Reasons for rebranding: a look ahead at tomorrow’s drivers
From private equity and AI to ESG and employer branding: which developments will push organisations towards brand change in the coming years?
Ivar Hannessen
Project Director
Anyone looking at the wave of rebrandings today sees a new dominant driver: the buy and build strategy, almost always driven by private equity.
The logic is clear. A PE firm acquires a platform company, a strong player in a fragmented market. That platform then grows through acquisitions: bolt ons, add ons and tuck ins. Regions are added. Capabilities are bought in. Client portfolios are merged. At some point, the organisation consists of five, ten or even twenty former independent companies, each with its own name, culture and client promises. That is the moment when rebranding is no longer a marketing question but an integration tool.
Rebranding is no longer a marketing question, but an integration tool.
Time pressure is often high. PE works with a horizon of three to five years. A rebranding ideally needs to be completed in the first year, so the rest of the holding period can be used to make the value of the new brand pay off.
What we see happening in brand change
Within VIM Group, we see this pattern recurring. Childcare organisation Partou is a good example: a new brand that emerged from the merger of KidsFoundation (with Smallsteps as its largest brand) and the original Partou. This consolidation in childcare, financed by Waterland Private Equity, precisely reflects the buy and build logic. I was delighted to guide the rebranding of more than 700 locations and workwear for 8,000 employees, among other things.
The future of rebranding: five drivers for 2027 to 2032
If the past 35 years have taught us anything, it is this: every rebranding is a symptom of its time. Privatisation, globalisation, strategic transformation and private equity logic have each been forces that compelled organisations to reinvent themselves.
What can we expect over the next five years?
AI as an identity crisis
Organisations in knowledge services, including consulting, law, accountancy, recruitment and education, face an existential question: what is our value if AI performs a substantial part of what we have always done? Who are we now? What do we still promise? Organisations that formulate a clear answer will translate it into a new brand identity. Organisations that do not risk becoming invisible, not because of a merger or a scandal, but because they lose relevance.
ESG as a mandatory brand narrative and the dangers of purpose washing
Pressure from shareholders, legislation such as CSRD and customers to operate in a demonstrably sustainable and socially responsible way will only increase. That pressure translates into rebranding, not as a cosmetic intervention, but as a credible repositioning. The downside is clear: a rebranding that is not supported by behaviour is more dangerous than no rebranding at all.
Geopolitical fragmentation and localisation
The period of unrestricted globalisation is over. Today's geopolitical tensions are forcing organisations to think about their geographical identity. For multinationals, this may lead to the localisation of brand identities, with more room for regional nuance within a global architecture.
The next private equity wave: professional services and healthcare
The buy and build strategy has reached almost every fragmented business to business sector. The next sectors in its sights are professional services and, despite regulatory pressure, parts of the healthcare sector. This is already happening. New waves of rebranding are inevitable.
The brand as an employer promise
In a structurally tight labour market for highly qualified talent, employer branding is becoming an independent driver of rebranding. Increasingly, organisations will reassess their brand architecture from the perspective of one question: how do we look in the eyes of the people we want to attract? Merck was already considering this ten years ago. Its "Curiosity" activation campaign cost almost more than the rebranding itself at the time.
What 35 years of rebranding has taught us
Behind every rebranding is an organisation redefining its relationship with the world. Sometimes out of necessity, sometimes strategically, sometimes with urgency and sometimes with vision.
What I have learned in more than 30 years is that the question "who are we, and how do we show it?" is never fully answered. Brands are not end points. They are expressions of an organisation at a particular moment in time.
Brands are not end points. They are expressions of an organisation at a particular moment in time.
The world changed. Brands followed. And the need to make that change visible, consistent and credible is the constant that has kept our work relevant for 35 years.
VIM Group helps organisations with rebranding challenges. Our brand experts help some of the biggest and most admired brands in the world organise and implement brand change. We would be pleased to discuss the next step with you.
Are you considering a rebrand? I'd be happy to think along with you. Feel free to contact me directly at ivar.hannessen@vim-group.com or +31 6 21 24 67 03.
