Julie's bet SG$1M on its first rebrand in 35 years and braced for the backlash (interview)

Julie's, a Malaysian biscuit brand selling across many markets, consulted consumers and investors across those markets, then ran a three-pronged process: cleaning up the portfolio, auditing existing brand assets, and testing candidate designs with consumer focus groups.

Superunion delivered the global rebrand for close to SG$1 million. Beyond the logo, Julie's flipped its voice: ads that challenged the idea that women belong in the kitchen and that divorced women have somehow failed, made for Hari Raya as the brand pushed toward what it calls a more inclusive future.

No sales figures reported. Director Sai Tzy Horng presented the rebrand at Marketing-Interactive's Content 360 in May 2023, framing the backlash as diagnostic: 'If you're getting backlash, you're doing something right.'

In an interview at Marketing-Interactive's Content 360 conference in May 2023, Julie's director Sai Tzy Horng recounted the Malaysian biscuit brand's 2020 rebrand — its first in 35 years, begun during the pandemic, with Superunion, at a cost of close to SG$1 million. Before designing anything, the brand consulted consumers and investors across its many markets and kept hearing the same thing: 'We were constantly being told by our consumers and investors to leave the logo be and to not touch it.'

The process was deliberately unglamorous. 'It's not very sexy but we had to ask our consumers and investors extensive questions and do comprehensive research', Sai said — pre-branding portfolio cleanup, an audit of existing brand assets, and consumer focus groups on potential designs, 'because we wanted to make sure this worked for everyone'. The rebrand itself was framed as more than a logo change: a process to 'breathe life into the brand' by not taking itself so seriously and 'flipping the script' to empower the community.

That meant campaigning, not just redesigning: Sai showcased two Hari Raya ads that challenged the ideas that women belong in the kitchen and that divorced women have failed in some way. His counsel to the audience: 'In branding, you need to make fierce, confident and unapologetic decisions', and 'branding is not a campaign. It's a commitment.' The backlash, in his telling, was not a cost but a signal — proof the change was worth talking about.

The brand did the unsexy work — portfolio cleanup, asset audit, focus groups — before making what Sai calls a 'fierce, confident and unapologetic' choice.

Backlash was priced in before launch, so the fan protest never forced a walk-back.

The rebrand was scoped as an ongoing commitment rather than a one-off logo swap, with the new voice carried into the brand's festive advertising.

Research should inform a bold decision, not replace it: ask everyone, expect the backlash, and treat it as evidence the change registered at all.

As of May 2023, Sai was presenting the rebrand at Content 360 as a continuing commitment, pointing to the inclusivity-themed Hari Raya work as the new identity in action.