1-minute Summary: Key Concept Brand Heritage
Why is Brand Heritage Important?
“If you want to know the future, look at the past” (Einstein)
In most of the projects I have completed, this concept plays a fundamental role. You need to explore the brand’s past, its original reason for creation and key formative moments in time.
How do you Explore Brand Heritage?
Internal and business, not consumer, focused. Typically, in-depth interviews with key stakeholders past, present and future (rising stars). I ask about brand creation (beyond money) and key moments. My favourite is ‘What are the stories, myths and legends associated with the brand.’
What Does the Right Answer Look Like?
It will be the confluence of understanding the reason for creation and/or the key defining moments in the brand’s history. An inspirational, often human, idea or theme, which encapsulates the original human intent behind the business and how it shaped the brand.
5-minute Tutorial: Key concept Brand Heritage
Meaning (why are we asking the question):
We want to explore the brand’s past and identify key aspects, themes or ideas that naturally emerge, ultimately identifying a key theme that has been critical in shaping the brand. The more we understand the origin and developmental history, the better our understanding of the contemporary brand.
Brands are made over time; they are not instantly created. It doesn’t matter whether it is a start-up or has been in the market for 100 years, a brand will have a creation story – a reason why it came into being. As a brand develops, there will be genuine catalysts in its history, moments in time where it has changed direction, refocused, or evolved. The creation story and these events are the key evolutionary ‘ingredients’ in the brand’s heritage that this key concept seeks to identify and articulate into a unifying theme.
Process (how to find the answers):
A little preparation can go a long way here, especially if you are working with a brand with a long history. However, we shouldn’t over-intellectualise. What is remembered about our brand without researching is what we want to record.
- Why was this brand created?
We want the emotional rather than the rational response. We want to know the reason the brand was created beyond profit and revenue. Often this question focuses on an original idea or a different way of doing things that previously hadn’t existed – rich seams for the overall positioning. It can also focus on the original dreams, desires and needs of the creators of the product or service. It is frequently, therefore, an inspiring conversation.
Often, the original creators of the brand have long since left, or the business has developed into something different through successive mergers and acquisition. I would always recommend seeking out the original creators or at least gaining an understanding of their initial intentions.
- What are the stories, myths and legends that surround the brand?
One of my favourite exercises in this key concept is asking about myths, legends, and stories of the brand. I have regularly noticed that when a group of brand owners, boards or management teams became animated and engaged with this part of the process, they are recounting brand myths and legends.
Like all myths and legends, there are always some facts in the mix. But in this case, perception is reality. It doesn’t matter whether they are true or not, the internal stories about the development of a brand are compelling. They often shine a light on a key theme or idea that is recurrent in the brand’s history – precisely what we are looking for in this question.
- What are the key events in the brand’s history?
There are formative experiences, key episodes in everyone’s lives, and those experiences make them who they are. Brands work in the same way. So, let’s look at those experiences.
Creating a timeline of significant events, annotating the breakthroughs, the changes in direction, the growth, the decline and the refocusing can help highlight these episodes. Then, we need to determine what stands out most and why.
Developing a historical timeline is not too exciting and doesn’t work practically within an interview/workshop, so it’s important not to get bogged down in the details. It is sometimes a good idea to have one already prepared if working in a group. If working alone – remember this is not a complete, historically accurate piece of research. We are looking for significant moments, the things people usually remember. Events that have been forgotten have often been forgotten for a reason!
Outcome (what the answer looks like):
In my experience, if you dig hard enough into the history of a brand, there is always inspiration that proves vital to the overall brand positioning/story. Even for brands that are not yet in the market, there will be a reason the creators are doing what they are doing beyond financial success.
Within this question, we are looking for a single thought, idea or theme that has been significant in shaping the brand. It will be the confluence of understanding the reason for creation and/or the key defining moments in the brand’s history. Within this question, we want a single thought that encapsulates the themes.
The question is posed from a ‘business historical’ point of view. It therefore needs to be answered as such. It is surprising how honest the answers are if we follow the techniques illustrated for the questions.
I have found the best answers for this question come from the creation story, the reason (beyond money) the brand was established. The band creation story is often very personal in nature and is therefore always engaging as a result. It can refocus a brand on its true heritage. Often, with the fast pace (short-termism) of modern business development, a brand can lose its ‘sense of self’. This process is often fundamental in finding the way forward. Even the simple process of walking through the key changes in the brand and understanding why those changes were made, is a rich source of inspiration.
Essentially, we are asking the business to look at the past and derive the key aspects, events and developments that shaped the brand. Consider those aspects, and develop a thought that encapsulates, or is a recurrent theme within the answers. Express that theme in a single-minded and straightforward way.
Expressing the answer is always subjective and a matter of ‘what feels right is right’. In this question, I find it useful to focus on the human spark of inspiration that led to the creation. Why people start businesses is often more personal and emotive than rational. This question is usually more focused on the ‘heart’. The next concept is more focused on the ‘head’.
