Older and Wiser: How Brands Stand the Test of Time

by Barry Silverstein May 12, 2008 issue

You could think of Coca-Cola, GE, and IBM as legendary legacy brands. Despite massive shifts in consumer preferences, changing business environments, and the evolution of marketing from print to electronic and interactive means, these three brands have not only survived for a century, they remain at the top of their global game. Somehow, through a combination of being organized and disciplined, yet being creative and taking risks, these brands have succeeded where others have failed.

While Coke, GE, and IBM reside in very different industries, they share common traits that offer some clues to their sustainability.

Innovation
Each of these three brands was launched because of a new, innovative product. Coca-Cola was a unique soft drink invented by a pharmacist. GE was the outgrowth of Thomas Edison’s breakthrough invention, the incandescent light bulb. IBM was, in part, created as a result of the first time recording company in the world.

While many brands are born because of singular products, these brands distinguish themselves by continuing to innovate throughout their corporate lives.

Coca-Cola developed a unique bottle, created the six-pack, and has long been a leading innovator in product marketing techniques. Early on, GE established a research laboratory; now called GE Global Research, this capability has helped GE amass thousands of patents and win two Nobel prizes. IBM has been an information technology powerhouse, pioneering computers that used interchangeable software, introducing the first commercially successful personal computer, and leading the e-business revolution.

Diversity
Being a “one-trick pony” only goes so far. Coca-Cola may have started with a single product, but today, the company sells over 400 brands in 200 countries. Coca-Cola markets four of the world’s top five nonalcoholic sparkling beverage brands, as well as waters, juices, teas, coffees, and energy/sports drinks.

GE has six diverse businesses and sells products and services in more than 100 countries. GE Industrial sells consumer and industrial products, plastics, equipment services, and security. GE Healthcare’s offerings include diagnostic imaging and clinical systems. GE Infrastructure is involved in energy, aviation, transportation and process technologies. GE Commercial Finance handles corporate financial services and real estate. GE Money offers consumer finance. NBC Universal includes television and film production and distribution.

IBM has gone beyond its early days of building machines to providing fully integrated business solutions that include hardware, software and networking products, services, and technologies. By acquiring such product companies as Lotus, Tivoli, and Rational, as well as PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ global business consulting unit, IBM has broadened its offerings and continued to innovate and diversify in a rapidly changing business.

Leadership
Behind every great brand story is also the story of one or more leaders who had the vision to push that brand to greatness. Coca-Cola says “perhaps no person had more impact” on its company than Robert Woodruff. Woodruff became president in 1923. According to Coca-Cola, it was his marketing genius that led to the expansion of the company overseas, the presence of Coca-Cola at the 1928 Olympics, and the development of numerous packaging and distribution innovations.

While Thomas Edison himself was one of GE’s great leaders, many would agree that it was Jack Welch’s twenty-year tenure that turned GE into a modern-day mega-corporation. Through streamlining operations, acquiring new businesses, and ensuring that each business under the GE umbrella was one of the best in its field, Welch helped the company expand dramatically. Company revenues grew from about $27 billion before his arrival to nearly $130 billion the year before Welch left.

IBM’s version of Jack Welch was Lou Gerstner. Gerstner joined IBM as the first leader from outside the company in 1993, when IBM was struggling with a loss of direction and declining profits. Gerstner made a controversial but prophetic decision to retain the company’s unified corporate structure rather than divide it into separate, independent companies. He is credited with reinventing IBM and reviving its brand.

Resiliency
Great brands can make big mistakes, but they are still able to check themselves, get both hands back on the wheel, and move forward. Coca-Cola, GE, and IBM have all stumbled at some point, but it hasn’t stopped them from achieving success.

For example, one of the most notorious and now legendary brand blunders was the introduction of “New Coke” in 1985. Executives at Coca-Cola decided to update the Coca-Cola product, tampering with a secret formula that was, at the time, a century old. The resulting negative publicity and public outcry doomed New Coke. Only three months after New Coke’s introduction, Coca-Cola admitted its error and brought back the original Coke under the name “Coca-Cola Classic.” The original formulation eventually became the preferred brand again, and Coca-Cola relentlessly promoted it. In 1994, according to Constance Hays in her book The Real Thing, Coke was pursuing such concepts as “‘a 360-degree landscape of Coke,’ where Coke ads, products, and vending machines would assert themselves everywhere a person looked, making you buy a Coke even if you hadn’t known that’s what you wanted.”

Coca-Cola, GE, and IBM have benefited from innovation, diversity, leadership, and resiliency. It is because of these attributes that, even after 100 years, they stand out as the most valuable global brands. If they maintain their focus and consistency, chances are good these legendary legacy brands will be a lasting presence on brand lists for a long time to come.

Barry Silverstein is a 25-year advertising and marketing veteran and co-author of The Breakaway Brand (McGraw Hill, 2005).