‘Innovation’, ‘cutting edge’, ‘forward-thinking’ — all common phrases in marketing vernacular as brands strive to be the next big thing. It’s generally accepted that a successful business must always be looking forward – but could something be lost by never looking back?
To ignore the archives of a business is to overlook fabled stories, precious documents, photographs, adverts and more. Buried within may be hidden gems with untapped potential to guide a brand’s future journey. Here, we share some classic examples of brands which have harnessed their heritage, dipping into their archives to create a new buzz in a modern era.
Hovis draws inspiration from its past
In Andy Nairn’s book ‘Go Luck Yourself’, he speaks about taking on a brief from Hovis in 2008, a historic brand which had recently been toppled by Warburtons. The stakes were high as its market share was in steep decline and morale was low. The brand was also seen as old-fashioned, so looking back at the past surely wasn’t the correct strategy, right? Wrong, it turned out.
With a mission to create the advertising campaign of the year, Andy and his team requested access to the Hovis archives and all that came with them. After some careful exploration, they rediscovered Ridley Scott’s 1974 story of the ‘Boy on the bike’ – one of the most famous TV spots of all time. Honing in on the line ‘As good for you today, as it’s always been’, they took this as inspiration for a new idea, fine-tuning it to ‘As good today, as it’s always been.’ From this sprang a new campaign about the brand’s enduring relevance, borrowing elements of ‘Boy on the bike’ and building on the iconic ad, rather than dismissing it completely.
What resulted was a new boy, stepping out from a Victorian bakery and travelling through time across 122 years, through suffragettes, WW1 recruits, the Blitz, Coronation street parties, World Cup celebrations and Millennium Fireworks. The campaign was emotive, nostalgic and a huge hit, which saw it voted campaign of the decade. It reminded the British public of what Hovis had been through with them, and how it remained true to its principles in modern day.
Sales increased significantly and Hovis became the fastest-growing grocery brand of the year, with the campaign estimated to have boosted profits by about £90m.
The Sainsbury Archive
Another example of a brand successfully leveraging its heritage is Sainsbury’s, which digitised its archive in 2019 to mark its 150th birthday. Almost a hundred thousand never-before-seen items were put online for the first time, including stories, old pamphlets, vintage photos and images of interesting, bygone grocery items in its dynamic, “living archive” collection.
The Sainsbury Archive was initiated in 1969 and is now an independent charity, run by trustees including members of the Sainsbury family. The archive is physically held in the Sainsbury Study Centre at the Museum of London Docklands but its digitalisation is what made it accessible to the masses in 2019.
This in turn made for some great social media content, news stories in mainstream media, and general word of mouth as people reflected on historic findings. Items are still being added to the collection today and it’s welcoming donations from anyone who finds a piece of Sainsbury’s history in their home.
Jack Daniel’s celebrates its roots
JD Roots was a campaign launched in 2012 which underlined Jack Daniel’s longstanding association with music and rock culture. Digging into its archives for imagery from the brand’s founding in Lynchburg, Tennessee, along with photographs of Jack Daniel’s sharing the stage with some of the world’s greatest rock icons over decades, the campaign was all about reconnecting with the past.
Running over two years, the JD Roots campaign featured a number of rock bands heading back to where it all began to play intimate homecoming shows. The activity was supported by a major above the line campaign to raise awareness and boost sales.
By bringing big names back to their local venues, the campaign celebrated the importance of artists’ origins. It also gave a nod to the people and places that shaped local music scenes, all while reminding the consumer that a bottle of Jack has always been synonymous with ‘cool’.
Finding the story in your business
What can be learned from this? In shaping your brand’s future, don’t be too quick to dismiss the past.
Your archive could be hiding a spellbinding story that still captivates your customer today. An old idea or advert might prove to be the catalyst behind your next campaign, providing a fresh spark which translates beautifully to help achieve your brand’s goals today.
So, if you’d like some help harnessing your heritage, why not get in touch?
