An industry perspective by Beth Andlaw, co-founder and strategy director at FORM Studio.
When you’re working with a brand that’s been around the block, identity work isn’t about reinvention for the sake of it. It’s about understanding what’s worth keeping, what needs evolving, and how to move things forward without losing its hard-earned heritage.
So, how do you move a brand forward without flattening the story that got it here? In a world hooked on the new and the now, legacy can feel like baggage to some, but handled right, it’s your sharpest tool. The real skill is knowing what to leave behind and what to carry into the future.
What Leading Brands Get Right
Recent rebrands from global giants show just how nuanced this tightrope act can be. The smartest don’t just update for the sake of it; they zero in on what people actually connect with. Burberry’s reintroduction of its Equestrian Knight under Daniel Lee marks a return to its roots, yet the design is anything but nostalgic. It’s sharp, bold, and current — a homage without being a throwback.
Similarly, Walmart’s refreshed identity nods to founder Sam Walton’s trucker hat, a clever wink to its heritage woven into a clean, contemporary system. Even Campbell’s, with its shift to The Campbell’s Company, reframes its legacy not as something to preserve behind glass but as something to build on.
Understand legacy, not as a set of restrictions, but as a creative springboard.
Lessons from the Legends
Closer to home, this was the exact tightrope FORM walked when we partnered with East Midlands Freeport (EMF) on their recent rebrand. By design, freeports are catalysts for regeneration. EMF’s ambition to drive long-term transformative investment across the region needed a brand that felt dynamic and future-focused, but also grounded in its community’s rich industrial roots.
This wasn’t a task for surface-level styling. It meant working shoulder to shoulder with stakeholders across the public and private sectors to articulate a brand that could speak fluently to international investors while also genuinely connecting to local communities. The result is a new identity centred around the brand idea “Get Going”: energetic, east-facing, and loaded with a sense of momentum. But beneath that momentum is a foundation of collaboration and respect for the area’s rich history.
We embedded local pride into every design decision, from colour palettes inspired by county flags to a custom typeface developed with regional type foundry Frost Type. Even the arrow-based graphic language nods to the region’s transport history, reinterpreted as a symbol of progress and connectivity.
This duality of modernity rooted in legacy isn’t just a design approach; it’s a strategic necessity.
Heritage as a Gateway to Authenticity
Today, consumers (and investors) are increasingly drawn to authenticity. They want to know what a brand stands for, not just what it sells. That’s why heritage is so valuable: it provides context, meaning, and trust. But heritage alone isn’t enough. You have to be willing to reinterpret it, sometimes radically, to make it meaningful for the present.
We often talk about ‘owning your story’ in branding. But the real opportunity is in retelling it through a new lens for a new audience, while staying true to your purpose. That’s what makes heritage feel alive rather than archival.
The brands that do this best understand their legacy not as a set of restrictions but as a creative springboard. They know that tapping into history doesn’t mean being trapped by it. It’s about amplifying what’s always been there and reimagining it for the road ahead.
So the next time someone tells you heritage is heavy, irrelevant, or too complicated to bring forward, don’t buy it. In the right hands, heritage isn’t a burden; it could be your silver bullet.
Beth Andlaw is the co-founder and communications director of FORM Brands Studio, a London-based agency that blends brand strategy, design and communications to help organisations tell more purposeful stories. With a background in high-impact PR campaigns for the third sector, she co-founded FORM to offer a more integrated, values-led approach to branding. She brings over a decade of experience to her role, combining strategic insight with a passion for creating work that drives social and cultural impact.
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