Springetts on Designing Brands to Last, Not Chase Novelty

Why Build Brands for Longevity?

Springetts, the agency behind The Happy Egg Co., Frubes and Nuii, has released a field guide called How Brands Live Forever to mark its fiftieth year. The guide argues that brands should be designed for longevity rather than novelty, tying fresh ideas to what customers already recognise instead of tearing up the identity every few years. It sets out a framework it calls Forever Brands, which divides a brand's life into four stages, with the Launch and Renew stages covered in most detail.

For brand builders, the value lies in the argument against constant reinvention, which is a temptation for teams that get bored of their own work before customers do. Brand owners, strategists and designers working on food, drink or any consumer category with a long shelf life should find the stage-based thinking useful for planning. The guide is worth reading in full for its principles and examples.