What is an Established Brand?

We have had the distinct pleasure of working with many established brands over the 15 years we have been in business. Personally, I have had the opportunity to partner with many more established brands over the course of my marketing career.

So how do we define an established brand?

First of all, it doesn’t start with a defined length of time in existence. Certainly a brand can’t reach established status overnight, so it does have to be in existence for a period of time. But it doesn’t have to be over 25 years, or 15, or 10 for that matter. It just needs to be around long enough to have developed a long-term relationship with its customers. In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, it can happen in as little as five years. Even with a long sales’ cycle, most brands would have had the opportunity to go through a second “buying” round with its customers over a five-year period.

To be an established brand, the brand should have also developed a place within its category. It has to be known, have some specific character traits that its customers would clearly associate with the brand.

Any brand that has been around awhile runs the risk of becoming stale or lazy. Often my work with established brands has been around helping them become “unstuck” in some way. Sometimes they needed to innovate as far as products or services are concerned. Other times they simply needed to reevaluate how they should communicate with today’s customer. They needed someone to help them decide which parts of their brand history should be carried forward and which ones should be reinvented.

Having an established brand can be a powerful thing. So if your brand has a great history, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that having a heritage will slow you down. You’re in good company as long as you find ways to stay relevant.

‍