In an otherwise muted year for marketing, brand refreshes have been bountiful. The trend comes as the industry stands at an inflection point, with pandemic-driven habits waning and ad spending remaining under pressure due to macroeconomic headwinds. Coloring these efforts is a sense of anticipation: Do they lay the groundwork for a marketing resurgence once short-term uncertainty eases? 

Some shakeups have been big and bold, entailing an overhaul of visual assets or messaging strategy. Ambitious swings are coming from companies in a position of strength and seeking to preserve momentum, as well as ones that are pulling out all the stops in search of a turnaround. 

Other pivots are smaller but still demonstrate that marketers want to reintroduce themselves to consumers whose tastes and media consumption habits have radically shifted. Value, comfort and a sense of playfulness or self-expression are recurrent themes as brands try to lighten the mood and tap into audiences who have largely put COVID-19 concerns in the rearview.

Marketing Dive has assembled below some of the most noteworthy recent moves that fall under the “re” category: rebrands, refreshes and repositionings.