Dr. Rebrand, or: How I learned to stop worrying and start renaming

Spriha Dhanuka is the director of PR and communication at Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.

Chicagoans love to say they’ll never call their tallest building anything but the Sears Tower. But they may have met their match in Philadelphians, who took one look at the Philadelphia Museum of Art reordering its words and said, “Absolutely not.”

When people feel ownership over a brand, any adjustment feels personal. It strikes a nerve far beyond design. It touches civic pride, personal memory and identity itself.

At Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, we experienced this firsthand when we reintroduced our brand last year after nearly a century of being known as the Museum of Science and Industry. We spent years researching and reflecting on the best way to announce the new name honoring the monumental $125 million gift behind it, and we knew success would depend on how we communicated it.

The key lesson from our experience, and from other brands’ recent missteps and successes, is that a rebrand’s success depends on how you bring your audience along for the journey.

Craft your story and use the press release wisely

Much of the chatter around the Philadelphia Art Museum rebrand focused on their choice of agency. Their communications heavily featured their Brooklyn-based design firm behind the new identity, making locals interpret the rebrand as an outside job rather than a homegrown evolution.

At Griffin MSI, we approached our announcement differently. Instead of leading with the design or agency, we led with impact. We launched with a Free Day that invited Chicagoans to experience what the transformative gift behind the rebrand made possible: new exhibits, refreshed spaces and a stronger future for science education. Our press release kept the focus squarely on community benefits like access to a SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft and a new immersive digital exhibit space, not the mechanics of the rebrand.

The result: headlines focused on our new initiatives rather than branding debates. It was a reminder that the humble press release, when used strategically, is still one of the most powerful tools a communicator has. It lets you set the tone, shape the narrative and direct attention toward your “why” before critics fill that space themselves.

Protect your brand’s emotional core

Every brand has a heartbeat. The shorthand, the icon that audiences cling to. Lose that, and you risk alienating them.

Dunkin’ got this right. When it dropped “Donuts” from its name in 2019, customers barely blinked because many already called it Dunkin’. The change aligned with how people naturally spoke about the brand while keeping its bright, familiar color palette.

Cracker Barrel, on the other hand, misjudged its core identity. When the company removed the image of its signature Old Timer figure from its logo in a bid to modernize, it angered audiences who saw that symbol as essential to the brand’s warmth and nostalgia.

It’s a good lesson that when you tug too hard at a brand’s emotional thread, the whole sweater can unravel. Chicagoans have affectionately called us MSI for nearly a century, so even as we added “Griffin” to honor the philanthropic gift that secures our future, we made sure “MSI” remained central. Our new logo kept the same recognizable geometry. Renaming ourselves something like “The Griffin” might have sounded bold, but it would have severed a bond built over decades.

Rebrands work best when they meet audiences where they already are. People’s emotional relationship with a brand is fragile and often built around small, symbolic details. Keep those threads intact.

Take your time, and let time do its work

Social media has trained brands to move fast and flinch faster. But a rebrand needs time to breathe. Cracker Barrel learned it the hard way, backtracking within days. HBO Max, too, stumbled when it hastily became “Max,” only to revert back to its old name two years later.

At Griffin MSI, patience was our most valuable tool. We spent years researching, refining and waiting for the right moment to launch. We built an internal consensus long before the first press release went out. That groundwork gave us the confidence to weather any initial skepticism.

And yes, some of that skepticism still lingers. Some lifelong Chicagoans fondly tell us, “It’ll always be MSI to me.” And honestly, that’s fine. For many, the name they grew up with carries the weight of memory: school trips, family holidays and the first spark of curiosity. That nostalgia is part of what makes a legacy brand special. The goal of a rebrand isn’t to erase those associations; it’s to make space for new ones while honoring the old.

And over time, even the most steadfast traditionalists start to soften. What feels unfamiliar at first gradually becomes second nature.

That’s the quiet truth of any rebrand: audience memory is short. The uproar that feels existential in week one is usually forgotten by week six. What lasts isn’t the chatter but the consistency of your experience and the clarity of your purpose.

So take your time building a research-backed strategy, and once it’s launched, give it time to breathe. Don’t panic-pivot or over-explain. If your rebrand is backed by insights and care for the user experience, your audience will meet you there eventually.

Take the long view

Rebrands will always spark emotion, but they’re also an opportunity to reaffirm trust. They test how well you know your audience, and how much you trust your own strategy.

Our experience at Griffin MSI taught us that what people fear most isn’t change; it’s loss. When your communications keep purpose, familiarity and patience at the center, you give them continuity even as you evolve.

So whether you’re a cultural institution, a restaurant chain or a streaming service, the same principle applies: don’t mistake early noise for lasting narrative.

This too shall pass, and if you’ve done it right, what remains is a brand that feels both familiar and fresh, ready for the next hundred years.