Senior marketing executives know that a brand refresh – updating elements like the logo, packaging, and messaging – can reinvigorate a brand’s image and relevance. However, to ensure a refresh strengthens rather than undermines brand equity, each new element must be rigorously tested and evaluated. This comprehensive guide explores how to effectively test new logos, packaging designs, and brand messaging. By grounding decisions in data on consumer perception and behaviour, marketers can confidently execute a refresh that boosts brand health and resonates with target audiences.

Why Testing Your Brand Refresh Matters

Refreshing a brand’s identity is a high-stakes endeavour – get it right, and you enhance competitive advantage and consumer connection, but get it wrong, and you risk confusion or backlash. Thorough testing provides vital consumer insights before full rollout. Notably, pre-launch testing can prevent costly missteps that arise from internal bias or wishful thinking. History offers cautionary tales: for example, Gap’s 2010 logo redesign was so poorly received that the company scrapped it after one week due to public backlash. Likewise, Tropicana’s 2009 packaging change (part of a brand refresh) led to a 20% drop in sales within two months, forcing a return to the old packaging at an estimated $30 million loss. These cases underline that even beloved brands can misjudge consumer reactions if they skip robust testing.

By contrast, brands that leverage consumer research and brand testing methods prior to launching a refresh gain critical feedback to refine their strategy. During a rebranding or refresh process, conducting research on the existing brand perceptions and testing new concepts ensures any issues are caught and addressed before market launch. In other words, testing de-risks the refresh by validating that new logos, packaging, and messages will strengthen brand perception rather than erode it. In the following sections, we delve into best-practice approaches for testing each key element of a brand refresh (logos, packaging, and messaging), and how to measure their effectiveness.

Logo Testing: Evaluating a New Logo’s Impact

A logo is the visual cornerstone of brand identity, so logo testing is crucial in any brand refresh. Logo testing is the process of evaluating a new or redesigned logo’s effectiveness and impact on its intended audience. In practice, this means assessing whether the logo communicates the desired brand message, is distinctive and memorable, and resonates with consumers. Research methods for logo testing are typically survey-based, often complemented by qualitative techniques. Online surveys can present one or multiple logo concepts to target consumers to gather feedback on key questions: Do people find the logo appealing? What attributes or emotions do they associate with it? Is it recognisable and reflective of the brand’s values and industry? A logo test might involve rating scales (e.g. agreement with statements like “This logo looks trustworthy / professional / innovative”) and open-ended prompts (e.g. “What words come to mind when you see this logo?”).

Why test your logo? Even iconic companies test logos to ensure they hit the mark. A good logo should be distinctive, appropriate, and memorable, all while reinforcing brand identity. Testing helps confirm these qualities. It also reveals potential problems before a logo goes public. As one research guide notes, early logo testing can uncover negative associations or confusion that internal teams may have overlooked, ultimately “saving your brand from serious publicity damage” by allowing fixes before launch. For instance, if a sizable portion of respondents misinterpret a logo’s imagery or find the design unappealing, that’s a red flag to refine the design. Testing also measures logo recognition – how well the new logo stands out and is remembered. This is valuable for planning marketing campaigns; if recognition scores are low, the team might decide to adjust the logo (e.g. bolder colours, clearer fonts) or increase exposure until the desired recognition is achieved.

How to conduct logo testing: Begin with clear research objectives (e.g. compare new logo vs. current logo on appeal and brand fit or select the best among multiple new designs). Next, choose a method – quantitative surveys are ideal for statistically robust feedback. For example, you might use a monadic survey design: one group of respondents evaluates the current logo and another group evaluates the new logo, to compare perceptions without bias. Alternatively, a sequential monadic approach can show each respondent both logos in random order (with careful controls) to gather direct comparisons. Ensure you recruit participants reflecting your target audience, i.e. the consumers whose opinions matter most for your brand. In Australia, this often means capturing diverse demographics across key markets to see if responses differ by age, region, etc. providing local brand perception nuances. In the survey, include both closed-ended questions (rating scales on attributes like distinctiveness, credibility, relevance) and open-ended questions for qualitative insight. Some useful metrics and questions for logo testing include:

• Brand Fit and Meaning: “What qualities or values do you associate with this logo?” Does it align with the intended brand personality?
• Appeal: Rating of how attractive or likable the logo is.
• Clarity: “What type of product or company do you think this logo represents?” (This checks if the logo sends the right cues about the business).
• Recall: After a short delay or at survey end, asking “Which brands’ logos do you recall seeing in this survey?” to see if the new logo is memorable.
• Preference: If testing multiple logo options, ask which version respondents prefer and why.

Don’t overlook qualitative feedback; comments can reveal why a logo works or not. For example, a respondent might say “The new logo looks modern and bold, which I like,” or conversely “The colours are too harsh and don’t remind me of the brand I know.” Such insights guide designers on what to refine.

Real-world insight: When Mastercard simplified its logo to two overlapping circles with no text, it was a strategic move for digital platforms – but likely only proceeded after validating that recognition would remain strong. On the flip side, the Gap logo change mentioned earlier failed because consumers felt the new design was too generic, eroding brand character. The lesson is that data trumps gut feeling – by grounding logo decisions in consumer data, you can avoid expensive mistakes and ensure the new logo enhances brand equity.

Packaging Design Testing: Ensuring Shelf Appeal and Brand Consistency

For consumer products, packaging is the “silent salesman” – often the last brand message a shopper sees before deciding to purchase. Thus, when you refresh packaging design (be it a subtle update or a complete overhaul), testing its effectiveness is essential. Packaging design testing typically involves quantitative surveys where consumers evaluate new package concepts, comparing them against current packaging or competitors. A package testing market research project is usually a survey-based study designed to gauge consumer opinions on different package designs. The goal is to ensure the new packaging is both appealing and aligned with the brand’s positioning, without causing confusion.

Key metrics in a packaging test survey might include:

• First Impressions: What consumers like or dislike at first glance of the packaging.
• Appeal: Overall attractiveness of the design (colours, imagery, shape).
• Readability: Clarity of text and labels – e.g. can they quickly identify the product name, variant, and key information?
• Brand Fit & Image: Do consumers feel the packaging matches the brand’s image and values? (For example, a modern, minimalist package might not fit a nostalgic heritage brand, or vice versa.)
• Word Associations: What words or feelings the packaging evokes (e.g. “high-quality,” “fun,” “cheap,” “premium”).
• Overall Preference: If shown two or more options (e.g. current vs. new design), which do consumers prefer and why?

A well-designed packaging survey will also ask about behavioural intent – essentially, whether the new pack design would impact purchase decisions. For instance, you can directly ask: “How likely would you be to purchase this product if it had this packaging?”. In one example, researchers note that package testing often involves showing visuals and asking if the respondent “would be likely to buy the product” with that packaging. A strong positive lift in purchase intent for a new design over the old is a good sign the refresh could boost sales, whereas a decline would be a red flag.

Best practices for packaging testing: As with logos, test with your target market under realistic conditions. If possible, show the packaging in context – for example, a mock-up on a store shelf or alongside competitors, to gauge visibility. Ensure the imagery is high-quality and true-to-life. Ask consistent questions for each design to fairly compare results. It’s often wise to test multiple design iterations (e.g. different colour schemes or layouts) to identify which elements drive the best response. Also, consider running the test in different markets or segments. Packaging that resonates with Australian consumers, for example, might get different feedback in another region – so if your brand spans markets, gather local insights to avoid cultural missteps.

Case in point: The Tropicana packaging fiasco underscores crucial points for packaging refresh. Tropicana changed nearly every visual element of its orange juice carton at once (logo, imagery, typography), and many consumers didn’t recognize the product on shelf, thinking it was a different or cheaper brand, leading to a severe sales drop. The lack of recognition and negative quality perceptions (“looked cheap”) could have been detected with proper consumer testing. The takeaway is to validate recognition and brand cues – ensure that loyal customers can still identify the product and that the new design conveys the intended brand quality. In fact, one learning from Tropicana’s case was that you shouldn’t change all key branding elements at once on packaging for a beloved product; incremental changes test better, unless the brand is fundamentally repositioning.

On a more positive note, consider the recent turnaround of Darrell Lea, a heritage Australian confectionery brand. As part of its brand revival, Darrell Lea refreshed its packaging with a modern look that still retained a touch of its traditional charm. This wasn’t done blindly – the company conducted surveys and concept tests on pack designs to ensure they resonated with modern consumers’ tastes. The result? The new packaging, coupled with other changes, helped the brand reappear strongly on supermarket shelves, with both longtime fans and new customers embracing the refreshed image. Consumer research confirmed that the packaging updates appealed to contemporary preferences (like a desire for sustainability, communicated via recyclable materials and design cues), without alienating the nostalgia factor. Darrell Lea’s post-refresh surveys showed increased brand awareness and improved brand perception, validating that the packaging and overall refresh hit the mark.

In sum, packaging design testing ensures your new look not only stands out on the shelf but also reinforces the right brand message. It provides confidence that the refreshed packaging will attract shoppers and drive purchase behaviour, rather than confuse or deter them. By using data-driven insights to validate packaging choices – and making adjustments if needed – you safeguard the sales and brand equity during a refresh.

Messaging Effectiveness: Testing Your Brand’s New Messages and Taglines

Visual changes like logos and packaging are immediately apparent to consumers, but brand messaging works more subtly – through taglines, slogans, value propositions, and the overall tone in communications. Refreshing your brand often involves updating the brand messaging and tone of voice to better connect with current consumer values or a new audience segment. For example, a company might adopt a more playful, youthful tone to attract younger consumers, or emphasise new pillars like sustainability or innovation in its messages. To ensure these new or refined messages truly resonate, message testing is indispensable.

What is message testing? It is a form of market research aimed at evaluating how well your brand’s proposed messages (e.g. a slogan, headline, product description, or ad copy) connect with the target audience. Effective message tests reveal whether the messaging is clear, credible, and compelling to consumers – and which version of a message performs best. In other words, message testing helps identify which phrasing or themes best drive the desired response, whether that’s increased interest, understanding, or positive sentiment toward the brand.

Why conduct message testing? Internal teams often create messaging in a bit of an echo chamber – what sounds great in the boardroom may not hit the right note with customers. A famous example: when Coca-Cola introduced “New Coke” in 1985, the product formulation was tested but the messaging failed to anticipate consumer emotional attachment to the original Coke, leading to a backlash. More recently, consider how brands test multiple taglines or ad concepts with consumers before a big campaign; the version that clearly communicates the intended idea and evokes the best reaction is the one that will roll out. Without testing, companies risk investing in messaging that doesn’t motivate the customer to act. Message testing can highlight if a tagline is confusing, if a value proposition is not believable, or if certain words elicit negative reactions.

How to test brand messaging: Start by identifying the key messages or variations you want to evaluate – for instance, two different taglines, or several phrasing options for your brand promise. Then choose your research method. Often, online surveys are a practical choice for quantitative message testing, especially in B2C contexts. You might present respondents with a piece of messaging (say a short paragraph or an ad mock-up with the new slogan) and then ask a series of questions about it. These questions can measure:

• Clarity: “What do you think this message is saying about the brand?” (Open-ended to see if they interpret it as intended). Also, rating how easy to understand the message is.
• Relevance: “How relevant is this message to your needs or interests?” on a scale.
• Authenticity/Believability: Does the message feel credible and true to the brand?
• Appeal: “How much do you like this message?” or “Does this message make you more interested in the brand?”.
• Brand Fit: “Does this messaging sound like it fits [Brand Name]?” – especially important if the tone has changed.
• Call-to-Action/Impact: “After reading this, how likely are you to consider or try the product?” (if applicable).

For comparative testing, you can use a monadic approach (splitting the sample so each group sees one message variant) to avoid bias, or a sequential comparison where each respondent ranks multiple messages. Each approach has merits; monadic testing avoids carry-over bias, while direct comparison can be efficient if carefully controlled.

In addition to surveys, qualitative methods like focus groups or in-depth interviews can be useful at exploratory stages – they allow you to probe why certain phrases work or not. But to quantitatively pinpoint the winning message, a survey with a sizable sample (for statistical confidence) is recommended. When analysing results, look not just at the top-line scores but also at subgroup differences: perhaps one tagline resonates much more with Gen Z than Gen X, for instance. This could inform if you need different messaging for different demographics, or which group to prioritise.

Example – refreshing brand tone: Earlier we mentioned Old Spice as a brand that dramatically shifted its messaging. Old Spice moved from a tired, “your grandpa’s aftershave” vibe to a humorous, quirky tone in its advertising, aiming at younger consumers. The success of this refresh (reflected in sales growth and brand virality) suggests that the new messaging hit home. While we don’t have public data on their testing process, it’s likely Old Spice’s marketing team tested those now-famous witty slogans and absurdist ads with target consumers. The positive consumer response in testing would have given confidence to launch the bold campaign, and ongoing tracking would show it was effective. The principle for any brand: if you plan to change your voice or narrative, validate that your audience understands and appreciates the new story. If tests showed the humour was missing the mark, Old Spice might have tweaked the messaging before going live.

Finally, ensure your message testing isn’t a one-off. Consumer attitudes can evolve, so re-test key messages over time.

Measuring Brand Refresh Impact: Ongoing Brand Tracking and Metrics

Testing individual elements of a brand refresh before launch is only half the battle. Equally important is evaluating the refresh’s impact after implementation, using brand tracking and performance metrics. Senior marketers want to know: did the new logo, packaging, and messaging actually move the needle on brand health and business outcomes? To answer this, a robust brand tracking program should be in place to monitor changes over time.

Brand tracking typically involves periodic (e.g. monthly or quarterly) surveys that measure key brand health metrics and how they evolve. These metrics often include: brand awareness, brand recall, familiarity, consideration, brand associations, preference, purchase intent, Net Promoter Score (NPS), and overall brand perception indicators. After a refresh, you should pay close attention to metrics that the refresh was intended to influence. For example, if a goal of updating the logo and packaging was to improve brand modernity and appeal to a younger segment, you might track perceived brand modernity or appeal among 18-34 year-olds specifically, before vs. after the change.

Common KPIs to track in evaluating a brand refresh’s success include:

• Brand Awareness & Recall: Are more consumers aware of your brand and do they recall it unaided? A refresh often aims to boost visibility, so surveys measuring recognition and recall post-refresh are critical. For instance, if you changed the logo, do people still recognise it as the same brand? Ideally, awareness should hold steady or increase with an effective refresh.
• Brand Perception & Sentiment: How have attitudes shifted? Tracking studies can reveal if brand favourability, trust, or attribute ratings (e.g. “innovative”, “authentic”, “high quality”) improved after the refresh. If you introduced new messaging around, say, sustainability, you’d measure whether more consumers now associate your brand with being eco-friendly. Social media and review sentiment can supplement this (without straying into pure social listening), but survey feedback is key for consistent metrics.
• Customer Behaviour Indicators: These include purchase consideration and usage. Did the refresh make more people consider or try the brand? For example, a refreshed packaging might remove barriers to purchase (e.g. clearer product information, more premium look attracting new buyers). Surveys can track self-reported likelihood to purchase or recent purchase incidence. Moreover, actual sales data and market share are the ultimate bottom-line metrics – a successful refresh should ideally stabilise or grow market share. Market share and sales performance are noted as tangible metrics to watch post-refresh. Be sure to contextualise these with other factors (pricing, distribution, seasonality), but a notable uptick after a refresh can often be partly attributed to the brand changes.
• Customer Engagement & Loyalty: Monitor changes in metrics like NPS (would customers recommend the brand more now?), customer satisfaction, and loyalty program data. If the refresh included a new brand promise or customer experience improvements, you’d expect engagement metrics to rise. For example, after Darrell Lea’s refresh focusing on modern relevance and sustainability, the brand saw stronger customer loyalty and enthusiasm in surveys. Tracking such loyalty indicators can confirm that existing customers embraced the changes (or flag if any loyalists were alienated).
• Internal Metrics: While our focus is on consumer response, don’t forget internal brand health – employee understanding and advocacy of the new brand. High internal adoption (measured via employee surveys) helps ensure consistent execution of the refreshed identity. If employees are confused about the new messaging or don’t “live” the new brand values, that could dilute the impact externally.

When analysing brand tracking data, it’s often useful to compare pre-refresh and post-refresh waves. If you conducted a baseline brand health survey before the changes (which is recommended), you have a benchmark. Post-refresh, look for statistically significant lifts in the key measures. For instance, perhaps unaided brand awareness jumped from 30% to 40%, or attribute “brand is innovative” went from 60% agreement to 75%. These would signal a successful refresh outcome, assuming other marketing efforts were constant. On the other hand, if some metrics dip (e.g. trust declines because consumers disliked the new direction), that’s a warning sign to address via communications or tweaks to the brand strategy.

It’s important to note that brand building is a long game – some metrics might not move immediately, or could fluctuate in the short term. A new logo might initially cause a slight drop in familiarity until consumers adjust, even if long-term it was a positive change. Continuous tracking will help distinguish short-term noise from lasting trend changes. It also enables you to be agile: if six months in, you find that one aspect of the refresh isn’t resonating (say, the new tagline isn’t conveying the intended idea, evident in feedback), you can refine your messaging or do a follow-up campaign to reinforce the brand story.

Leveraging insights for ongoing improvement: The data gathered from surveys and brand tracking should feed back into strategy. Essentially, a brand refresh is not a one-and-done event but an evolving program where you monitor performance and make incremental adjustments. By doing so, you future-proof your refreshed brand, keeping it healthy and relevant as years go by.

Finally

Evaluating and refining a brand refresh through data-driven methods is not just a recommended step – it’s a strategic imperative. By focusing on testing of new logos, packaging designs, and messaging, marketers gain an objective read on consumer perception before going live. This upfront investment in research and consumer insights pays off by reducing risk and increasing confidence that each refreshed element will bolster the brand rather than undermine it. Equally, implementing robust brand tracking post-launch allows you to measure the refresh’s impact on brand health and business outcomes, answering the C-suite’s question: “Did this refresh work?” with hard metrics and insights.

In practice, an effective brand refresh testing program might involve concept surveys showing new logos or packaging to hundreds of target consumers, A/B tests for taglines, and ongoing brand health dashboards tracking awareness, sentiment, and sales. All these efforts centre on one philosophy: keep the consumer at the heart of brand decisions. When you listen to consumers – through well-designed surveys and research – you empower your brand to evolve in ways that truly resonate.

A successful brand refresh, backed by data, can revitalise your brand’s image, deepen customer connections, and drive growth while avoiding the pitfalls of guesswork. In the Australian market and beyond, brands that take an insight-led approach to refreshing their identity are rewarded with stronger brand perception and loyalty. By testing, learning, and tracking brand health metrics over time, you ensure your brand refresh isn’t just a cosmetic facelift, but a meaningful enhancement of brand equity that positions your company for long-term success.