What makes employees back a rebrand when trust in leaders is weak?

A rebrand can feel like an abstract management project when employees do not understand why it is happening or what it will help them achieve. Clear communication should explain the business context, the intended direction and what the change means for employees' roles and the organisation's future. It should also acknowledge concerns rather than presenting the new identity as a finished decision that cannot be questioned.

In the rebrand of Price Forbes during its consolidation into Ardonagh Specialty, employees were involved in the research phase and received materials explaining why the approach had been taken and why they mattered to the future brand vision. This combined explanation and involvement addresses a central trust issue: employees need to see that leaders understand how the change affects them. When communication is clear and timely, it creates a basis for informed participation rather than scepticism or apathy.

Employee involvement builds credibility when people can contribute experience that affects the work and can see a response to what they share. Interviews, stakeholder conversations and ongoing feedback can reveal how teams experience the organisation, where the brand promise may be difficult to deliver and what employees need to represent the brand confidently. The process should distinguish insights about customers, operations and implementation from individual preferences about creative execution.

First Names Group needed a unifying vision across global locations, siloed teams and a broad client portfolio. Interviews with employees and stakeholders established that the business was defined by its people and the confidence and trust they created. The resulting identity used every employee's first name as part of its visual language. This made the connection between employee insight and brand decisions tangible, rather than treating staff participation as a separate consultation exercise.

A rebrand is difficult to adopt when employees receive new guidelines without the assets, context or channels needed to use them in their own work. Participation should therefore include people who implement the brand, including regional teams, frontline employees and specialists responsible for customer experiences. Their input can identify where a central identity needs practical interpretation for different locations, channels and roles.

For First Names Group, stakeholder engagement extended across business locations, while the launch was coordinated so employees learned about the new brand at the same time. The launch included a film featuring employees, as well as business cards, launch packs and office applications. In a separate example, a designer was unable to apply new guidelines to an existing app because the necessary assets had not been provided. Involving implementers early helps avoid a launch that works for marketing but not for the wider organisation.