Remember that kid from your high school? The quiet, hard working one. A little awkward at times. Made dorky jokes. Didn't make a big splash in class, but always had the right answer. Got really high grades. Maybe wasn't fantastic at sports, but had mad skills at music or theatre or writing. Didn't have a huge group of friends, and wasn't in the in-crowd. But would surprise you with at times with remarkable kindness, even when you maybe didn't deserve it. Remember her? What she doing now?
Everyone I talk to has a story that goes like this: "yeah, man, I ran into so-and-so for the first time in like ten years. Wow. Has she ever changed! Looks fantastic. Totally successful. She has really made it." That's elevation. Some brands elevate over time as well.
Take Volvo for example. My dad has always driven Volvos. I mean always. North of 34 years, and counting. We think of Volvo now as a hip, safe, near-luxury brand. A brand chosen by young professionals and the established set alike wearing beards or power dresses, built for agency meetings-by-week, and kayaking-by-weekend. This wasn't always true. Volvos used to be — and I'm being kind — dependable but boxy, un-sexy, affordable, pedestrian cars, normally thought of as station wagons when station wagons weren't cool. The Volvo brand has elevated, arguably dramatically, over a fairly short time period (10-15 years) — in both stature and value.
Volvo is that kid. And if you think back now with a little more clarity, you'll sort out that she possessed a focus on achievement, a tremendous depth of quality and character, a centred sense of practicality, and kitschy sense of humour. Aren't those the key elements of cool now? And isn't that exactly what Volvo, the brand and company, has always possessed?
Volvo isn't the only brand to have achieved a significant elevation by staying true to itself. Here are a few others:
Lee Valley Tools. Once the bastion of only the hardest of hard-core cabinet makers. Purveyors of fine, in some cases hand-made, tools, implements and works of craftsmanship. Found in a limited number of cities, pushed into industrial parks on the edge of town. Or worse, available by catalogue only. No more. Now Lee Valley has fancy downtown showrooms and a wider customer base, coupled with premium prices. It is a cool place to buy a friend a gift. The brand is spoken of or displayed with pride in homes of amateur craftsmen and non-handy folks alike.
Dickies. Clothing for workmen, who actually get dirty everyday, right? Coveralls? Painting pants? A brand known only to the lunch pail set, to those who drive pick-up trucks for the practicality and not for the optics? That may have been true a few years ago. Now, not so much. I see the brand sold in surf shops, and skate shops. By tattooed, edgy haired hotties with face piercings to tattooed, edgy haired hotties with face piercings. I see shirts and backpacks proudly worn by masters and PhD students on their way to school. Holy moly.
TSC Stores and Shopper's Drug Mart. If you haven't lived in or spent time in small town Canada (well, Ontario and Manitoba), the TSC brand may not be overly familiar. It is kind of like the Home Hardware for farmers and other country folk. The stores were once confined to strip malls and b-tier stand alone locations. In small towns. That's certainly not true any more. Private equity money and strong leadership have pushed the brand to where Shopper's Drug Mart, another elevated brand, has gone in recent years — strong retail outlets in bigger centres with a focus on in-store experience. In Shopper's case, they are closing in-mall stores and shifting fully to a destination brand. Big time elevation for both brands in less than a decade.
So the question is not 'can it be done?' The question is 'how did they do it?' There are some excellent take-aways which you can use to elevate your brand, if you pull these examples apart. Here are some common themes to the Volvo, Lee Valley, Dickies, TSC Stores and Shopper's Drug Mart brand elevation stories:
1. Start with a focus on quality.
