How to rebrand without losing the customers you have

Every rebrand carries a quiet risk: the people who already love you wake up one morning and can't find you on the shelf. We have relaunched more than forty brands, and these are the rules we follow to keep existing customers on side.

1. Keep one thing sacred

Pick the single most recognised asset, a colour, a shape or a word, and protect it. Halden kept its kraft paper. Everything else changed around it.

2. Tell people before they notice

A short note in the box, an email, a sign at the till. Customers forgive change; they don't forgive surprises.

A rebrand should feel like a friend who got a great haircut, not a stranger wearing their clothes.

3. Roll out in the right order

Start with the places your loyal customers see least, like the website footer and job ads, and finish with the packaging they buy every week.

4. Measure recognition, not just liking

Before launch, show the new packs to regular buyers for three seconds. If they can't pick yours out, you have more work to do.

5. Give it six months

New brands always feel strange to the team that made them long after customers have moved on. Resist the urge to tweak.