Social:Brand legacy

Brand legacy begins from a point of origin (core idea) and considers historic message layering to derive a current perception as it pertains to the target audience. A core idea is a word or thought that encompasses all facets of the brand. For ex: IBM = "computers", Cadbury = "chocolate" etc. The use of core ideas everyday helps in consumption practices. The choice being made always has a reference point or origin on which the purchasing criteria is made. The core idea can also be answered by the question what business are we in?? Along with the core brand two more brands exist i.e. affiliate brand and periphery brand.

Affiliate brand is closely associated with the core idea and represents a close approximation or facsimile to the core brand. Periphery brand represents a distant offering that maintains some resemblance to the original core idea.

Three strategic choices for maintaining brand legacy

Depending on the landscape of the industry or business the organization have three strategic choices for maintaining brand legacy:

1. Embrace – It means returning to the roots and leveraging the heritage of the core idea. VW's Beetle and Ford's Mustang are best examples for embracing their brand legacy. They took the original car concept and modernized the design to include conveniences and amenities that the buying public would demand. The brand legacies instilled in the Beetle and Mustang are more than just names or symbols, they represent a legend or storyline that consumers can follow. Transformers by embracing its legacy was able to build upon its mythology and make each individual generation feel that it uniquely belongs to them.

2. Discard – It means to leave back the old business idea and develop something new which itself will become a legacy. Intel did it when it discarded its business of DRAM chips and moved to development of microprocessors. Today almost all the world's computers are driven by Intel microprocessors. It brought out its Intel Inside campaign to boost its new core brand position.

3. Reinvent – It is midway between embrace and discard where new ways are being found out to leverage the brand legacy. In 1990 when Discovery Channel was facing stiff competition with the new reality TV shows it reinvented itself by expanding its program content and brought up reality shows like American Chopper, Monster Garage and MythBusters. It brought younger viewers to cable network and helped in producing outstanding documentaries and news features.

Chris Zook in his book Profit from the Core stated that narrowing the focus and strengthening the core values will drive top and bottom line results and only after the core is strong the organization should venture to an adjacent business as growth strategy.

Brand heritage is an asset in building long term brand reputation, but equally, brands must adapt and recognize that the market is changing and expect brand evolution. Change is inevitable and customers are invariably fickle, so brand owners should never assume that brand legacy alone is enough to survive the test of time.

The other side of the coin

Legacy brands are predicated on top-down, command and control models which position the customer as a passive commodity, purely to be sold to. Legacy brands are vulnerable to competitors who create active partnerships with customers to innovate on brand, elevating customers from “commodities” to value co-creators.

Emergent industries may supplant legacy brands in terms of market share of medium without extinguishing their predecessors user base. For example, news as a service may be consumed in multiple incarnations. These include but are not limited to digital, physical print, television and radio waves. The primary channel of consumption is not mutually exclusive to its relative competition. In fact, successful brands may use multiple mediums and create a network of complementary auxiliary products.