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Barbie simply had a billion-dollar yr. DeLorean is again in manufacturing — however in fact, it by no means actually left, with many years of cultural presence, robust collectible automotive gross sales and ongoing IP licensing offers. Classic Levi’s now promote for greater than new pairs. But, almost 88% of Fortune 500 firms from 1955 are not in existence. What separates the legacy manufacturers that thrive from those who die? Why do some manufacturers grow to be cultural artifacts, whereas others reinvent themselves for each new period?
The reply is greater than nostalgia. Manufacturers that endure achieve this by turning legacy into leverage, mixing cultural capital with innovation and infrastructure. People who fail, like Blockbuster and Nokia, cling to what labored previously, lacking the alerts of fixing shopper behaviors and technological shifts.
For entrepreneurs, the lesson is not simply to “innovate or die;” it is to innovate with intention. This is learn how to make legacy give you the results you want. Whether or not you are reviving a basic or constructing a model from scratch, there are invaluable classes from enterprise’s best legacy revivals.
Associated: Dedication to Innovation Is How Legacy Firms Keep Agile
Storytelling + change: The facility of evolving relevance
Storytelling and cultural capital can spark highly effective comebacks when paired with actual innovation. Mattel’s 2023 Barbie movie demonstrates this completely. Whereas Barbie had all the time carried “proto feminist” messages, offering equipment for impartial careers, the model confronted rising criticism for selling unachievable magnificence requirements and materialism.
The film intentionally confronted these criticisms head-on, reworking Barbie from a logo of superficial perfection right into a nuanced exploration of contemporary womanhood, addressing points starting from office contradictions to physique picture pressures. The consequence? A $1.4 billion world field workplace, a 14% spike in Barbie gross sales and a 25% surge in U.S. doll purchases, proving that genuine narrative evolution can drive each cultural relevance and measurable enterprise outcomes.
To copy this success, firm house owners should first decide who the brand new audiences they need to join with are after which candidly contemplate how their present model narrative could also be hindering that progress. The secret is to retain the weather that make your model stand out, whereas additionally adapting your narrative to enchantment to at present’s values and wishes.
How legacy manufacturers flip story into ongoing worth
A compelling story alone will not maintain legacy manufacturers. At present’s customers anticipate authenticity, transparency and the power to do extra with their purchases. This presents a possibility for legacy manufacturers because of their wealthy narrative foundations that newer manufacturers typically lack. When customers purchase right into a legacy model, they’re investing in many years or centuries of story, which creates limitless potentialities for merchandise that supply layered experiences, prolonged engagement and deeper which means past the preliminary buy.
For example, Breitling now points blockchain-based digital passports for each timepiece, enabling consumers to trace the provenance and repair historical past of their timepieces. This affords an inroad right into a luxurious resale market projected to hit $51.7 billion by 2026.
Within the automotive world, DeLorean’s digital comeback is not nearly reviving an iconic cinematic automotive. By using blockchain to facilitate token-based reservations and a digital resale market, DeLorean is reworking clients into long-term contributors, somewhat than one-time consumers. This mirrors broader tendencies, resembling Levi’s launching its SecondHand platform to draw new, youthful audiences, 60% of whom are first-time Levi’s consumers.
Digital instruments also can unlock new modes of neighborhood and engagement that weren’t doable in earlier eras. What was a one-way relationship (model to purchaser) is evolving right into a participatory ecosystem. Discord servers with tens of 1000’s of contributors, tradable digital property and sensible contract-enabled memberships are creating communities that do not simply devour — they co-create, speculate and advocate.
Within the case of DeLorean, digital collectibles and token-based entry have allowed a brand new era, typically discovering the model via mother and father or popular culture references, to construct their very own model of brand name affinity, grounded in real-time interplay and possession.
Constructing for the longer term: When to lean in, when to interrupt out
Alongside updating your story and creating layered product experiences, the ultimate problem is constructing infrastructure that may maintain your revival in the long run. This is not nearly getting the most recent tech; it is about making strategic decisions that place your legacy model for many years, not simply years.
The trail ahead is much less about following a inflexible playbook and extra about making sensible selections at key junctures. In case your model evokes robust feelings or nostalgia, lean in: Reinforce your story, however replace it for at present’s channels and shopper behaviors. In case your legacy fashions are holding you again from assembly new wants or adopting mandatory know-how, break from them: Pilot new merchandise, channels or enterprise fashions, as Levi’s did with its SecondHand platform.
Essentially the most profitable revivals spend money on versatile techniques from the beginning. This implies deciding on know-how platforms that may evolve, growing buyer knowledge capabilities that develop in tandem together with your model and establishing operational processes that scale with out compromising the model’s authenticity. It additionally means getting ready for the subsequent shift, whether or not that is new social platforms, altering shopper behaviors or rising applied sciences that would both threaten or improve your relevance.
Associated: Constructing on the Previous, Main into the Future: The Evolving Position of Legacy Enterprise Leaders
Preserve constructing
Legacy is not simply one thing you inherit; it is one thing you construct day by day. The manufacturers that can outline the subsequent decade will not be those with the very best tales about their previous; they will be those constructing essentially the most genuine and fascinating experiences for his or her future.
What unites all profitable revivals is an easy fact: Tradition pulls folks in, however execution retains them there. Whether or not you are reviving a dormant icon or constructing from scratch, success comes from evolving your narrative for contemporary relevance, creating experiences that stretch far past the preliminary transaction, and constructing infrastructure that may adapt and scale with out shedding what made you particular within the first place.
In a world the place legacy is each your best asset and your greatest legal responsibility, the query is not whether or not you possibly can afford to evolve — it is whether or not you possibly can afford to not. The manufacturers that perceive this do not simply come again; they arrive again stronger, extra related and higher positioned for no matter comes subsequent.
Barbie simply had a billion-dollar yr. DeLorean is again in manufacturing — however in fact, it by no means actually left, with many years of cultural presence, robust collectible automotive gross sales and ongoing IP licensing offers. Classic Levi’s now promote for greater than new pairs. But, almost 88% of Fortune 500 firms from 1955 are not in existence. What separates the legacy manufacturers that thrive from those who die? Why do some manufacturers grow to be cultural artifacts, whereas others reinvent themselves for each new period?
The reply is greater than nostalgia. Manufacturers that endure achieve this by turning legacy into leverage, mixing cultural capital with innovation and infrastructure. People who fail, like Blockbuster and Nokia, cling to what labored previously, lacking the alerts of fixing shopper behaviors and technological shifts.
For entrepreneurs, the lesson is not simply to “innovate or die;” it is to innovate with intention. This is learn how to make legacy give you the results you want. Whether or not you are reviving a basic or constructing a model from scratch, there are invaluable classes from enterprise’s best legacy revivals.
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