Lessons from Birkenstock and Champion on How to Build an Evergreen Brand

Birkenstock was valued at USD $8.6 billion when it went public via an IPO in October. The 249-year-old brand is more relevant than ever, with Millennials and gen zers embracing it in recent years and collaborations with the likes of Dior, Celine and Manolo Blahnik. The sandals even made an appearance in the Barbie movie. They are, simply put, shoes that are a home for your feet. 

Like Barbie, Birkenstock is a brand that has stood the test of time and is now viewed with great affection. Classic brands like Disney, Apple and Nike never fade away. And if they do fall out of favour on occasion, they have the ability to make a comeback because they’re so loved in the first place.

While some brands stick around, even when the product itself does not evolve, others - like American Apparel, Borders or DKNY - fizzle out. The difference lies in a brand’s ability to be ageless. And its ability to be so lies in the extent to which it is culturally salient. 

An ageless brand is built on unique audience insights that tap into indisputable human needs and desires that stand the test of time and, also, inform a purpose that resonates. While culture evolves, what people truly want and need in their lives stays the same. In contrast, brands that don’t stick around usually only serve a particular time and place or fail to articulate their real value. 

A brand can stay ageless in a number of ways.

Offer cross-generational appeal

One crucial requirement is cross-generational appeal. 

The Beatles weren’t loved by everyone when they started out, especially not the parents of crazed teenagers caught up in Beatlemania. But because the songs they created had universal meaning and appeal, they soon became the biggest band in the world. When a brand is born out of a universal truth and transcends generations, it doesn’t really ever go out of style. 

The universal appeal of The Beatles was carried through in the branding for the band’s record label, Apple Records. The identity of Apple Records was actually one of the first creations by Wolff Olins, and that bright green Granny Smith logo also became an enduring brand symbol.

Build an authentic connection with your audience

It’s not enough to reach critical mass. 

Brands that have mass appeal face important decisions as they navigate their path to iconic status. Authentic connections will always cut through and these can only be accomplished with a clear reason to exist that’s understood and wholeheartedly embraced from the inside of the organisation first, so that it can be effectively expressed to the world across touchpoints. 

Ride the wave of nostalgia

Like Birkenstock, the classic sportswear brand Champion has made the most of its resurgence. 

A key factor behind its comeback has been buzzed-about capsule collections with collaborators from streetwear brand Supreme to fashion rebels Vetements. These partnerships have not only kept the brand in the headlines, they’ve demonstrated its versatility. Versatility enabled by the sense of quality, integrity and inclusivity Champion has owned since the beginning. 

With the current wave of ‘90s nostalgia, Champion is engaging not just the younger generation but also those gen xers, myself included, that loved the brand as teenagers. We all want to be moved by the brands that we interact with. If a brand means something to us at a key stage in our lives, that feeling stays with us and is a joy to rekindle and to share with the next generation. 

Stay connected to the truth the brand was born into 

While new brands are launching every day, not all of them will be around in the next 50 - or, even five - years. To achieve the ultimate iconic status, marketers need to obsess over the reason the brand exists in the first place: their ‘truth’. 

Once this is clear, the brand must then live it and use it to build its narrative. 

By understanding its place in culture and staying connected to its reason for being, a brand is well equipped to ride the waves of fashion rather than disappear in a rip current when the market changes and face the future with confidence. As artists like ABBA or Rick Astley will attest - trends will come and go, but if the market knows what you stand for, nostalgia will eventually swing back in your favour. 

Here to stay 

There is, then, no one answer to the question of why some brands disappear while others remain. Using the timeless examples shared as a lesson, however, it’s clear that having and remaining connected with a definitive reason to be and remaining salient in culture don’t just go hand-in-hand - together, they are essential.