Rebrand RFP
Rebrand RFP
template.
Eight sections, example copy you can adapt, and an evaluation rubric every studio actually wants to see. Copy it, fill it in, send it to three studios. We took the format from the briefs that produced the best engagements we have run.
1. About the company
What you do, who you sell to, the stage you are at, and the one sentence a stranger would have to leave the page knowing.
Example you can adapt:
Acme is an AI-driven contract review platform used by 200+ in-house legal teams at companies in the EU and US. Series A, 18 people, currently re-positioning from "AI for contracts" to "AI for in-house legal teams" as the category matures.
2. Why we are rebranding
The signals that brought you here — positioning shift, category drift, next round demanding more polish, internal disagreement that needs an external arbiter, etc. Be specific. "We feel it is time" is not a brief.
Example you can adapt:
Two reasons. (1) The category has moved from "AI for contracts" to "AI for in-house legal teams" and the brand is the lagging indicator — our deck and our site are saying different things. (2) Series B fundraise opens in Q3 and the brand has to read as a category leader, not as one of seven AI legal startups.
3. Scope of work
List every deliverable you expect, even the obvious ones. "Brand identity" is not a scope; "Wordmark + 4 lockups, type pairing, colour system, brandbook (PDF + Figma), application templates for marketing site / sales deck / social / OG cards" is.
Example you can adapt:
Wordmark + monogram + 4 lockups. Type pairing (display + body) with documented fallback chain. Colour system (primary, accent, neutrals, semantic states), tokenised in Figma variables. Motion language (durations + easings). Brandbook in PDF + Figma. Application templates: marketing-site hero + sections, sales-deck masters (10 slides), social formats (LinkedIn carousel + post + IG story + X header), OG cards (per page-type template), in-product accents. Rollout pack: audit of current surfaces + rollout schedule + 30-min handoff video. Engineering-ready Figma file with variables, components, and breakpoints.
4. Timeline
Hard dates (next funding close, product launch, conference) and soft dates (when you want to start, when you want to land). Studios that quote without knowing the constraints are quoting on a fantasy.
Example you can adapt:
Kickoff: target start mid-September. Need direction-locked by end of October. Final brandbook + applications shipped by mid-December. Hard deadline: Series B announcement target Feb 14.
5. Budget
Publishing the range filters the studios who would have wasted both your time and theirs. "We will figure it out together" is code for "we have not budgeted this".
Example you can adapt:
$30k–$50k total, including audit + rollout. Open to splitting payment 30/40/30 against discovery / system / rollout milestones.
6. Selection criteria
How you will score the responses. Studios then know what to emphasise, and you have a written-down rubric when stakeholders disagree.
Example you can adapt:
Weighted: (1) Quality of past SaaS work — 35%. (2) Process clarity + how risks are framed — 25%. (3) Team availability across the engagement window — 15%. (4) Pricing transparency — 15%. (5) Founder fit on the discovery call — 10%.
7. Submission requirements
What you want back, in what format, by when. Limit it — studios are more likely to engage with a 5-page response brief than a 30-page one.
Example you can adapt:
PDF, max 8 pages. Include: 2–3 case studies relevant to our category. Your proposed approach in 1–2 pages. A scope confirmation + line-item pricing. Names of team members who will work on the engagement (not just leadership). Two client references we can contact directly. Send to [email protected] by [date].
8. Practical notes
Anything a studio should know up front — internal stakeholders, decision process, must-includes, no-gos.
Example you can adapt:
Final decision-maker: CEO + Head of Marketing, with input from VP Product on in-product surfaces. Two rounds of stakeholder feedback per phase, not unlimited. The current colour (#2BC8FF) is non-negotiable per CEO request — work with it. The current wordmark is open to be replaced.
Sending the RFP to us too?
Drop it on a 30-min call instead. Faster than a written back-and-forth, and you get the quote on the same call.