Once you get used to something, it's easy to stick with it without even realizing it's becoming less and less representative of who you are. We've all done it with clothes, or haircuts, or home décor.

Companies do it all the time too, but instead of neglecting to get their split ends trimmed, they let their logos turn into antiquated, overly detailed images, that don't work on smartphones, or have websites with company pictures circa 2001. Suddenly what was once cutting edge, is drab, old-fashioned and kind of ugly.

Rebranding a company is a great way to reflect changing values, a new direction, or merely keeping up with times. This is especially important if audience perception has taken a serious hit in the past, but can also be a good idea if a long-standing brand is just losing touch with modern values.

With innovation and culture moving faster than ever before, becoming detached can happen faster than you might imagine. Take a look at these four famous companies and how they might preserve their status by relaunching for a modern marketplace.

AVON

AVON's Logo
The Problem

Once reigning supreme as the queen of door-to-door cosmetics sales, AVON has slowly been crumbling under the weight of new competition. What used to be the more convenient alternative to going to the shops has become the more cumbersome alternative to online shopping.

Multiple bribery lawsuits in 2014 didn't help the situation, but AVON was already experiencing tough times, forcing radical cut-backs and restructuring of the business. Overall, they've slowly moved from a trend setter to an aging company gathering dust in the corner.

AVON's Facebook page
What Should They Do?

AVON is a brand with history and tradition, and by and large, both of these are still perceived as positive. To continue reaping the benefits of this, the logo should probably remain untouched. Instead, they should focus on refreshing their other design – building a more responsive and interesting website, sprucing up social media and creating an overall fresher identity.

Their current social media presence is very safe, which is to say kind of dry and boring. They should move away from cliché imagery and instead focus on posts and design that reflect their values and uniqueness. They could take inspiration from Louis Vuitton, for example, which just jumped squarely into the 'hip' section of fashion by choosing (male) model Jaden Smith to model their women's wear collection.

In terms of social media, the most successful companies are always those who pay attention not only to copy but also to consistency of design. Implementing a social media style guide which determines color palettes and style specification would create a more cohesive and effective presence for AVON, which would immediately translate into a more successful engagement strategy.

SanDisk

SanDisk's Logo
The Problem

SanDisk has been struggling to maintain its competitive edge in consumer electronics for some time now, and never quite broke into the industrial electronics market to the extent it might have hoped.

After disappointing sales early last year, they finally chose to sell themselves to Western Digital to focus on the development of hard disk drives. It's unclear if they are planning to continue selling flash drives and other electronic storage after the deal is completed later this year, but if they do, it's high time for a make over.

SanDisk's Website
What Should They Do?

SanDisk's main problem is that it's in an industry virtually overflowing with competition. In an endless sea of flash memory, it's hard to be the shiniest fish. A new logo might help make things interesting, as the current one is a bit conservative and even aggressive in its bright red lettering.

As a tech company, they should be all about evolution and change, so implementing a dynamic design identity, like Google's Material Design, would really help create a more appropriate brand. A slight overhaul of the website, to optimize its effectiveness across devices and bring it up to latest trends could also be of help (they'd be right on trend if it was 2014).

Yahoo!

Yahoo's Logo
The Problem

Remember before Google? Once upon a time Yahoo! was held in high esteem by most, until it started dropping off the radar, slowly but surely. After branching out into more areas than is practical to list, the company now seems a confusing mess of products and services, which is reflected on its cluttered, cheap-looking homepage.

As a result, consumer rankings have been steadily declining despite best efforts and numerous attempts to turn the ship around. A myriad of further attempts, including further acquisitions, selling key services, and rapidly reducing the staff numbers are reportedly in progress.

Yahoo's Website
What Should They Do?

Yahoo! desperately needs to define its brand identity and overhaul its web presence if it ever hopes to be regarded higher again. If you compare their front page to that of their original competitor Google, you immediately see the huge difference. Google maintains a clean, strong look that evolved over the years, and despite also maintaining countless other services beyond a simple search engine, it keeps its core business front and center.

Yahoo!'s front page, at this point, is little more than a jumbled mess of tacky-looking content with a huge amount of links to further services thrown in all over the place.

Going back to basics, and separating different service areas, is crucial for them to show off each asset in its best light. Adding a better balance of negative and positive space on the site would really help to not make it all look so overwhelming.

Focusing on adopting more responsive design is also crucial – for a tech company like theirs, not adopting latest technology to ensure convenience and display quality is akin to a mortal sin of web design.

Barbie

Barbie's Logo
The Problem

After capturing the hearts of little girls (and boys!) for over half a century, it's understandable Barbie is getting a little bit tired. What was once the archetype of femininity, has increasingly become the archetype of outdated female beauty ideals, sexist gender stereotyping and overpriced collector's items.

After struggling with decreasing sales for several years, Mattel, Barbie's parent company, took a huge hit when Disney took its license for the Disney Princesses line, which were essentially dressed-up Barbies, and giving it to their biggest competitor Hasbro.

Mattel has since tried to take action to improve the situation, releasing new Barbies with more diverse body types as well as launching ad campaigns celebrating female leadership. A quick touch-up of the branding itself might not go amiss either as they try to dig themselves out of the doll-drums (sorry).

Barbie's Website
What Should They Do?

Releasing new, more diverse models of the classic doll was definitely a great first step, but brand perception has changed so much over the years a re-do of the brand itself might just be in order to make sure the new dolls launch to their best advantage.

Changing the typeface of the logo into something more modern, or something symbolic of a positive body image, may be an idea, as would changing the colors to move away from the incessant gendering of the brand. 2016 provides the perfect opportunity for this through its Pantone colors of the year, which are a blend of traditionally gendered soft pink and light blue, combined to battle stereotyping and show these colors are for much more than just boy/girl stuff.

Want More?

Business success is all about staying relevant and connecting with your audience. Could use a hand? We've got you covered:

Four Things to Consider Before Expanding Your Products or Services

When Should You Consider A Rebrand For Your Business?

10 Business Models that Thrive During a Downturn

Written by Jane Murray on Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Jane Murray is a freelance copywriter based in Sydney. Apart from writing up a storm for the DesignCrowd blog on anything from logo design to Michael Jackson's shoes, she enjoys reading literary science fiction and hanging out with most animals except wasps. Get in touch via LinkedIn.