Timeless - It's the holy grail for any brand, to have the success, constituency and longevity required to be standing strong 100 years into the future.
Coke, Levi’s, Anheuser Busch, McDonalds, BMW, the Yankees & Red Sox, Rolex. These brands are a testament to the work required to continually stay relevant in culture while holding onto their identities over decades, resulting in their timeless status.
As an agency that works with challenger brands redefining categories for the next generation of consumers, we think a lot about how to help our clients last for generations while winning relevancy in the here and now. Be it Local Weather in beverage, If/Then in apparel, Dr. Squatch in personal care or Plunge in the emerging exposure therapy category, - we educate our clients on the fundamentals of timelessness through a concise formula refined over time and experience:
(1) Brand truth + (2) Creative Idea + (3) Consistency + (4) Relevancy = (5) Timeless
The brand truth and creative idea (1/2) are fundamental to creating connection between the business, the brand, and the audience, in a way that’s engaging and compelling).
The consistency element (3) is all about the strategic and continual use of critical assets to create brand recognition - be it the Nike swoosh, Tiffany blue, Burberry pattern, McDonalds ba-da-ba-ba-baa jingle, or Abercrombie & Fitch’s hard to miss store scent.
Relevancy (4) is about understanding how to continually tap into culture. Lego kicked off the brand-as-movie era with The Lego Movie, has invested in the metaverse, run advertising targeted at adults proclaiming to be the antidote to a digitally-distressing world and much more. Oreo is collaborating with brands like Supreme and Lady Gaga and created flavor mashups with Sour Patch Kids and Ritz (both Mondelez brands) to create distinctive and collectible products, big advertising campaigns around the Twist On-It behavior or the Oreoverse where consumers can interact with the brand in immersive digital environments. Be it gorilla marketing or big budget endeavors, marketing that continually taps into culture helps the brand accrue value and eventually nostalgia over time.
All of these pieces of course have to have best-in-class craft and execution to build a brand that exudes timelessness (5). These table stakes are the engine that create distinctiveness, ownability and authenticity. But the toughest part is continual stewardship. Everyone from the founder or CEO to the marketing team, sales team, opps and production teams have to be committed and aligned not just to building a great company, but building a truly remarkable brand. Only then can a company enter the echelon of timeless brands.
So are you and your company ready to take on the challenge?
Future proof your brand.
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