Photo: Worldwide Business Research
How Can Heritage Brands Remain Relevant Without Losing Their Roots?
Transforming organizations to drive growth and innovation is crucial. Compared to newer brands, it’s even more challenging for heritage brands to attract new shoppers without ignoring or alienating their long-time loyal customers who typically contribute the largest revenue stream.
One heritage brand that is growing without losing touch with its roots is Hanky Panky, a women’s apparel company established in NYC in 1977. Even after all these years, its products remain loved by celebrities and stylists, sold in over 70 countries, and relied upon by millions of fans of all ages.
During the session “A Beloved Heritage Brand With a Startup Mentality” at this year’s eTail25 Conference in Palm Springs, California, I chatted with Sabrina Cherubini, SVP of Brand & Digital for Hanky Panky Ltd. Because most revenue comes from base customers, it’s important to not alienate them when developing new products, experiences, and communiques designed to attract new buyer cohorts. To do this, Cherubini advises her team to focus on relevance, not just objectives, and to balance building brand equity with driving performance.
It All Starts With the Customer
It’s critical to identify customer cohorts — as well as their needs, wants, and aspirations — when setting marketing and product direction.
“So it’s really about understanding women (our customers) beyond just their body shape or their background or what they look like,” commented Cherubini. “It’s what they feel inside that feeds the product development cycle with innovation.”
Brands that take time to consider how to blend their heritage with what’s relevant in the current culture have more success in getting positive reactions from multiple cohorts to new products, services, and campaigns.
Invest in Innovation
The best brands allow their marketing and brand teams to experiment without requiring immediate results or metrics for each initiative.
“The best way I’ve done this is to dedicate part of my budget to innovation. I align with leadership and secure 10% to 15% of my budget to things without any performance metric attached to them,” stated Cherubini. “So we test a lot of things, giving the freedom to fail, and I would say 70% or 80% of our actions paid off, so we scale them now.”
Launching new product and marketing initiatives frequently requires companies to change the structure or members of their teams as well as to create new metrics and objectives that better gauge advances in brand equity, customer satisfaction, and business performance.
Create Delightful Products and Experiences
Business growth relies on widening the breadth and depth of offerings — enhancing existing items, adding line extensions, and creating new custom product assortments. And when engaging with customers, both old and new, it’s essential to meet them where they are, connect with their values and needs, and provide excellent service before, during, and after the sale.
Cherubini shared several examples of how her brand surprises and delights both long-time and new customers with innovative products and experiences:
- Expanding the breadth by adding the Hanky Panky Body shapewear line, featuring an inclusive size range and stretch and fit options to appeal to new and existing customers
- Providing new ways to buy products online by packaging its signature item as a rose and allowing shoppers to create custom bouquets
- Bringing to life the “Hanky Panky Hotel,” a NYC pop-up featuring inspired suites, giveaways, activities, limited-edition shopping, and celebrity guest appearances in advance of Valentine’s Day
- Building its own stores to engage directly with customers and identify unmet customer needs or opportunities
All brands, and especially heritage brands, are challenged to innovate while growing the core business. Balancing the brand promise with the needs of multiple cohorts is key to acquiring new customers while retaining one’s base.
“I want to make sure that we grow out of respecting and celebrating the heritage, but bring more moments that are relevant to today’s customer,” said Cherubini. “You must have a loyalty matrix.”
Discussion Questions
What other heritage brands successfully remain true to their roots while driving growth? Which ones haven’t done as well?
What experiences and products from heritage brands are most memorable to you?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Zel Bianco
President, founder and CEO Interactive Edge
Allison McCabe
Director Retail Technology, enVista
Heritage brands have a difficult balancing act. They need to remain true to their roots while, at the same time, ensuring they remain relevant. Ultimately, this means gentle evolution in areas like packaging, marketing, and product development to stay up to date. It’s also possible to be more radical in innovation with extension lines or products that attract new audiences. Heinz is a great example of how to do this: its main products stick closely to its heritage, but it regularly launches new lines – like the new Barbie sauce – that tap into the cultural zeitgeist.
A well run company must always pursue innovation long known as R&D. No brand can stand still but they can always improve relevance.
Whether it’s a retailer developing new formats, or a CPG brand rolling out innovative products, a good rule of thumb is “change or die” when it comes to staying relevant.
The first legacy brand that came to mind was Oreo. (Okay, so I have a package of Mint Oreos in my pantry…) This is a 112 year old brand that for decades was only available in one variety. More recently, there has been a wave of innovation — Oreo minis, Oreo thins, Golden Oreos, and all sorts of flavors tailored to consumer preferences around the world. As a result, the Oreo “ownership” of shelf space in the cookie aisle has never seemed stronger.
Has anybody tried to buy a package of Hydrox cookies recently?
Hydrox? Could you be as old as me?
I’m pushing 70 and my mother (a Southerner by birth) kept Hydrox instead of Oreos in our house. I guess there’s no accounting for taste!
Oreos would have been my first pick. When I was a kid, there was one Oreo. Today, Orieos is the largest-selling cookie in the world, with dozens (yes, dozens) of variations around the world.
Haven’t see Hydrox in a while, but even though the original Oreo is still the leader(I would think), they do offer options IF the customer wants them… Birthday Cake Oreos anyone?
And overseas, lots of Oreo products that – aren’t even cookies; get rid of the filling, all-matcha / all-strawberry, etc. Sometimes the only way to tell is the signature blue packaging, typeface, and bold product photography (especially when there’s no English on the packaging!)
Don’t forget Wasabi Oreos.
Whether it is a heritage brand in apparel or any other category – even software, you must always consider the customer needs and aspirations first and foremost. We all want to acquire new customers but the need to take current and long time customers into consideration is critical. What do they need now and in the future? What are the value added items or features that will be beneficial to the new and to the old. These, and many other considerations need to be well thought out in any road map meeting, for apparel or software or any other product.
I guess a “heritage” brand is one that has been around for a while? How long do you have to be in business before you are known as a heritage brand? The longer you “milk” a specific product without evolving that product or creating new products, the bigger the risk. Business history is littered with examples, not just in retail and apparel.
Evolve or (eventually)die, that is my takeaway from this story.
This is the key, what a wonderful answer. If only more brands took this attitude.
“The best brands allow their marketing and brand teams to experiment without requiring immediate results or metrics for each initiative.”
“The best way I’ve done this is to dedicate part of my budget to innovation. I align with leadership and secure 10% to 15% of my budget to things without any performance metric attached to them,” stated Cherubini. “So we test a lot of things, giving the freedom to fail, and I would say 70% or 80% of our actions paid off, so we scale them now.”
My analogy is in music. Bands who remain relevant for 30 years stick to a foundation while innovating and trying the new. It’s why U2 can still sell out Stadiums for three nights and Motley Crue is playing “girls, girls, girls” in small theaters.
How is this for not holding up your heritage? Oldsmobile was founded in 1899. It was the largest-selling nameplate in the late 1970s and was defunct in 2004.
On the positive side, see today’s discussion regarding Levi’s. It suggests the perfect description of moving modern while keeping its heritage.
Part of the problem with “heritage brands” is the challenge of maintaining product quality. You can make a case that Oldsmobile (and lots of other automakers) did not pass that test, and also introduced models that were not true to the brand image or target consumer. Does the Olds customer want to drive an SUV, or vice versa?
Not if it’s your father’s Oldsmobile?
I like what I read on innovation – you must invest in it to survive but also remembering things like authenticity, and relevance. I commend them for making this realization and I hope this brings more recognition to the brand.
Relevance is more complicated than straightforward problem solving. It’s about how people feel. People feel faster than they think. And how people feel can often be a function of marketing. It’s not simple advertising that says, “Hey, buy me! I’m 40% off today!” It’s giving the brand the right context in an evolving world. Brands have the challenge of aging gracefully but at the same time attracting the next new young generation. Brand promises may not evolve much, but the problem/solution dynamic must always be pressure tested for current relevance. And messaging must continually evolve in order to appeal to new customers. I’m pretty sure social media was not taken seriously enough just a couple of years ago.
Heritage brands must continuously challenge themselves to retain their affinity, customer loyalty, and relevancy in a dynamic and evolving marketplace. By investing in new capabilities and having an agile, customer-centric, product-centric strategic focus while retaining what made their brands so special to multi-generations, heritage brands have a fighting chance to stay relevant and profitable.
We should expect continuous investments in product innovation and shifting strategies in the CPG space. With consumers investing more in their health and wellness, CPG brands are driving authentic approaches with product innovation and differentiation strategies. Larger CPG brands have acquired startups that have the innovation capabilities and talent and prioritize research and development.
CPG companies should respond by adopting three critical practices to take an “always day one” approach to innovation:
Heritage brands need to maintain relevancy and never be complacent. Marketing teams must accept and realize that the real market changes and makes adjustments every minute of every day. Nothing stays the same and neither can your brand.
Innovating to attract younger consumers is key. Heritage brands need to increase social media marketing, working with influencers, and enhanced personalization. Sustainability, although often misrepresented, and sometimes contradictory with other objectives is also important to younger consumers.
Meeting consumer-markets in their preferred spaces is paramount. Younger consumers have a profound digital footprint. They are ‘always-on’ consumers who seek instant gratification, and who typically engage with brands across multiple digital platforms.
In this age of information and greater social consciousness, authenticity and transparency have become non-negotiable for younger consumers. Brands that are transparent about their practices, and who align themselves with societal values, resonate more with these demographics.
And finally, don’t be lazy. Establish a refined or even a brand-new heritage.
The biggest challenge for heritage brands is to innovate while staying true to their roots and appealing to diverse customer cohorts.
Heritage brands like Levi’s and Coca-Cola successfully balance tradition with innovation, introducing new lines like Levi’s Vintage Clothing and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. On the flip side, brands like Blockbuster failed to adapt, leading to their decline in the face of changing consumer preferences and technology.
The experiences and products from heritage brands like Hanky Panky are truly memorable because they blend tradition with innovation, offering something unique and timeless that resonates with customers, both old and new.
In my view, brands like Levi’s and Coca-Cola have balanced tradition with progress, staying deeply rooted in their heritage while embracing innovation. Levi’s remains synonymous with denim culture, constantly refreshing its offerings while honoring its iconic designs. Similarly, Coca-Cola consistently captivates consumers with new flavors and marketing initiatives, yet remains faithful to its timeless brand identity. Conversely, some heritage brands, like Blockbuster and Kodak, have faltered in adapting to modern market demands. Personally, I cherish Levi’s denim jeans for their timeless appeal and Coca-Cola’s nostalgic advertisements, which evoke fond memories and a sense of authenticity.