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Activating a Brand’s Legacy Requires a Future Direction

 By ALEJANDRO LÓPEZ and JAMES HARN, PhD

 

For a while now, Millennials have been steadily retrieving products and labels from a past they barely experienced, if at all.  The resurgence of vinyl records, instant cameras or the Moleskein® brand, among many other cases, signals the emergence of a potent cultural current. At LopezMora, we define this current as Legacy Power, an effort made by the new generation to retrieve meaningful objects and stories from another era and to drive them forcefully into their own future. Brands and companies’ attempts to capitalize on their Legacy Power abound. However, many of them fail primarily because of the prevalent tendency to confuse Legacy with Nostalgia. In this and coming papers, we explore the causes, consequences, and opportunities of this new phenomenon.  In doing so, we also touch on cultural topics beyond marketing in which the idea of Legacy Power can be leveraged to solve various other problems.

Millennials Are Fueling the Comeback of Analog

Generational conflict surrounds our homes, schools and corporations.  Difficulties in employee relationships, teaching methods and brand development slow our endeavors and exhaust our resources.  In the midst of these clashes and as the world emerges from the Great Recession, a new marketing concept emerges with it.  This concept addresses the attraction Millennials have for such analog products as vinyl, ‘Polaroid’ instant cameras, as well as ‘slow’ practices such as game night, and home cooking, among others.   What is curious and of note is why the first generation raised in the digital age would have an attraction for such, seemingly outmoded, analog products.  We recognize in these occurrences a celebration of a cultural inheritance that is being actively sought rather than being passively handed down to the new generation.  In this regard, Millennials are doing the work of legacy building as they retrieve boomers’ artifacts whose time in the market has expired and propel them into the future with a new direction.   

Understandably, some manufacturers and advertisers might respond swiftly to this cultural phenomenon by dragging old products and brands from their vaults and trying to give current relevance to them.  Some may be narrowly successful but many fail because they mistake nostalgia for legacy.   When legacy is confused with nostalgia or retro its future oriented dimension is missed.  Nostalgia is a one way ticket to the past.  Legacy is a more encompassing idea with deeper roots, wider reach, which draw upon greater potential.

Legacy Bridges the Generational Chasm

The origins of the word ‘legacy’ stem from the root ‘leg’ meaning "to collect, gather," with derivatives meaning "to speak (to 'pick out words');" that is, to bind together with words.  When this root is combined with the Latin legare meaning to "send with a commission, appoint as deputy, appoint by a last will,” we get the sense of passing a meaningful story from generation to generation—much as one might pass a baton—tying them to a common heritage. The identification of something as meaningful is the recognition that it serves a purpose.  Neuroscience has affirmed that our perception is an expression of the layered history of these stories.  “Our brains’ way of seeing looks to this history … for what is useful, in the hopes of increasing the probability of surviving in the future.”  Those who correctly recognized something as a threat, a snake, perhaps, and responded accordingly, survived to tell the tale and to pass on this perceptual pattern as a legacy; those who did not perished and their pattern of misrecognition along with them.

Stated succinctly, the ‘power in legacy’ resides in stitching together ideas, objects, behaviors into constellations that form stories that are meaningful for the navigation of experience and which have the unique power to bind generations. Societies depend on these stories to sustain and, paradoxically, to evolve their cultures.  Nowadays, however, the feeling of generational break prevails.  With the peak of the digital revolution, the regular flow of legacy has been interrupted.  The Millennial generation got shortchanged; a failure of legacy expressed by the well known fact that Millennials are the first generation expected to not do as well as their parents.  

It is also well known that Millennials are a notably skeptical cohort.  “They identify social policies enacted by Boomers, e.g. increased student debt and a lack of an employer-sponsored retirement plans, as substantial hurdles to entrepreneurship.” More than skeptical the Millennials’ worldview is down right bleak. Putting responsibility for these policies aside, from their perspective, it cannot be denied that following the Great Recession our social and political environment has revealed something crucial:  faced with unending military conflict we have little peace to show for it; faced with unending spending on healthcare, we have little health to show for it; faced with unending corporate power we have little shared prosperity to show for it; faced with unending consumption we have little but environmental destruction to show for it.  The stories we have told ourselves have not resulted in their expected outcomes, many assumptions that governed past behavior have exhausted their legacy power.

Thinking about legacy as that which binds generations however, legacy should be considered as an effort of remediation, the re-establishment of what is broken between two generations. It offers an opportunity for Millennials to bequeath themselves a legacy not granted.  Hence, the power of legacy resides in its capacity for future orientation.  After all, a true legacy is not the nostalgic return to the past there to remain but is the issuing of a story whose meaning is useful to build the future.  Brand positioning, company missions, and marketing strategies built on the premise of innovating the past as energy for the future have a much stronger potential than laments for the “good old” days, no matter how emotional and well produced they might be.  

The Millennial attraction for analog products is the expression of this binding power in material form:  game night materializes the intangible moment of social bonding; vinyl materializes the authenticity of the performed sound wave; ‘Polaroid’ snaps instantaneously materialize on paper the aesthetic quality of shared memory.  The popularization of these and other similar products and activities can be interpreted as a survival mechanism against the digital dematerialization and fragmentation prevalent in our lives.  Harnessing the power inherent in legacy and applying it in our classrooms, workplaces, and markets may very well lay the keystone necessary to bridge the various dimensions of our discontent.  

Nostalgia Traps Us in the Past  

As we mentioned earlier, there is a trap hiding in this idea that has become quite evident in the marketing world where a nostalgic adoration of the past has at times been exploited as a marketing hook for Millennials. While it is true that Millennials show an interest in analog behaviors and products, nostalgia alone is insufficient, and potentially risky, for developing and maintaining a brand’s positive identity.  It is far easier to bring back a long ago retired logo than to create new content. And if this logo carries with it positive cultural memories, activating “emotional attachment” and “a higher possibility that we will act upon a purchase,” all the better for marketers.   The power of legacy, however, is not nostalgia alone.  To identify a legacy brand one would have to look for one that tells a customary or satisfying story but with an ending open for future possibility. Such brands may offer a familiar and ‘safe-space’ for experimentation suitable for Millennials to construct their own legacy.  Products and brands, human resources policies, and educational strategies based on the concept of legacy should hearken to a recognizable past but must remain open to investment with new meaning and purpose.  

Moleskine®: A Well Executed Legacy

Moleskine® has orchestrated these ideas to perfect harmony.  The Molskine® brand carries with it a storied history going as far back as Vincent van Gogh, Picasso and Hemingway but was created as recently as 1997.  The Moleskine® brand story creates the expectation of participating in a legacy of thinkers, artists and innovators in which each consumer can find his or her place.  Further, Moleskine® has introduced line extensions bridging analog and digital thereby creating for its brand a future oriented space in which consumers can invest new stories.  Last, Moleskine®’s entire range of products mutually support the core story of lettered exploration of life and the world around us which creates a stage for experience that matches its core brand story, a stage upon which any of its consumers can find themselves playing a part.  

The Moleskine® model can be applied to not only many other products and brands but also to human resources and educational tools. The power of this approach resides in the fact that its very structure poses a re-meaning of the past in everyday useful ways.   Legacy may occasion new understandings that suit their recipients, not providing answers so much as occasioning future oriented experiments, novel stories.  And this may be its real cash value….  The power in legacy can occasion a re-turning of the past that is future oriented.

In our next paper we focus on the storytelling quality inherent in the idea of legacy, attend to its positive contribution to legacy building and highlight some of the unintended consequences of over-investing in the technological factor of Big Data and under-investing in the human factor of storytelling.   

 

 

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You say Multicultural, I say Transcultural, let’s just get to the point already!

In collaboration with Nicole Ferreira

In the last couple of years, new approaches to multicultural communication started to populate the marketing literature carrying alternative prefixes to the almighty word “cultural.” Confusion is starting to settle in and clients are asking: what are you talking about?

It seems that L’Oréal® has cracked the multicultural code. Recently they have taken on “ethnic beauty aisles”- those intended for African American and consumers of other ethnicities. Unsurprisingly L’Oréal’s move to step back and try something new is the result of research pointing to a discrepancy between what consumers are looking to purchase and what is available on the shelves. Instead of having a separate location dedicated to African Americans and other ethnic groups who require specialty products, they will be integrating their beauty supplies with traditional lines in the same aisle. They will market to texture and type of hair rather than to race or ethnicity. 
As the 2009 blockbuster hit Avatar coined, “It is hard to fill a cup which is already full.” Although a planet of tree hugging aliens may not appear to be relevant to marketing, there may be more to learn from these big blue people than meets the eye. In the case of creating new marketing strategies, often what we already know, or think we know, impedes the possibility of seeing new ideas. Marketing to diverse populations necessitates the openness to begin looking at past marketing strategies with fresh, new, big blue, alien eyes. 
A hair care line known as Mixed Chicks® has also proposed a new style of product development and marketing strategy. Instead of dividing consumers based on their visible differences, they have grouped them by what they have in common. Regardless of ethnicity, people seek solutions to taming their errant locks, and in the case of Mixed Chicks whether it is “Europe, Africa, Asia, America...we not only come from everywhere, but we are going everywhere.” 
Multicultural marketing is a cup long overflowing with approaches catering to and capitalizing on specific differences among consumer groups. In the case of marketing to Hispanics, Spanish language has become an obsession; one that has backfired many times as countless examples prove. These marketing approaches frequently result in advertisements and product development rife with stereotypes. One need not look further than a Starbucks® or IKEA® to behold an all too common example of translations gone horribly wrong. 
There is no question that many behaviors, values, attitudes and lifestyles are ethnically rooted, but that is only one side of the coin. There are other cultural variables to consider that can potentially be either more salient than ethnicity, or a bigger opportunity for a brand’s strategy. Transculturalism, although it acknowledges the value of a person’s race, does not make it the focal point. Instead, transculturalism is about shared experiences and the sense of community that comes from having those common experiences. It removes stereotypes and encourages a mindset in line with the equality to which all people strive. Transcultural marketing derived from commonalities is the easiest way to relay information. 
Multiculturalism, transculturalism, tomato, tomatoe. It doesn’t really matter what you call it. The point is that new cultural phenomena should inform marketing strategy. Keeping pace with poly, cross, trans, bi–culturalism, requires an alien eye, empathy and a willingness to empty ones cup of preconceived ideas and shift to a more inclusive point of view focused on similarities rather than differences. “Seeking common ground where it exists while remaining sensitive to real differences” is the key to survival in the fast-coming age of transcultural marketing.

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Millennial Consciousness - Dispelling the Mystery Beyond the Monster

            by Nicole Ferreira

            What goes by many names, has many faces, and is known to be the least religious and patriotic, while being the most technology dependent and environmentally conscious at the same time? 

            Although a seemingly mind boggling riddle, Millennials are far less complicated than the literature dedicated to unmasking their true identities. The key to navigating the age old Millennial maze, is not solely to identify their behaviors, but to understand the values that drive their actions.

            The Millennial Consciousness is fertile ground rich in ideals that have redefined an age. The most notable trait demonstrated within their collective psyches has been their much publicized need for validation. A coin, of course, has two sides however, and while tails may have called the generation technology dependent and selfish, those with  their heads up, understand that through validation, Millennials have become the most individualistic and connected generation on the face of the planet.

            Through their shared beliefs they have created social change on an astronomical scale. Googleing the word Millennials alone, will return 5,330,000 results in just 0.27 seconds. Perhaps the next riddle shouldn’t be about what Millennials are, but rather why society has yet to harness the power of their combined consciousness.

 

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The Block Writing on the Wall

In 2013, the nation was stunned by the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The George Zimmerman trial brought to light concerns that have always been a present but unspoken dark shadow upon American culture. Although violence, gun control, and race took center stage, education was also called to the witness stand. Most people looked on in horror as an American who had attended school since kindergarten in Miami spoke in barely literate slang, and was unable to testify regarding a piece of evidence written in cursive. Like so many other Americans being turned out from school systems that no longer teach valuable developmental skills, such as cursive, she was stereotyped and dismissed. And while Rachel Jeantel was criticized for being ignorant and having poor character and personality, she is just one of the hundreds of Rachel Jeantels being turned out by an education system in dire need of a closer look.

In the mid 2000’s The College Board reported that students who wrote in cursive earned better scores based on an increased ability to express themselves. The positive correlation between the ability to write cursive and an aptitude for creative expression begs an investigation of the ways in which learning cursive may impact intelligence, personality and character.

Since 2001, there have been drastic changes in public school classroom curricula across the country. The advent of educational mandates such as No Child Left Behind and Common Core have prioritized standardized testing and heralded it as the platform to conduct effective classroom teaching. In states like New Jersey, for example, teachers’ pay and advancement is tied to student outcomes on state tests. With livelihoods at stake, teachers are sticking to the “block” script, teaching only what is required. In the case of cursive, because it is not on the test, it is no longer taught.

There have been copious debates arguing either to maintain or defame the value of teaching cursive.  However, when looking at the topic from a historical perspective, it is clear to see the value of cursive as relating directly to the creative process throughout time.  Although he came along at the tail end of the rebirth, Thomas Eakins, one of the most important artists in American art history, is said to be deeply influenced by the fluidity and gracefulness of cursive in his own art. Handwriting has enraptured and inspired the mind of scholars and artists a like.  Not so unlike Thomas Eakins, every individual who has triumphed the hours of cursive practice has earned a right of passage into their own expression of written art. Not only does cursive define points of generational, personal and cultural import, the way pottery or architecture might, it also serves as a window to the soul, rendering insight about character and personality throughout time.

An example of how generations have capitalized on the expressiveness of script is marked by how it has changed over time. Cursive as a recognized form separate from block script took shape during China’s Han Dynasty as an efficient way for clerics to quickly produce rough drafts.  The transition to cursive similar to what we use today, began with a right forward slant and connecting ligatures or lines, which developed out of the calligraphy style of Eastern Traditions. In addition to its Eastern influences, modern cursive of the West owes its existence to the renaissance of the 14th century. During this time a new generation enraptured by education and the quest to understand humanity was born. The change in style from block to cursive emerged as a humanistic rebellion against the coldness of culture and feeling prevalent in the Gothic period.  As people began to shift their beliefs, they also began to shift the shape and style of their letters to create a new reality; one that better reflected their un-gothic personalities.

Throughout time there have been a number of stylistic differences added to cursive handwriting. Before the printing press, to be a scribe was a lucrative and valued occupation, especially for those who had mastered more than one cursive style. Copperplate, Spencerian Copperplate and Palmer Method, to name just a few, became popular among academics and governmental clerks alike; each one indicating certain characteristics and purpose of the writer. Even though Copperplate was around before 1776, it was the script chosen to write the declaration of independence. At the time, Copperplate was associated with learning and gentility; a message definitively not lost on the crown.

If all handwriting is an expression of the culture of its time, cursive added the possibility of the expression of the soul of the writer. To validate the axiom that cursive is a reflection of personality, several scholars, including Abbe Jean Hippolyte and Milton Bunker believed that “the slightest movement of the pen is the vibration of the soul” and that “one’s character could be improved by working on one’s handwriting”. The correlative analysis of handwriting as an indicator for personality inspired the discipline of graphology. Although the jury is still out on the scientific ability to glean personal information through the analysis of his or her handwriting, graphology has proven itself in correctly identifying gender and intelligence of test subjects.

If there is a conscious reason behind choosing a writing style to convey purpose, it stands to reason that the use of block writing too may have a more profound meaning. When compared to its cursive counterparts, block letters stand autonomously apart connected only by each letters contribution to a word.  If handwriting is indicative of generational personalities, it is easy to infer that block letters are an expression of a culture with a greater sense of autonomy and separation amongst individuals. Where other styles of writing were a mark of a professional trade, such as Copperplate used by scribes, in the age of computers where all formal writing is typed, it seems natural that writing too would followthis trend.

Extinction generates contemplation and sometimes nostalgia. As cursive faces extinction, the conversation about its disappearance is more than timely, it’s necessary. On the one hand the transition to block lettering could be little more than a natural progression in the course of man, an outer expression of a generation’s unique inner world. On the other hand it could be a clear warning, screaming and jumping up and down to get the attention of people to take a more critical look at the course of education in the United States. Whether it is nostalgia for tradition or concern for the minds of the future, this issue presents a clear cause for debate. If we give up the art of cursive, what else have we left out of our children’s education in the pursuit of standardization? What are we saying about who they? How are we shaping who they will become by limiting the tools of expression they are exposed to?

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