Rebranding is tough because it always involves a shift in your messaging, which means you’re shifting how you communicate with the world, which in turn shifts how people think about you.
When done right, it can make people realize there are aspects to your business they hadn’t known about before. Or maybe they recognize your brand just needed an update to stay current.
When done wrong, it can turn people off, or even infuriate them.
Some companies recently went through a rebrand so disastrous it made national news. For a while it seemed like everyone was talking about how badly they messed up.
While the companies that rebranded the right way didn’t get as much attention, they provide a perfect counterbalance to the companies that seemingly went off the rails.
With that in mind, I wanted to take a look at some of the best and worst rebrands of 2025 and discuss what made them winners and what made them disasters.
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The Worst Rebrands of 2025
Since it’s always more fun to talk about disasters, let’s start there:
Cracker Barrel
I’m not going to rank the best and worst rebrands of 2025, but if I did, the Cracker Barrel rebrand would definitely earn the #1 spot in the list of worst rebrands of 2025. It’s the rebrand almost everyone heard about, and not in a good way.
Cracker Barrel said business has been on the decline, so they were looking to attract a new audience. That’s fine, and it’s the same reason I’ve been putting myself through the rebrand process.
But looking for a new audience can’t come at the expense of alienating your existing customer base, and that’s where Cracker Barrel went wrong. It can be a fine line to walk sometimes, but Cracker Barrel didn’t even land in the same ballpark when they rolled out a new brand that actively offended their existing customer base.
That’s because the rebrand was so far off from the Cracker Barrel we all know and love that it wasn’t even recognizable. Instead of leaning into what makes Cracker Barrel different from all the other chain restaurants lining highways, it went with a very generic logo and interior design. It’s like they took everything that made it Cracker Barrel out of the new brand and left us with a brand with absolutely no personality.
“The Cracker Barrel rebrand was, in my view, a misstep,” said Jen Strezo of Red Seal Design. “I understand what they were trying to do: modernize, broaden appeal, and attract a younger audience. But in the process, they stripped away too much of what makes the brand special. Cracker Barrel is not just a restaurant, it is a nostalgic, roadside Americana experience. The original logo even featured the founder’s real uncle, which tied directly to the story and values of the brand. That connection was completely lost in the new design.”
Jen is a fantastic graphic designer and brand strategist, so she knows what she’s talking about. “I see this a lot with clients who ask for “modern” design. It can be tempting, but it is not always the right strategy if it comes at the expense of identity, trust, and emotional connection.”
Another key takeaway any branding strategist will tell you is that a brand is not a logo. “Redesigning a logo doesn’t rebrand something,” said Bridget Baker of Bridget Baker Branding. “Cracker barrel redesigned their logo to make it more visible from a highway sign. Their brand was problematic in so many ways, but it was just about simplifying it for visibility. In simplifying, it lost its uniqueness.”
The other thing that makes rebrands tricky is communicating with your existing audience before and during a rebrand rollout. So many things are made easier if you just give people a heads up, and it’s amazing how many people don’t think to communicate what they’re doing before they do it. That’s when disaster strikes.
“It didn’t seem like [Cracker Barrel] communicated with their customers before they did it to explain why the change was necessary and ask them to take a journey into something new,” said Sue Kirchner of Brand Strong Marketing and host of The Turbo Branding Show. “The swift backlash was because they were blindsided by the change. A rebrand signals a change and no one likes change unless it clearly benefits them. Cracker Barrel’s customers thought they were losing more than they were gaining. So they rebelled.”
PepsiCo
On the other end of the spectrum was the new PepsiCo rebrand, which tried to cram so much into their new logo that it ended up overly crowded and unfocused.
“After 25 years, they introduced a lowercase “p” surrounded by abstract shapes meant to represent food, drinks, and sustainability,” said Strezo. “The idea was to unify a huge portfolio and signal a broader purpose, but the design ends up feeling complicated and confusing at first glance. The muted colors and abstract forms do not spark excitement, and the overall effect is underwhelming. Even with the best intentions, a rebrand can fall short if it does not clearly communicate the brand’s identity or create an emotional connection with people.”
It’s a problem all corporations face: how to create a brand that represents everything they do, instead of just a part of it?
But it’s like the old saying, if you have to explain the joke, it’s not funny.
The same goes for your logo: if it requires an explanation, it’s not a good logo.
This goes back to the idea that a logo isn’t a brand. It should represent your brand, but leave the explanation of all your products/services to the rest of your marketing materials.
Jaguar
“Jaguar’s rebrand stands out as one of the clearest examples of audience abandonment,” said Karrie Pittman of Karrie Bell Designs. “In its push toward an ultra-premium electric future, the brand discarded much of the heritage and accessibility that defined its appeal. The repositioning targeted a younger, wealthier buyer while simultaneously pricing out its loyal customer base. The result was a brand attempting to court an audience that already had strong emotional and financial ties elsewhere.”
The lesson: “A brand cannot declare a new customer without earning their trust, and it cannot discard its existing base without consequences.” said Pittman.
Pantone
Pantone’s color of the year for 2026, which they announced in December 2025, was “cloud dancer.” I saw a lot of comedians making fun of the fact that the color is just “white,” which I, personally, found confusing because I thought the definition of white was the absence of all color, but maybe that’s why I’m not in fashion.
“Designers publicly rejected the selection, with some even destroying their color chips in protest,” said Pittman. “While the controversy focused on the color choice itself, the real issue was credibility. Pantone positions itself as a cultural and creative authority. The chosen color felt disconnected from the emotional tone of the year and from the energy of the designers Pantone serves. The reaction signaled frustration with an institution that appeared to prioritize neutrality over cultural resonance.”
The lesson: “Authority brands must stay in conversation with their audience,” said Pittman. “When cultural relevance slips, trust erodes quickly.”
Warner Bros. Discovery/HBO Max
I feel like I had just gotten used to calling it Max when Warner Bros. decided to put the HBO back into the name. Neither move made any sense, and neither was well communicated to their audience.
“By distancing the platform from the HBO name in an effort to broaden appeal, the company diluted one of the most trusted premium brands in entertainment,” said Pittman. “Consumers did not gain clarity. They lost confidence. Instead of signaling prestige and quality, the brand became something that required explanation.”
The lesson: “When a brand’s value is clarity and credibility, simplification without strategy creates confusion, not scale,” said Pittman.
The Best Rebrands of 2025
Now that we know what not to do when rebranding, let’s take a look at the companies that got it right in 2025.
Lay’s
I don’t even like Lay’s potato chips. I find them to be too much salt and grease and not enough potato.
That said, I have been very impressed by their marketing lately. They had one of my favorite Super Bowl ads last year, and their rebrand in 2025 has stood out to me as one of the best examples of how to do a rebrand the right way.
Lay’s surveyed their customers and found that 42% of their customers didn’t realize their chips are made with real potatoes. That leads me to wonder what they thought the chips were made out of, but in our era of Frankenfood, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when people don’t assume there’s real food in the crinkly bags they buy.
The Lay’s rebrand was all about educating their customers by making it clear that their chips are the real thing.
“This is not just a visual update,” said Strezo. “It is a clearer story about what the brand stands for today. It strikes a smart balance between evolution and brand recognition, which is why it works.”
“There was a strategic rationale around the rebrand that benefited the customer, not just the company,” said Kirchner. “The rebrand signaled new healthy product changes – better ingredients, less fat, removing artificial colors and flavors, and even reminding their customers that their products use real potatoes.”
The result was new packaging design that incorporated what already made Lay’s the brand it is: they kept the same colors, but introduced a fun, new font and warm sun rays.
“Revitalizing the brand visually, improving the product, and communicating the change were all done deliberately to make a better experience without alienating any customers,” said Kirchner.
And it worked.
Adobe
Adobe’s rebrand was similar to the Lay’s rebrand in that they focused on what was already working and figured out how to optimize it.
“Subtle logo tweaks, a cleaner red, a shift from negative to positive space, a more flexible visual system, and updated typography all feel intentional,” said Strezo. “The brand now feels more confident and modern, yet instantly recognizable.”
The lesson: “What makes this successful is that it honors Adobe’s brand equity while creating a cohesive system across all products,” said Strezo. “It proves that moving a brand forward does not have to be loud or radical. Thoughtful evolution can be just as powerful.”
REI
The REI rebrand is another example of a rebrand that went so well, only marketers and branding strategists are talking about it.
Rather than trying to create a new identity through a new logo or interior design for their stores, REI refined its brand in a way that focused on its strengths.
“The brand leaned deeper into community, stewardship, and clarity across digital and retail touchpoints,” said Pittman. “By prioritizing real stories and real values, REI reinforced trust rather than chasing novelty.”
The lesson: “REI understood its role in customers’ lives and designed accordingly,” said Pittman.
IKEA
IKEA’s rebrand is an excellent example of a rebrand that incorporates new elements of a brand without losing touch with what has always been unique about that brand.
“IKEA’s continued evolution focused on accessibility, sustainability, and urban living without compromising affordability or personality,” said Pittman. “The brand modernized its messaging while staying unmistakably IKEA.”
The lesson: “The updates felt useful, not performative,” said Pittman. “The brand stayed inclusive and practical.”
Dunkin’ Donuts
Dunkin’ Donuts is a perfect example of how to stand out in a crowded marketplace. There are countless places for people to get coffee and/or donuts, so why choose Dunkin’?
The brand has continuously been very good at answering that question: when you’re on the go and you need a pick-me-up you can rely on, you can always count on Dunkin’.
“Dunkin’s ongoing brand evolution reinforced speed, familiarity, and everyday convenience,” said Pittman. “Rather than competing with premium coffee culture, the brand doubled down on being a daily habit.”
The lesson: “Dunkin’ did not chase aspiration,” said Pittman. “It delivered reliability.”
It may not be “sexy,” but reliability is not to be underestimated when people have so many different places they can go. People will go out of their way to get something they can rely on instead of taking a chance on the shiny new thing.
The Lessons These Rebrands Teach Us
Both the wins and fails of 2025 have important things in common.
For the rebrand fails, it’s that losing touch with your customer base is a crucial mistake you don’t want to make.
“Across these failures, one theme was consistent: brands attempted to grow by redefining themselves away from their core audience,” said Pittman. “The backlash served as a reminder that customers are not passive observers. They notice when a brand stops speaking to them and they respond accordingly.”
By contrast, none of the rebranding wins were loud or flashy. They tended not to gain much attention because no one got upset, so there was nothing newsworthy about their new brands (and that’s a good thing).
“The brands that succeeded focused less on reinvention and more on alignment,” said Pittman.
Understanding when to rebrand is also important, and should guide the rebrand itself.
“A rebrand is a heavy lift, so it needs to be done for a strategic reason,” said Kirchner. “It should only be done when you have a strong growth opportunity – entering a new market, targeting a new customer segment, or launching a new product or service. Or if you feel your brand is actually hurting your sales.”
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Aurelie Gallagher
Alison Ver Halen