Today, heritage brands occupy a difficult position. Squeezed between private label that sets value and insurgent brands that speak to values. Having worked on several, I have found that they often take the same approach of maximizing margins, targeting younger consumers, and launching line extensions and PPA.
But in my experience, “heritage” is not a ‘one size fits all’ strategy. It is a starting condition, and different starting conditions require different discipline*, especially when budgets are shrinking, and teams do not have the resources to do everything that needs to be done.
Some brands still define the category. Some defined it once, then faded from daily choice. Some narrowed to specific communities but retained deep loyalty. Some were always small and chose to stay that way. Each of these represent different challenges and require different focal points.
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1. The Category Benchmark
These brands are still the reference point. They define the mental model of the category, anchor price ladders, and shape consumer expectations.
In CPG, true growth only comes from penetration*. Category benchmarks already have very high penetration. So they default to Line extensions (drive frequency), Partnerships and LTOs (reinforce salience) Price/product architecture (temporarily defend against declining purchasing power). These tactics work until private label reaches quality/taste parity. Then the playbook struggles.
The Trap:
The only real consumer growth for a highly penetrated benchmark is adjacency. You may wish to use high awareness and trust to recruit new users in adjacent categories, but consumers/retailers either want you everywhere (all adjacencies feel plausible), or you get pushback from consumers, retailers, and competitors (you are so associated with one category that expansion lacks credibility).
The Behavioral Pivot
- Know which associations transfer and which don’t.
- Protect mental dominance in the core while testing adjacencies. Your brand equity is your biggest asset
- Accept that some benchmarks have reached their ceiling and you need to create new ones.
2. The Memory Brand
These brands were once ubiquitous. Then they became nostalgic, then transactional, then are either currently shelf-fill or heading that way.
Often, the strength is salience and familiarity. But either the brand is losing relevance or the category is declining. The instinct is to sunset the brand. But should a brand with high salience be put to pasture if you do not have a high-growth brand ready in the bullpen?
The Trap:
Believing awareness equals relevance* can be a big mistake as is chasing young audiences without a clear bridge strategy. I mean, how many times have we written “Win over [Young Audience] without alienating the [The Core]” in our strategy decks? How often has that actually happened at scale?
The Behavioral Pivot
- Find a bridge audience. If Boomers love you, consider Gen X or Millennials as a transition, so Gen Alpha grows up seeing you at home. Unless you have a sizeable communications budget.
- Decide whether to modernize the role or narrow it depending on the larger organization priorities.
- Be ruthless about what no longer earns its space.
Variant: The Category Sunset
Some heritage brands face a different challenge: the brand may still be healthy, but the entire category is structurally declining The strategic questions are similar, but the strategy requires teams to consider both the Category Benchmark and the Memory Brand traps/behavioral pivots.
3. The Cultural Anchor
These brands were once mass. Over time, they declined but retained strength within specific communities, regions, or ethnic groups. These groups are vocal in their support and love of the brand.
The Trap
The instinct of most brands is to still try appealing to everyone, but the risk of this is that your current cultural core feels alienated. Conversely, many brands feel uncomfortable about leaning too strongly into a specific audience group because they fear alienating other groups. However, it is important to remember that almost every cultural anchor that went mainstream successfully in the past two decades did so by evangelizing a cultural trait or pain point that resonated beyond its core.
The Behavioral Pivot
- Protect the core. Treat them like an asset.
- Identify the cultural trait or value that can translate.
- Expand based on shared pain-points or pleasure points, not just category opportunity.
4. The Heritage Niche
These brands have story, quality, and authenticity. What they never had was ubiquity. They were always niche.
The challenge is relevance and conversion in a market with behemoth category benchmarks, value players, and insurgents.
The Trap:
You have heritage but limited salience, so you cannot borrow from the category benchmark playbook and chase awareness (unless you have a big budget). Category benchmark brands inspired ‘best practices’ may lead to brands in this space trying to behave like Memory Brands or generic value players, but this is a waste of your credibility, especially among your loyalist consumers
The Behavioral Pivot
- Think like an insurgent. Speak to values, not just quality. Give your heritage a reason to demand a premium or a purchase.
- Find your tribe and double down on them. Grow with your advocates, not despite them.
- Scale systems strategically. Be ruthless about the audiences you say no to until you have acquired momentum.
The Strategic Mistake
Executives often apply the same playbook to all four types (Kahneman & Tversky, 1974). They cut costs, add line extensions, increase promo, refresh the logo or graphics, and each of these has value.
But each heritage type has a different structural tension:
Category Benchmarks need to defend leadership and push incrementally in adjacencies.
Memory Brands need to rebuild relevance.
Cultural Anchors need to evangelize a core value with broad appeal.
Heritage Niches need to build with depth before they drive scale.
Treating them the same is how heritage brands risk irrelevance. There is a reason Maxwell House (Memory brand) cannot adopt the Pabst Blue Ribbon (Heritage Niche) playbook. There is a reason category giants like Dove have strategically explored adjacencies like hair care. There is a reason Cafe Bustelo (Cultural Anchor) doubled down on its Latin American roots rather than diluting its heritage.
As a marketer, your job is to compete. Compete differently with The Blake Project.
The Reframe
Ask:
What structural position does this brand actually occupy?
Is it benchmark, memory, cultural anchor, or niche? (Use whatever terms feel right to you)
Are we trying to fix decline, or misdiagnosing strength?
Heritage is not an asset by default*. It is leverage only if you know what kind of brand you are stewarding.
What’s Coming
Over the next four weeks, we will examine each type in depth:
The Memory Brand
The Cultural Anchor
The Heritage Niche
Each article will cover the behavioral dynamics of that type, why standard playbooks fail, what actually works, and how to compete against this type of brand. Looking forward to continuing this discussion.
Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by Sweta Kannan, CPG Marketing and Innovation Executive
At The Blake Project, we help clients worldwide, in all stages of development, define and articulate what makes them competitive and valuable at pivotal moments of change. Please email us to learn how we can help you compete differently.
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