🧠 Brewed Different: How We’re Turning 'Just Another' Coffee Brand Into A National Competitor

Hey there, 

Welcome back to the 30th edition of Brandish, 

Your guide to crafting an iconic brand.

This week, we're tackling a huge request:

How to go about rebranding

How I've done it, and how YOU can go out and do the same,

With the best tips I can give.

More specifically, my entire process for rebranding Coffee Over Cardio.

It's still a work in progress, but trust me...

I will make sure every single element of this brand is on point.

Get cozy,

Crack open an ice cold Brez,

And let's get into it.

To Rebrand Or Not To Rebrand

Before I get into anything, I want to tell you that rebranding isn’t ALWAYS necessary.

It’s only important if you’re doing a major shift in the company - 

Visuals, 

Product offerings, 

Culture, 

That whole thing. 

It’s not totally uncommon for a company to want to rebrand into something that they feel would be more successful in the market,

Especially after an acquisition. 

Which (if you’re not familiar with the story) is our approach to Coffee Over Cardio. 

Starting From The Top

By the time I got in there, Coffee Over Cardio had already done 80%-ish percent of the work for me.

Brand story, offerings, culture - Most of what they already had was solid. 

MY main goal was to clean up the aesthetic, SKUs, and simply just tighten everything up so that when we (eventually) move into retail it will be a solid competitor. 

It doesn’t sound too crazy, but there are a LOT of moving parts in the backend.

Becoming A National Competitor: 101 

There are two major pieces we need to get there:

Make the DTC side successful

And crush Retail and Distribution

We need both to make some real money on this.

Everything had to be airtight.  

Think about it - if you’re going to be playing with the top dogs like Starbucks and Dunkin, 

You NEED to stand out as much as you can while still looking like a real competitor. 

Since 80% of my work was already done, I jumped straight into the visuals. 

Logo - took virtually zero time. 

(As I always say, the best logos are the ones that don’t take very long)

Next up - mood boarding baby.

Thankfully there is a ridiculous amount of inspiration out there for coffee bands.

I settled on a more muted, pastel theme 

Except for our licensed flavors, which I wanted to be more saturated and loud. 

For everything OTHER than our licensed products, I wanted to stick with the theme of toning things down a bit with that muted color palette.

Like I was saying before - coffee is one of those delicate industries where a majority of the consumers are really drawn to a certain aesthetic, 

And I wanted to make sure we NAILED it in that area. 

Make That Website POP

I have a confession. 

While I was working on this my bandwidth was entirely shot, 

So we got together with Platter because there just weren’t enough hours in the day for me to create the entire website from scratch,

But they CRUSHED IT.

We gave them our style guide, brand templates, and some ideas as to what we wanted to see, 

And they made exactly what we were looking for.

It’s perfect - they kept the design simple WITHOUT comprising the brand’s feel.

Now we won’t be revealing the finished product right at this moment…

But we’ll be doing a public reveal soon,

And trust me. You’re going to love it.

You Can’t Rush Perfection

The rebrand isn’t 100% finished yet. 

We’re still tweaking the story, visual identity, seeing what products we want to keep…

It’s a lengthy process. 

If you’ve ever done this before you know that it needs to be done right. 

This kind of project is not something you want to rush.

It’s important that you take the time to assess every aspect of your rebrand down to the smallest detail

Do the changes you’re making align with your vision?

Is it consistent with the rest of your branding?

Would changing XYZ help or hurt what you want your brand’s identity to be?

Wrapping Up 

Diving into a rebrand is not easy.

Hopefully going through it together will give you the confidence to crush your next brand overhaul.

Coffee Over Cardio's journey is still just in the beginning stages.

We can't wait to show what else is in store for it.

Don't be afraid to take bold steps to make your brand stand out.

Dream big, Brand bold.

I'll catch you next week and share what else I've been up to.

Later,

Ankit