Retro Rebranding

You might wonder why brands have chosen to opt for an ‘old’ logo design like Burger King have, rather than completely overhaul. Well, when you think about fashion, you often see trends rolling round again. Today, we see 90s fashion making a comeback when it comes to clothing, that’s not far off the mark when it comes to brand design either.

Remember when the noughties rolled around and everything was bubbly, 3D, and attempted to look realistic? That was a trend that also made its way into brand design too. Take the likes of Burger King’s previous logo, they adopted a false shine effect on the burger element that comes from the ‘design trends’ of that period. Look at Pepsi, they had drop shadows, and a realistic 3D device, that even includes beads of condensation, a far cry from their flat design of today.

Now we see brands taking a more simple approach to their design that isn’t too dissimilar from the style we saw in the early 90s. So why not capitalise on resurrecting elements from that time too? Nostalgia is a very powerful tool when it comes to design, people connect with their past, and like to reminisce on days gone by, so brands tap into that feeling of “the good old days”. Burger King have managed to succeed here because they’ve taken the old branding and remixed it for today, giving old customers that beautiful nostalgia hit with the old logo, and giving new customers a fresh experience with the supporting creative.

It’s not exactly a new concept, we’ve seen brands going back to their roots a lot. Take Co-op, Kodak, Reebok and even Coca Cola as examples. But why go backwards when attempting to move forwards?

It all comes down to simplicity. If you have huge recognition, as the likes of these brands do, the way you communicate with your audience can be narrowed down to a really simple set of elements that still keeps you really recognisable. It’s not just brands going ‘retro’ that demonstrates this either. McDonalds, Starbucks and Pepsi have all gone down the route of ‘brand simplification’. If you see a certain colour purple, you can probably attribute it to Cadbury’s, if you see a white swoosh on a red background, you’ll immediately think of Coca Cola.

Powerful brands can utilise a simple set of rules, that makes them super recognisable, but also leaves the door open for diverse design possibilities in the future too.

While these big brands can distill their brand essence down to some very simple elements, it’s not as easy as stripping back as far as you can and calling it a day. These brands have that luxury because of the exposure they have. However, that’s not to say there isn’t a lesson to be learnt here if you’re not a global powerhouse like Burger King.

Take for example, one of our clients – JC Metalworks. We worked with them to streamline elements of their brand, such as the messaging. We worked with them to clearly communicate their service offering, something they’d struggled to do in the past without convoluted messaging. As well as this, we worked up some fresh creative to deploy across their branding, introducing a warmer colour palette and some simple iconography to convey their linear process.

This was a rebrand that never touched the logo, but instead stripped back their brand messaging to its core. Clarity can be found when you really simplify what you’re saying. No fluff, just truth.

That is exactly why we were so impressed with what Burger King, and many other brands have done. Go back to your roots – keep it simple.