Everyone wants to reinvent an iconic brand. But what happens when reinvention forgets what made it iconic?

Apparently, in luxury fashion, the hottest new accessory is a new creative director.

This time it’s Saint Laurent, where Anthony Vaccarello is departing after a decade. Gucci, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta have already made creative leadership changes.

But behind the revolving doors is a much bigger branding question. When a brand needs to evolve, how much of its identity should it leave behind?

Brand Reinvention Isn’t Brand Replacement.

Saint Laurent surpassed €3 billion in annual sales in 2023 under Vaccarello’s creative leadership, before facing declining sales in subsequent years.

Now comes another opportunity to redefine what the brand stands for.

From our experience with icons and legacy brands, consumers don’t necessarily want something completely new; but instead, they want a reason to fall in love with what they already know.

Our latest work for Chef Boyardee is just that. We knew that nearly 100 years of brand heritage didn’t need to be erased. It needed to be reimagined. We brought the Chef back to the forefront, modernized the packaging and created a new advertising campaign that makes the brand relevant to today’s consumers.

Same iconic brand. New reasons to care.

That’s the difference between a brand refresh and a brand identity crisis.

Great brand strategy doesn’t discard decades of recognition, distinctive assets and consumer loyalty because someone wants to make their mark.

It builds on them.

The Little Big Opportunity

Before you change everything, you need to figure out what’s actually broken. Is it your brand identity that is outdated, or have you simply stopped giving consumers a reason to pay attention? We believe that the real opportunity is to make everything people already recognize worth caring about again.