the better first step. You keep the name and the core mark, tidy the color palette and typeface, and apply the identity consistently. If the business has genuinely changed, a full rebrand can follow with evidence behind it.
How to judge whether your business needs rebranding
You do not need to be Dropbox to learn from these rebranding examples. A small or mid-sized business can run the same test with four questions.
- What has changed in the business? New services, new customers, a new region or a merger are real reasons. A feeling that the logo looks dated is not enough on its own.
- What do customers already recognize? List the name, colors, shapes and phrases people use when they talk about you. Those are assets of the brand to keep.
- Is the problem the logo, or how it is used? Slack’s problem was partly the mark and partly the many versions. Many businesses need consistent use of the identity they have before they need something new.
- Can you say the reason in one sentence? If not, wait.
The difference between a refresh and a rebrand matters here. Our logo versus brand explainer shows why a new logo alone rarely solves a brand problem, and the Brand Library term for rebrand sets out the wider definition.
If you are weighing this up now, our ebook The Rebrand Decision helps you sort the question into refresh, full rebrand, or simply more discipline in how you already use your brand. If you want one practical note on brand each Wednesday, join the Ground Truth newsletter.
Rebranding is part of the wider work we do in brand strategy, where the decision comes before the design.
FAQ
What are some of the best rebranding examples?
Commonly cited rebranding examples include Dropbox in 2017, Slack in 2019, Mailchimp in 2018, Dunkin’ in 2018 and Meta in 2021. Each is useful because the company published its own reasons, so you can read what it decided and what it kept.
What makes a rebrand successful?
Successful rebrands start with a clear business reason, keep what customers already recognize, and apply the new brand identity consistently everywhere. The look is the last step, not the first.
Is a new logo the same as a rebrand?
No. A new logo changes one part of a brand identity. A rebrand changes how the business is seen, which may involve its name, message, colors and behavior as well as the logo.
When should a business start rebranding?
When something real has changed, such as new services, new audiences, a merger or a name that no longer fits, and the current brand cannot carry it. If the only complaint is that the logo looks old, a refresh may be enough.
Can a rebrand go wrong?
Yes. A rebrand can confuse existing customers if it discards what they recognize or changes more than the strategy needs. That is why the best rebranding examples keep something deliberately and explain the change.