When legacy isn’t enough: Heritage brands must embrace both nostalgia and innovation

Last week, Tupperware — the once-beloved 78-year-old food-container brand that was found in kitchens across America — filed for bankruptcy.

The news underscores a difficult, truth for heritage brands: Age-old fan love by itself isn’t enough to gain the favor of new generations.

Fittingly, "relevancy" was the theme of last week’s Engineering Brand Love Summit in Columbus, Ohio, hosted by networking community Brand Innovators and independent agency The Shipyard. Heritage brands like Pedialyte, Airstream and Goodyear Tires came together to discuss how they’re ensuring they remain relevant to modern consumers.

Speaking on a panel, Josephine Severe, senior brand manager at Abbott’s Pedialyte and previously a manager of global branding and marketing at Tupperware Brands Corp., said the heritage brand failed to innovate and adapt to meet the demands of today’s shoppers. She pointed out that it wasn’t until 2022, after the peak of the pandemic, that the brand decided to introduce e-commerce.

“Right now on TikTok people are saying, ‘My mom will be devastated," said Severe. “So it was forgotten. Not taking the risks you need pins you into this box. It’s not enough to keep doing the same thing — you have to evolve with what consumers want.”

Pedialyte, for instance, knows that it primarily caters to hydrating children, but that isn’t stopping it from showing consumers how adults can use its product — particularly those who have a soft spot for the brand from growing up with it.

In fact, the driving force behind Pedialyte’s strategy is nostalgia. David Sonderman, chief creative officer of The Shipyard, says heritage brands are uniquely positioned to tap into that emotion.

“Nostalgia is one of the most powerful tools,” Sonderman explained in a presentation called “Cheating Death.” “And here’s the thing— only older brands get to do it, because it’s authentic.”

Nostalgia wins

Sonderman pointed to Barbie, Stanley and the Shipyard’s own work for the San Francisco Ballet as examples of brands that are surviving by incorporating nostalgia into their products or marketing, but also innovating along the way.

The 65-year-old Barbie brand, for instance, kept its bright pink world and brought back past dolls to appeal to adults who grew up with its brand, while refocusing how Barbie is all women (and not just the blonde bombshell) in its 2023 Warner Bros. film. Along with a 25% boost in sales of dolls, the film saw $1 billion at the box office in the first month it was out. The 111-year-old Stanley brand, on the other hand, changed its product’s appearance to target a new gender demographic and saw its annual sales explode from an average of $70 million to $750 million in 2023. It also continues to partner with relevant brands on new designs, including Barbie.

When the SF Ballet was struggling to gain younger ballet attendees, it needed to find a way to could relate to this tech-savvy crowd, Sonderman said. So The Shipyard incorporated ChatGPT into the ballet’s digital and out-of-home ads, merging a centuries-old art form with AI-generated critiques. Sonderman said the clever campaign quadrupled the number of first-time ballet attendees.

Partnerships and new channels

The way heritage brands keep their marketing relevant varies from brand to brand, but overall, they’re incorporating nostalgic elements while innovating with messaging and channels.

Airstream, the 93-year-old trailer company, is embracing it’s past while partnering with trending brands like REI, Pottery Barn and American Girl — the latter of which was to “purely get little girls excited about Airstream,” even though it would take maybe a decade until the fruits of the partnership might be realized. “We have to be incredibly patient as marketers,” said Hansen at the summit.

Airstream shares its historic story across its website and social channels, showing how it has changed through time. “As a heritage brand, a lot of people would shy away from the past, but what we’ve done is embrace our past,” said Hansen.

“Fail forward and do it scared,” said Linda Lollo, global external digital communications manager at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. The company recognized there was a disconnect between its popular blimp and the fact that it sells tires.

To bridge that gap, it’s celebrating the Goodyear blimp’s 100th birthday next year with activations, merchandise and the tagline “Blimps are cool, buy tires.”

Sometimes it’s about the right mix of nostalgic spokespeople and new channels. Scott’s Miracle-Gro is running a series of spots featuring Martha Stewart across new channels, like CTV and Home Depot’s retail media network. “What we need to do is connect to new audiences and grow a relationship with them,” said Saakait Mathur, brand director at The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, on a panel.

Martha Stewart is a natural spokesperson for the brand, as she appeals to multiple generations and is still relevant today thanks to her partnerships with celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Mathur tells The Current.

No matter the strategy, what’s apparent is that no heritage brand wants to end up like Tupperware, dying and left behind by its consumers.