Rebrands can be an expensive way to say “we’re bored.” Sometimes necessary, sometimes not. Use this quick stress test to decide whether you need a full rebrand, or a focused refresh that protects hard‑won equity.

The Stress Test (A necessary check-list for founders feeling bored of their brand)

1) Have your best customers changed, and can you prove it?

Pull the last 12–24 months: revenue by cohort, channel mix, top SKUs by buyer segment. If your top 20% of customers look different from launch days, your story might need to evolve.

2) Are you still findable in three seconds?

Shelf or scroll, same rule: three seconds to spot you, name you, and know why you exist. Run a quick asset check: colour, shape, wordmark, pack silhouette. If recognition falls below 70% in a blind lineup, distinctiveness is slipping. As the shelf scape changes (or other brands try to emulate a legacy brand’s vibe: BUMMER), you might need to dig back to your roots to create something uniquely you.

3) Are you visually priced right?

For CPG brands: does your pack and brand language signal the margin you need? Ask a cold panel to guess your MSRP. If they’re off by >10% or consistently under‑valuing you, your cues and claims are misaligned.For non-CPG brands: are you consistently getting feedback that you’re too expensive? That might be a positioning problem if so.

4) Will the brand stretch cleanly into the next channel, product, or market?

Club, convenience, international, or a new category? Check legibility at size, regulatory copy, claim hierarchy, and naming conventions. If the system breaks when you scale or translate it, you’ll pay for it later. Sometimes your hero identity doesn’t make sense in the category your new product is in, which is either a signifier for a new sub-brand, or an evolution/refresh of your main one.

5) Is the portfolio crystal clear?

Line extensions, flavors, sizes, can a distracted shopper choose correctly in two seconds? If variants compete with the parent or naming sprawl has started, fix architecture before you repaint everything.

6) Are we seeing creative fatigue, not just performance dips?

If ROAS is flat but brand lift, recall, and search interest are soft, the issue may be brand memory, not media. Weak ROAS = forgettable ads.

7) Are decisions slow because the brand isn’t defined tightly enough?

Too many rewrites, inconsistent briefs, “it doesn’t feel like us” debates—these are symptoms of fuzzy foundations. Tighten the rules or evolve the system.

What Your Answer Means

• 3+ red flags: Explore a rebrand or a disciplined evolution. You likely have structural issues (positioning clarity, asset weakness, or identity confusion) that go deeper than a refresh. This may mean a bigger overhaul — rethinking your brand foundation, visuals, messaging, and packaging
• 0–2 red flags: You’re probably dealing with founder boredom. Run a contained refresh within your existing system: tune copy, photography, hierarchy, and channel‑specific needs without eroding trust. (A note from us as designers: we love tweaking existing wordmarks when it makes sense, and budget-wise, it doesn’t always mean less $$ than creating a new wordmark). Alternateively, you can unleash your need to stretch your identity within indivudla cmapaigns, in-person activations, or cool one-off print projects (think: coffee table book).

Is what you actually need a Brand Audit?

Book a Brand Audit with Grant. In three weeks you’ll have a detailed report of how your brand, visuals, and packaging stack up compared to your vision, goals, and audience’s needs. You supply us the baselines, and we’ll give you insight on if there are any changes we’d recommend. $3200 CAD = clarity on what's needed.

Brands for betterment is why we’re here. Let’s make the next version of your brand the strongest, not just the newest.

→ Book Your Brand Audit

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