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A corporate rebrand might seem like a natural way to freshen up your company’s image or redefine your market positioning. But rebranding can be a risky decision, especially if your business has an employee experience gap.
An employee experience gap happens when employees see their organizations differently from the way their employers think they do. And this misalignment can derail even the most exciting rebrands as employees withhold the support and enthusiasm needed to make the rebrand succeed.
The 2023 Twitter-to-X rebrand is an example of a rebrand that didn’t “land”, in part because it didn’t resonate with employees. The rebrand came on the heels of a well-documented employee ultimatum from CEO Elon Musk to go “hardcore” with Twitter 2.0 or resign. The ultimatum left workers feeling concerned, undervalued, and upset. After the ultimatum came some drastic headcount cuts, which further rattled the company’s internal teams. By the time the rebrand to X was announced, many of the remaining employees had undergone a lackluster experience that left them unconvinced to be corporate cheerleaders.
Although the X rebrand wasn’t brought down by the company’s employee experience gap, it didn’t earn positive press or prompt consumer engagement. At this point, the public still refers to the platform by its former name, and reports show that X usage and engagement dropped 30% between 2023 and 2024. That’s a surefire signal that the rebrand at least faltered.
In contrast, the 2018 Dunkin’ Donuts to Dunkin’ rebrand incurred a much warmer public and employee welcome. To be sure, promoting the sale of hot coffee and pastries is less controversial than renaming a social media channel. However, food rebrands aren’t guaranteed to impress. Consequently, Dunkin’ stands out for its ability to not only reframe its company’s identity but to bring employees into the rebrand as a critical part of the experience.
For instance, Dunkin’ pledged $100 million to ensure that its rebrand included necessary worker training and resources. Ultimately, Dunkin’ did more than just shorten its name and release an updated logo. The business took steps to ensure that there was minimal employee friction during the rebrand.
If you’re considering a rebrand, read on to learn the top reasons that rebrands struggle due to the employee experience gap, as well as how to avoid them.
Related: When to Know If Rebranding the Right Move For You — and What You Should Focus on When It’s Time
Problem 1: The brand changes but the company culture doesn’t
Ideally, rebranding should be seen as an opportunity to make a holistic change rather than a skin-deep one. Too often, though, leaders see rebranding in a superficial light and focus their attention on improving the outward appearance of their company. But they don’t look deeper —and only later discover that updated logos and a digitally advanced website can’t override the effects of an outdated workplace culture.
According to Hoot Design Company, rebranding campaigns should always be embedded with a cultural change component. The agency recommends starting all rebrands by moving through a culture-driven methodology that puts a premium on employee engagement. By making certain its employees feel connected to each other and to the company’s intended mission and purpose, a rebranding business can set itself up for resiliency and growth.
For example, prior to rebranding, your company could clarify its mission, vision and purpose with the assistance of your workforce. Adding this kind of high-level introspection to your rebranding encourages employee-employer alignment and helps reduce future employee experience gaps and stumbling blocks. It also gives you the chance to identify any culture-related challenges that deserve to be corrected before your rebrand launch.
Problem 2: Employees aren’t given a voice during planning
When workers are caught off-guard by a rebrand, they may be skeptical or openly hostile to it. And it’s easy to understand why: From their perspective, leadership didn’t care enough about them to bring them into the discussion. As a result, they may speak negatively about their employer and its rebrand, causing the rebrand’s momentum to stall.
Communicating upfront about a rebrand to workers is critical. However, it can be hard to know exactly when to tell employees about a rebrand that’s not ready to be unveiled publicly. That’s when it might be appropriate to ask for advice from human resources. HR executives can help determine exactly how and when to tell employees about a rebrand launch. In startups with limited HR roles and functions, this responsibility may fall to the individual in charge of employee wellness. (Sometimes, that’s the early-stage founder!) Regardless, the objective is to build employee knowledge into the overall rebranding plan.
Yet this can’t be a one-time outreach that leaves employees without any roles during the rebrand. Employees should be given vital responsibilities in the rebranding so they feel a sense of ownership about any changes being made, such as offering beta feedback on new logo designs or becoming client-facing brand ambassadors on social media.
Related: When to Consider a Rebrand (and How to Do It Right)
Problem 3: The rebrand doesn’t resolve known customer experience flaws
Putting a new name on an existing problem doesn’t solve the problem. It just masks it. And employees (particularly customer-facing ones) don’t appreciate it when their employer spends money on rebranding and not on well-known flawed processes.
A rebrand shouldn’t come at the expense of fixing systems that are broken. On the contrary, the rebrand may be a good time to address and correct problems to make employees’ jobs easier. Accordingly, employees should feel better about the rebrand because they’ll be able to perform their jobs more confidently and efficiently after the launch.
If there’s one thing that the Great Resignation taught the world, it’s that employees will leave if they don’t have employer support. In a 2021 Pew Research survey, 57% of workers who had quit a job cited being disrespected on the job as a reason. Expecting workers to do their best without any assistance could be interpreted as disrespect.
Rebrands can be tricky. If you’re considering one, make sure to close any employee experience gaps. Being proactive will remove one of the biggest obstacles to successfully driving the changes you seek.
