If you’ve been around long enough to have your own mascot, holiday sale tradition, or omnipresent jingle (shout out to our founder for coining iconic “Scoop Scoop Yum Yum” Ruggles Ice Cream jingle still living rent-free in Northeast Ohio’s collective brain) congrats: you’re probably a legacy brand. Which means people already love you. You’ve got nostalgia, credibility, and more than a few customers who’ve been with you longer than your interns have been alive.
But all that sentimental love comes with a challenge: how do you evolve and grow your brand to attract new audiences without alienating the loyal fans who made you iconic in the first place?
At Brokaw, we’ve helped brands like Malley’s Chocolates, GE Lighting, Carnegie Investment Counsel, Great Lakes Brewing Company, Hamburger Helper, LakeViewCemetery (yes, a cemetery), and more find that balance between “heritage” and “hot right now.” And after 33 years of resurrecting (and rebranding) beloved classics, we’ve learned a few things.
1.
Don’t Reinvent Your Truth. Rediscover It.
Legacy brands exist because something about them connected with people in a meaningful way. Which makes finding and embracing that special something an invaluable part of shaping your brand’s future.
When we approached our Malley’s Chocolates rebrand, we didn’t ditch their pink boxes or hometown charm; we doubled down. We leaned into their “Cleveland Style Chocolate” pride, modernized their nostalgic look, and gave them a voice as cheeky and sweet as their caramel turtles (er, BillyBobs).
The results? Record-setting Mother’s Day sales, +23% in online preorders, +15% in total sales YOY, and a city full of very happy moms.
Similar story for Great Lakes Brewing Company, whose identity hadn’t changed in over 25 years (which in craft beer years is roughly forever). We evolved their brand not by overhauling it, but by harmonizing with their beloved past and giving the classic labels more consistency and cohesion. Resulting in a contemporary feel that still celebrates their rich history and storytelling tradition.
Before
After
Bro advice:
Great legacy brands can evolve by expressing their truth in a new way, not erasing it. Think less rewriting, more remixing.
2.
Break Category Expectations (Without Breaking Trust)
Smart legacy brands find bold new ways to stay relevant in categories that are drowning in a sea of sameness.
Carnegie Investment Counsel proved you can make waves even in the strait-laced world of finance. Rather than hide behind jargon and stock photos of handshakes, we positioned Carnegie as the anti-Wall Street firm: transparent, independent, and refreshingly human. Our “Invest with Intention” platform celebrates honesty over hype, proving sophistication doesn’t have to mean stuffy.
And speaking of bold, few brands embraced the value of surprise like Lake View Cemetery. In one of the most conservative categories imaginable, we helped them take a “death-positive” approach that made people actually smile about end-of-life planning.
The result? An award-winning campaign, over $500K in new plot sales, and a 3,200% ROI. Talk about resurrecting a brand.
Bro advice:
There’s value in surprising your audience. Especially if you can do so in ways that lend new, emotionally resonant meaning to your brand.
3.
Modernize the Delivery. Not the DNA.
Younger audiences crave authenticity. Older ones crave consistency. Your job? Deliver both, brah. (… and maybe stop saying “brah.”)
That’s exactly what we’ve helped GE Lighting do over the past decade. As the brand faced massive shifts in the omnichannel marketplace, we built a flexible content ecosystem that let their legacy shine (quality light pun) across digital, retail, and influencer platforms without losing their century-long credibility. From A+ content and training materials to immersive product experiences online and in-store, GE continues to evolve how it shows up, while staying true to its role as the leader in lighting innovation.
And when Hamburger Helper was ready to relaunch their brand with the iconic hand (“Lefty”) into the modern dinner conversation, we helped bring it back in style. Through national TV, influencer collaborations, and digital placements, Helper reminded America why it’s still the easiest answer to “What’s for dinner?” The campaign over-delivered on impressions, decreased time-to-convert, and stirred up major nostalgia (pun absolutely intended).
Bro advice:
There’s value in surprising your audience. Especially if you can do so in ways that lend new, emotionally resonant meaning to your brand.
Bonus takeaway: You don’t have to be new to feel new. You just have to be brave enough to evolve.
If you ever need a partner who knows how to give a legacy brand a second life, well, you know where to find us. The center of the universe: Cleveland, Ohio. (Sounds like a good rebrand, eh?)