Hi, it's Charlotte here.

At the dawn of the age of Ai, nostalgia is an ever more powerful ingredient for brands. But how do you both harness your heritage and look to the future without incensing the angry mob?

2024 saw Jaguar reveal a teaser for their polarising rebrand.
Testament to its place as a symbol of British culture, the internet lit up.

We would be kidding ourselves to believe that it was really the controversial upper-case G that was triggering the baying crowd. Or the loss of the iconic cat, afterall, the elegant jaguar 'leaper' will be exquisitely rendered (on the side, just not the bonnet.)

No, the outrage was neither typographical nor zoological.
The rebrand triggers our sense of nostalgia. Another death knoll for a bygone era of traditional masculinity, sex and petrol. And if we were in any doubt this was intentional, the accompanying advert made sure we knew it. As Marina Hyde described it “we’ve got eight capital-D diverse models in category-five tulle busting out of a pink-planet lift wielding a hammer.’ Prompting Nigel Farage to bluster:  'Mark my words, Jaguar will go bust.'

No doubt the marketing team delighted in Farage and Musk's outrage, it did exactly as intended and killed the Jag man. A fact, they haven’t shied away from, freely admitting  they were only anticipating  to keep 15% of their current fanbase. The shift to electric vehicles has become so embedded in our culture wars that the move away from petrol means they had little choice but to seek a brand new demographic. As (jag enthusiast and brand guru) Rory Sutherland wisely muses ‘Let’s face it, you can’t survive off pipe smoking Brits anymore.’

There's no doubt that Jaguar's shift was an intentional and historic change. 

But many brands are facing more subtle dilemmas, as they attempt to evolve their heritage branding without triggering our nostalgic threat response.

Toblerone is among the brands that have deftly navigated that change.

After moving their production out of Switzerland, they lost the right to use the Matterhorn on their packaging. If you didn't notice, you’re not alone. Embracing and evolving their other heritage elements including creating a new typeface 'Tobler' crafted from their iconic Art Nouveau lettering and a cursive font inspired by their founder’s signature. By retaining and subtly modernising these nostalgic elements they can now confidently flex into a new digitally driven era of personalised packaging and Insta headlines. United by the rallying cry 'Be More Triangle,' they have identified a positioning that is iconically Toblerone shaped, that also gives them permission to celebrate difference and diversity without taking away our sentimental shield.

Identifying the core of what you have always stood for, and understanding what that might mean tomorrow seems to be the path to victory over vitriol. Just ask Barbie. 

The last decade has seen Barbie make the move from a problematic beauty standard to a feminist icon and grossed $1.45 billion in the process.  Beyond the movie, we also saw Mattel launching #TheDollEvolves an array of more inclusive dolls to write a new chapter of the Barbie story, rather than erase the old one.

How? They identified an idea that is true to her past and used it to transition towards her future with an incisive new brand positioning:  'There's no one way to be Barbie' . 

Although recently coined, it’s an idea that’s authentic to a past where we’ve seen her master over 250 careers from archaeologist to astronaut (including landing on the moon 4 years before us mortals). This powerful idea ‘There’s no one way to be Barbie’ can now extend beyond her career ambitions to race, disability and body shape. Harnessing nostalgia to power change rather than resist it.

No greater testament exists to the strange power of brand nostalgia than Lyle’s Golden Syrup. I am ashamed to admit (as a designer who prides themselves in noticing detail) that until they controversially evolved their packaging design in 2024, I hadn’t noticed it had been, in fact, featured a lion carcass covered in bees all along. ‘No!’ Shouted the internet. ‘That’s our dead lion. We like dead lions on our food packaging.’

I too felt a little sad to lose the rotting feline, despite not having really noticed it until they threatened to take it away. Nervous it might be part of the great brand blandenning we have seen so many companies succumb to in the last 20 years. The redesign, it turns out, is subtle and beautiful. Keeping the iconic gold and green, and vintage typography. The (now living) lion’s mane echoes the flourishes and filigree from the original packaging, holding a single bee within the syrupy patterns which adorn the squeezy bottle.  And if all that is still not enough to keep the angry mob at bay, the original tin design has been kept just as it is, cat carcass and all, for those of us that treasure it.  

In an age of AI, rapid change, culture wars and increasing uncertainty.
The desire to hold onto the traditional, the familiar will no doubt dial up. 

From leaping jaguars to dead lions, the way forward will be understanding the right things to keep and how to keep them relevant. To know what makes your story great, and not be afraid to write the next chapter.

Charlotte Cline,
Founder & Creative at One Man Band Design

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