We love to judge and have our opinions considered—that’s a fact. It’s the reason Jersey Shore, Keeping up with the Kardashians, and The Bachelor are such hits. But there’s a simple reason one of the first things your mother taught you was not to judge a book by its cover or a person by what you hear said about them. That reason is context or as they say in the vernacular, the whole picture.
Brands don’t live and grow in a vacuum. They exist and thrive in very specific contexts. The contexts surrounding brands are (or should be) the determining factor for decision-making. So then, if we learned not to judge a book by its cover or our friend Bob by what his neighbor said about him, why then do we make such a fuss over new logos?
Rebrands, especially as they happen to large household names, are (or should be) planned and executed to the smallest minutia, often by highly gifted and experienced teams. The costs and risks involved are through the roof. I’m not saying that some rebrands couldn’t stand to be put through the ringer, especially the ones that just happen because they look irrelevant to some younger generation (FOMO anyone?), but by its very nature, a good rebrand investment will play out its effects in time and more often than not, the outcome of a good rebrand is most discernible years later while looking back.
A successful brand refresh is aimed at distinctiveness and often happens when companies go through major transformations—one of the few times where a rebrand makes sense. At the core of their existence, brands are meant to help people distinguish between different players in the same category and they serve as vessels that collect equity over consistent and pertinent use. Behavioral science tells us that brands aren’t nearly as emotion and meaning-infused as some would like us to believe. Since then, the priority of good branding is distinctiveness, looking good in everyone’s eyes might or might not be a high priority for every rebrand.
We ought to stop judging new brands at launch because from where they’re standing success might look very different than from your perspective. We should stop judging new brands at the get go because we most probably don’t have the whole picture (meaning the judgement is probably wrong). And we should stop judging new brands at launch because, frankly, there are probably better things to give our time and attention than dissing on the new Airbnb logo. Don’t judge if you don’t know the whole context and give new brands a chance to prove themselves.
