You announce a rebrand well by explaining why the business is changing, what is different, what stays the same and when it all takes effect. You tell your team and key clients first, then the wider world. The new logo is the least interesting part of the story. The reason behind it is what customers remember.
This guide is for UK business owners who have a new identity ready, or nearly ready, and want it to land with confidence. It covers the message, the order of who hears what, name changes, email, social media, press releases and a simple rollout plan.
TL;DR
- Lead with the reason for the change and what customers gain, not with the new logo.
- Tell staff, then key clients and suppliers, then everyone else. Nobody should learn about it from a social post.
- Say plainly what stays the same: contracts, prices, bank details, people and standards.
- If your registered company name changes, do not announce an effective date until Companies House has issued the new certificate.
- Announce ahead of the launch, then keep the message consistent across email, website, social profiles and printed material.
Table of Contents
- Start with the reason, not the logo
- Who to tell first, and in what order
- What every rebrand announcement should say
- If your company name is changing
- A rebrand rollout plan you can follow
- Email, social media and your website
- Writing the press release
- What good rebrand announcements have in common
- Our view: announce the work, not the logo
- Need a hand with the rebrand itself?
- FAQ
- Sources
Start with the reason, not the logo
A rebrand announcement should explain what is driving the new identity, what is changing and when the changes take effect, and it should highlight improvements for customers while reassuring them about the values and quality that remain, as Shopify’s guide to rebranding announcements puts it. Unclear communication can confuse or alienate people, which is why iBrand Signs stresses explaining the rationale and how the change supports your wider business goals.
So before you write a word, answer one question: what has actually changed in your business? Maybe you have moved into a new market. Maybe you have merged two services into one. Maybe the old look simply stopped matching the quality of your work. All of these are good reasons. “We fancied a fresh look” is not a story your customers care about.
Try this test. Finish the sentence: “We are rebranding because…” and then: “which means you will notice…”. If the second half is empty, the rebrand may be more of a cosmetic update. That is fine, but then keep the announcement short and warm rather than dressing it up as a transformation. If you are still deciding whether the time is right, our piece on six signs it is time to rebrand will help.
Who to tell first, and in what order
The order matters more than most owners expect. A good sequence moves outwards from the people closest to the business:
- Your team. Staff answer the phone, reply to emails and talk to customers in the pub on Friday. Brief them before anyone else, with the reason, the key dates, and a short list of answers to likely questions. Give them the new email signature, templates and logo files on the same day.
- Key clients and suppliers. Your top accounts, long-term partners and anyone whose paperwork will change should hear from you personally, by phone or a direct email, before the public announcement.
- Your wider customer list and subscribers. This is the email announcement, sent shortly before or on launch day.
- Social media followers and website visitors. Public posts, a website banner or news item, and updated profiles.
- Press and industry contacts. Local business media, trade titles and anyone who has covered you before. A press release is worth sending when there is real news in it, such as a new name, a new service or a milestone.
For a small business in Leeds, this order has a practical benefit. Word travels quickly in a local market, and your best clients will hate being the last to know.
What every rebrand announcement should say
Whatever the channel, the core message is the same. Build every version from these pieces:
- The reason. One or two sentences, tied to a real change in the business or a benefit for the customer. To-Do Growth advises linking a rebrand to a genuine business or customer change rather than treating a new logo as proof the company has transformed.
- What is changing. The name, logo, website address, colours, packaging or service range. Be specific.
- What is not changing. Your team, your prices if they are staying the same, your standards, your contact details. Put this high up. Alore recommends putting reassurance about what stays the same before the story of the rebrand, to head off worries about accounts and contracts.
- When it takes effect. Give one date, or say “from today” if the change is live.
- What the reader needs to do. For most customers, the answer is nothing. Say so.
- A way to reach you. A named person, a phone number or a reply-to address that works.
A short, honest example for a service business might read:
From 1 March, Harcastle Joinery becomes Harcastle & Co. Same team, same workshop in Holbeck, same quality of work. What is new is a wider service, now including fitted kitchens, and a new look that matches it. Your quotes, invoices and contact details stay as they are. If you have any questions, just reply to this email.
That is a made-up illustration, not a real business, but it shows the shape: change, continuity, date, reassurance, next step. Around 70 words.
If your company name is changing
A name change carries legal and administrative weight that a new logo does not. According to Namoly’s name change templates, a UK company name change takes effect when Companies House issues the new certificate of incorporation, so avoid announcing a date before you hold it. The same source says a good announcement states the old and new names, the effective date, what changes and what does not, and reassures customers that contracts and bank details remain unchanged.
If you are a limited company, Forms Legal’s UK notice guidance suggests including these details so recipients can update their own records:
- the former and new registered names
- your Companies House registration number
- the effective date
- confirmation that it is the same legal entity
- updated contact details
- whether bank, sort code or VAT details remain the same
That last point is the one finance teams at your clients will look for first. If your bank account is staying put, say so in so many words. If your invoices will carry a new name, tell them before the first invoice arrives, so it does not look like a scam.
If you are a sole trader or you are simply trading under a new name, the legal steps differ, so check what applies to your structure with your accountant. Then build the announcement around the same principle: be exact about what changes on paper and what does not.
A rebrand rollout plan you can follow
Shopify’s advice is to make rebranding announcements before the official launch, giving media outlets time to prepare and customers notice of the coming transition. In practice, a simple timeline works well for most small and growing businesses. The timings below are our suggested pattern, not a fixed rule, so stretch or squeeze them to suit your size.
Several weeks before launch
Finalise the identity and the messaging. Write your one-paragraph reason, your “what stays the same” list and your answers to the ten questions customers are most likely to ask. Prepare a full set of assets: logo files in every format, colour values, fonts, templates, social banners and email signatures. Our guide to creating brand assets covers what to prepare.
Two to four weeks before
Brief your team. Let key clients and suppliers know personally. Order printed material, signage and vehicle graphics so they are ready on launch day, not three weeks after. Draft your email, website notice, social posts and press release.
Launch week
Switch the website, email signatures, social profiles, Google Business Profile, directory listings and invoice templates on the same day, so nobody sees two brands at once. Send the customer email. Publish the posts. Send the press release if you have one.
The weeks after
Watch for replies and questions, and answer them quickly. Chase down the places you forgot: old directory entries, partner websites, supplier portals, trade association listings, delivery notes. Keep the old name visible in a line like “formerly…” for long enough that people searching for it can still find you.
If you want the full workflow, from audit to launch, our business rebranding checklist and step by step rebranding guide for UK businesses go into more detail.
Email, social media and your website
Email is where your existing customers will actually read the news. Keep it short, put the reassurance first, and make it easy to verify. Alore advises against asking customers to click links in an unexpected rebrand email without a separate, independently reachable confirmation page, and recommends making new domains and sender addresses easy to verify. That matters because a sudden change of sender name looks exactly like phishing.
If you are changing your email domain, send a notice from the old address first, mention the new one, and keep the old address forwarding for a good while.
A UK-specific point: marketing emails are covered by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). The ICO explains that you may email individuals who bought, or discussed buying, a similar service from you, provided they had a clear chance to opt out when you collected their details and get one in every message. For businesses as recipients, rules are generally less strict, but the ICO’s electronic mail marketing guidance still calls it good practice to keep a “do not email” list for businesses that object. A purely service-related notice, such as a change to who invoices them, is a different matter from promotion, and if you are unsure which side your email falls on, ask your data protection adviser. Whichever applies, always include an unsubscribe route in anything that reads as marketing.
Social media
Use social media to tell the story, not just to show the logo. A short sequence works well: a teaser a few days before, a launch-day post explaining why, and a follow-up showing the new identity in use on real work, a van, a shopfront or a product. Change profile pictures and handles on the day, and pin the announcement.
Website and search
Your website should carry a clear notice on the homepage on launch day, with a short “what has changed” page you can link to from emails. If your domain is changing, set up proper redirects from every old page to its new equivalent so you keep your search visibility and your customers do not land on dead links. If the site itself needs a refresh to match the new brand, our web design process guide for Leeds business owners shows how we approach it.
Writing the press release
Not every rebrand needs one. If you are a local trade business changing a logo, a well-written post and a note to clients will do more. If there is genuine news, such as a new name, a merger, a new service or an expansion, a press release is worthwhile.
According to Prezly’s guide, a rebrand press release should include a compelling headline, date and location, clear details of the new identity, the rationale, leadership quotes, visual assets and media contact information. Intelligent Relations adds that before-and-after logos and product images help the media picture the change, and that the strongest releases focus on future growth, innovation or better customer service rather than on design alone.
Agility PR Solutions suggests stating exactly what is changing, explaining any shift in mission or values, and saying which positive aspects of the old brand will stay, such as a strong reputation for customer service.
For a small business, keep it to one page. Open with the news in one sentence, add a quote from the owner that sounds like a person, include a high-resolution image pack and give a mobile number for follow-up. Offer local journalists a conversation, not just a document.
What good rebrand announcements have in common
The examples people remember tend to share one trait: they are clear about continuity. Alore points to Meta, where Facebook’s apps kept their names when the parent company changed its own, so everyday users had little to relearn. It contrasts this with Twitter’s abrupt change, which altered how the brand looked faster than users could understand it.
A second pattern is consolidation with a clear logic. When Recognition PR and Marketing merged four agency brands into one, it explained the move as a reflection of working as one integrated team rather than separate specialist silos. The rationale was about how the business works, not how it looks.
The lesson for a small business: give people a reason they can repeat to someone else in a sentence, and do not make them guess what is staying put.
Our view: announce the work, not the logo
We have spent over a decade helping business owners turn ideas into brand assets, and the same thing shows up at every launch. The businesses that get the warmest reaction are the ones that treat the announcement as part of the design, not an afterthought.
That means the identity and the announcement are planned together. The new logo needs to work in an email signature, on a small social avatar and on a van. The message needs to be written before launch day, not at 11pm the night before. And the people who matter most, your team and your best clients, need to see it first.
It is also why we work with unlimited revisions on branding and web projects. A rebrand you are only half sure about is hard to announce with confidence. You should be able to say “this is us” and mean it.
— Kukoo
Need a hand with the rebrand itself?
If your announcement is ready but your identity is not, we can help. Our logo design and visual identity packages start with a polish of your existing logo at £150, a new logo only at £440, or a full Visual Identity at £750. A Custom Pack is available if you need something tailored, and we will talk it through with you.
If your website needs to launch alongside the new look, see our web design and development services or get in touch through our homepage. We keep the process collaborative, so you are never left guessing.
FAQ
How far in advance should I announce a rebrand?
Announce before the official launch, so customers and media have notice of the transition. For most small businesses, personal notice to key clients a couple of weeks ahead and a public announcement on or just before launch day works well. Larger changes, such as a new company name or domain, deserve more notice.
Do I need to tell customers if only the logo changes?
Yes, but keep it light. A short post, a line on your website and a note in your email footer are usually enough. Save the full email and press release for changes that affect how customers deal with you, such as a name, domain, address or invoicing detail.
What should I avoid when announcing a rebrand?
Avoid vague corporate language, announcing a company name change before Companies House has issued the new certificate, and asking customers to click unfamiliar links without a way to verify the message. Also avoid leaving the old brand live in some places, because mixed signals make a business look disorganised.
Should I send a press release for a small rebrand?
Only if there is genuine news for a journalist, such as a new name, new service or expansion. A rebrand that is purely visual rarely earns coverage, and a direct note to clients and a strong social post will do more for you.
Sources
- Rebranding Announcement: How to Write One, Shopify
- How to announce a company rebrand, iBrand Signs
- How to Announce a Company Rebrand, To-Do Growth
- Company Name Change Announcement Templates, Namoly
- Free Company Name Change Notice UK, Forms Legal
- Rebrand Announcement Email: 5 Templates + Examples, Alore
- Electronic mail marketing, ICO
- How to Write a Rebranding Press Release, Prezly
- Crafting a Rebrand Press Release, Intelligent Relations
- 6 things you should include in a rebranding press release, Agility PR Solutions
- Recognition consolidates its four agencies into one