Most corporate rebrands fail. Not in the shit your pants, share-price collapsing kind of way. Occasionally, they do that, and we remember them all too well. But most rebrands just fail quietly. Pointlessly. The new logo goes up, the press release goes out, the CMO goes large on stage, the agency gets paid. Then absolutely nothing changes. Old behaviors continue. The new identity drifts into irrelevance, neither believed internally nor noticed externally.
The graveyard of professional services rebrands alone needs several acres of expensive London real estate. Remember when KPMG tried to position itself as a “digital leader”? Or when Deloitte introduced a green dot and called it strategic transformation?
Rebrands fail because they are cosmetic responses to corporate anxiety, rather than genuine strategic articulations.
The bigger the firm, the more expensive the larger the window and the pricier the dressing. Which is why, when PwC announced a major rebrand in early 2025, I harrumphed.
Yes, harrumphed.
Harrumphed (verb): To clear the throat or make a grunting noise in a pompous, grumpy, or disapproving manner. It is often used to describe delivering a complaint or expressing frustration without using words, or by abruptly speaking in a disapproving tone. Synonyms include grunted, sniffed, snorted, complained, and hemmed.
The conditions could scarcely have been…
