Preserving heritage value in a brand refresh.

Business owners often worry about losing recognition, awareness, value or heritage if they refresh their brand.

There can be tremendous value in a long-established brand, especially if they have already earned the goodwill of their loyal customers. In some cases the best approach is to rework the logo to honour that heritage, rather than update for the sake of looking new and different.

Here are some heritage brands that I took that approach with. Halifax Seed has been operating in Halifax Nova Scotia since 1866. Masstown Market is the youngest business in this post, but if you live anywhere near Masstown, you’ll understand what a local icon it is. Stanfield’s has been in operation since 1856 with the wrestler icon being used on some of the oldest packaging I could find. With each of these, the concept was good and in some cases even iconic (at least locally), but they were often made for a different world than they exist in today. Nobody was worried about screen sizes in the 1800s. In these cases, I worked to bring out the best in the existing logo, honour the concept and style intent, and make changes that will allow the logo to work in the modern world across a wide range of applications.

Don’t be afraid to refresh heritage brands. In many cases, they need it in order to navigate the next 100 years. If done right, you can lay that foundation without losing any of the love that got you here.