Does Your Brand Show Its Age?

Retro is a quality that can work for a brand. It can be thoughtful, compelling and appeal to people who appreciate the styling of another era. But being outdated is not retro. A brand that is outdated is stale. It takes us to a place in our past we really don’t want to go, at a time when we’d much rather look ahead, to our future.

Brands that you see in the rear view mirror are doomed to stay there and eventually fade from view – unless you take action to reinvigorate them. Not reinvent. Revive. Brands that have gone stale may still have some life left in them. They are like a heart that will still work if only we jolt it back to a strong rhythm. Especially if a good brand strategist can tap into the legacy, the history that once gave the brand in question prominence and market share.

The Keds^® shoe company is a great example. A classic American “Champion” sneaker, it was introduced in 1916. Beloved by past generations, Keds^® had found its way into the dark and dusty back corner of the shoe-buying public’s closet. It was neither current nor fun. Enter Matthew Rubel. In 2007, he led the formation of Collective Brands when Payless ShoeSource (which Rubel headed) acquired The Stride Rite Corporation and Collective Licensing International, which included several heritage brands such as Keds^®.

In a 2010 article in Forbes, Rubel, who had become CEO for Collective Brands, recounted the importance of reviving the Keds^® brand rather than replacing it. The first step, he wrote, was to create a roadmap. The company focused on the sneaker’s iconic style – its clean canvas upper, simple lace-up design, galvanized rubber sole and classic blue label. Then the company repositioned the brand as “America’s Blank Canvas” and launched an online sneaker customization tool as well as the “Keds^® Collective,” a collection of sneakers designed by illustrators, jewelers, graphic artists, even one of the stylists from Saturday Night Live. Sales bounced back like a new tennis ball. Today, the company has as its spokeswoman Taylor Swift – whose personal Keds^® favorites are featured on her website. And Keds^® wisely picked up the sponsorship of Swift’s current Red tour for even greater exposure. Now that’s refreshing.

Too many times, brands try to reinvent the wheel – then have to make a U-turn before speeding off a cliff. In January of 2009, Tropicana unveiled a drastic redesign of its orange juice container. The public voiced its disapproval in checkout lines everywhere. Sales of the Tropicana Pure Premium line plummeted 20 percent in less than two months, costing the brand millions. By the end of February that year, the company had tossed out the new packaging – and the money it had spent on its redesign.

There’s a good lesson here. Not every aging brand needs to be discarded like trash. Take a look in that rearview mirror and decide what elements you like. Then take a good hard look ahead. And don’t forget to listen to what consumers are saying about your brand. They’re smarter than you think.

The trick lies in making the old feel new again. Like a comfy pair of sneakers.