We once gathered at a round table with businessmen - owners of rather large companies on a business matter, but the conversation eventually turned to the now popular topic of rebranding. Despite the fact that now this is the name for any actions to change the order of business components, all the participants in the feast meant another foreign term by this foreign term, namely restyling. Speaking a little more in Russian, a redesign.

One businessman proudly announced that a new identification and visual communications system, collected in five ledgers (or rather, brand books), cost him a six-figure sum in euros. (In fact, this system is popularly called a corporate identity, but corporate identity does not cost that much.) Another boasted of a new logo for his company, the price of which was “only” five figures. A third boasted of new product packaging, which was made for him by famous European designers. The sum was again in euros and again six figures.

Only the fourth one couldn't remember what to brag about.

Here we fired off a volley of provocative questions: What did you expect from the new design? What really changed? Was it an expense or an investment?

The first one was perplexed: was there anything else that should have changed? It’s just that, observing the epidemic of alterations around him, he decided to become more advanced. Note that his company’s business is not public, it has no “visual reputation”, and therefore, there are no eyes in which it could grow. The maximum that five ledgers were useful for was the standard design of business cards. And branded envelopes appeared. Money wasted.

The second one answered: rejuvenation is in fashion now, so they did a light facelift in the hope that the image change would have a positive effect on the company's reputation. This company is a fairly well-known player in the consulting market, and "its facial expression" really does matter. Another thing is that it was not worth relying on the design for functions that it cannot perform - one change of the logo will not add clients. It is not surprising that hopes were not justified: the restyling was received favorably, but it did not affect the financial results.

The third said that the "new clothes" of his product allowed him to double his sales. A rare case of adequate investment! With a successful change of packaging of FMCG goods, doubling sales is not the limit, we have heard of 10-fold growth!

Consultant's Advice: The Red Price of Design