How to balance heritage and innovation in marketing

This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!

This week, we're diving into classic brand marketing with Chelsea Sumrow, CMO of First American Title and Insurance. Chelsea shares insights on modernizing a 135-year-old brand while preserving its rich history.  

—Elena 

When consumers expect innovation, their preference for older brands declines.       

That’s according to an article in the Journal of Marketing Research titled ‘The “Achilles Heel” of Established Brands’ which reviewed sales data from Amazon and seven experimental studies. 

How to modernize a classic brand.         

Established brands face their own unique set of marketing challenges—like keeping up with a quickly-changing marketing world. Chelsea Sumrow recommends marketers in this situation combine traditional brand management with a test-and-learn approach. Here’s how to get started... 

1. Begin with identity. Before making any visual changes, define your brand's core identity. This guides modernization efforts while preserving brand authenticity. And helps align the entire organization.
2. Shift marketing from a cost center to a revenue driver. Yes, marketing should directly drive revenue. Build models to attribute revenue to marketing activities, transforming how the department is perceived within the organization.
   
3. Embrace testing. Avoid getting stuck in "rinse and repeat" mode. Adopt a testing mentality to uncover new opportunities, especially in industries that haven't traditionally leveraged this approach.
4. Connect upper- and lower-funnel efforts. Demonstrate how upper-funnel activities like TV advertising improve lower-funnel metrics to justify investment in brand-building efforts.
5. Focus on outcomes, not outputs. Empower your team to pivot when current efforts aren't moving the needle. This turns work into a more engaging and effective process. 

Listen in on our discussion.

“Leading with Questions”       

This book by Michael Marquardt provides leaders with a framework for asking effective questions to unlock their team's potential. 

Get the book.

The power of ‘Why?’                      

“The power of questions, the power of being a leader who creates a questioning culture, means you start with ‘why’ and you keep asking ‘why’ until you understand." 

— Chelsea Sumrow, CMO of First American