HERITAGE AND BRAND MARKETING
Heritage represents the cultural legacy made up of everything the past has transmitted to the present and which defines identity—whether of a people, a territory, or, above all, a company.
Since every company has its own history, the ability to make it available, tell it, and enhance it is the task of the brand and heritage marketing, which leverage corporate heritage as a tool to promote the brand or product.
The connection between Heritage and Marketing can therefore be very strong and is expressed through a set of actions designed to strategically enhance and utilize a company’s historical heritage.
BRAND REPUTATION
Corporate history, reconstructed through actions involving archival sources, people, and key stakeholders, allows the discovery of new content and the creation of new narratives, thereby transmitting the company’s most authentic values and simultaneously strengthening the reputation of the company, its people, and its products.
These initiatives benefit not only companies but also employees, suppliers, partners, and customers, especially those business areas focused on promotion, communication, institutional relations, marketing, and SEO campaigns.
The ability of companies to convey their identity and culture, highlighting initiatives that have made them unique and distinguished their brands and products, forms the basis of Heritage Marketing—a communication and sales strategy leveraging a company’s historical heritage, including:
- retro branding initiatives
- vintage merchandising and packaging
- anniversary celebrations and iconic products
- participation in and sponsorship of cultural initiatives
- corporate museums, both physical and virtual
Heritage is a concept that links the present, future, and past, making the latter relevant to contemporary activities and objectives.
Through the historical archive, the company collects and organizes its assets to make them available to the public; the historical archive is useful for promoting the company’s image externally, communicating traditions, values, and corporate culture, as well as internally, to disseminate its philosophy and mission.
Historical reconstruction is therefore an essential step for maintaining the company’s presence from its founding to today and into the future. This process requires researching the common roots between the product, the company, and its customer, while Heritage communication strengthens trust between the company and its consumers and stakeholders, leveraging the brand’s identity and values.
Two examples of how communication and marketing leverage corporate heritage to promote products and brands.
“In 1972 OVS opens for the first time. In 2020 it reopens to welcome you again in stores where Italian style meets Italian families.”
(OVS advertising campaign for the reopening of stores post-lockdown, May 2020)
“The future belongs to those with a great past.”
(Alfa Romeo Giulietta advertisement on the occasion of its market return in 2015)
BRAND IDENTITY AND STORYTELLING
The historical archive is a tool particularly common among long-standing companies, through which it is possible to create numerous ways to promote the company’s image externally, communicating traditions, values, and corporate culture, as well as internally, to disseminate its philosophy and mission.
The most widespread and powerful of these tools is storytelling. Through words, images, and sounds, both with traditional and digital tools, the company tells its story, communicates, and strengthens its brand. There are many variations of this practice; below we explore a few.
Storytelling Through Products and Brands
This activity includes the research and selection of products, iconic products, images, packaging, merchandising, and retro-branding elements—designed to emotionally engage customers by evoking feelings and images from the past.
Storytelling Through Events and Relationships
This activity includes anniversary celebrations, exhibitions and fairs, workshops, cultural events, sponsorships, and award ceremonies.
Storytelling Through Places and Spaces
This activity encompasses corporate museums, virtual tours, industrial archaeology, flagship stores, and historic company locations.
What are the tools for enhancing a company’s historical heritage?
The tools are multiple and diverse. In addition to those listed above, there are corporate museums or company museums, which can be physical or virtual spaces. There are also corporate monographs, often celebratory publications produced for anniversaries or special events, as well as the revival of iconic and vintage products for the launch of new ones (retro branding).