Rebrand projects fail in one of two ways: the team picks a new name they later regret, or the launch breaks SEO and customer logins. Both are avoidable with a structured 60-day plan.
Days 1 to 7: pick the name. Use the generator with the same industry and tone the original brand used, plus one alternative tone for contrast. Generate three batches per combination. Filter by .com. Run the eight-point check. Get to three finalists. Vote internally with co-founders and the head of marketing. No customers in this round; rebranding by committee with customer input dilutes conviction.
Days 8 to 21: legal and technical groundwork. File the new trademark in your primary class. Buy the .com and major variants. Buy the social handles. Set up the new domain pointing to the old infrastructure as a 200, not a 301, so you can test before redirecting.
Days 22 to 35: build the new brand artifacts. Logo, color palette (use Palette Forge if you do not have one), typography, content tone guide. Do not redesign the product. Just the brand layer. The product UI can stay the same color and shape; only the wordmark and domain change.
Days 36 to 50: the redirect plan. Map every old URL to a new URL. Use 301s for indexed pages; use 302s for ephemeral campaign URLs. Update sitemap.xml and submit to Google Search Console for both the old and new domain. Add the new domain as a property in GSC immediately, not on launch day.
Days 51 to 60: launch. The redirect goes live. Update all email signatures, all social profiles, all third-party integrations. Send the customer announcement after the redirect is live, not before. The phrase that works: "We are now [new name]. [Old name] is now [new name]. Same team, same product, new name." Three sentences, no marketing speak.
Days 61 to 90: monitor. GSC Coverage report for indexing of new URLs. GA4 traffic for any cliffs. Customer support ticket volume for confused logins. Most rebrand traffic dips recover within 30 days if redirects are clean.
The actual cost of a rebrand is mostly emotional. The mechanics are well understood. The team grief over leaving the old name behind is the part that takes 60 days to settle, not the engineering work.