How do you make a legend?
Yes, you can decode the power of a brand legend.
But first, letâs start by defining what a brand legend is not, because a lot of people tend to confuse the matter.
A brand legend is not heritage. Itâs not history. Itâs not fiction. Itâs not a good story you tell others or yourself.
A brand legend, as I define it, is a narrative that makes people see their own lives differently.
Yes, history, heritage, a little creative license and a good story help, but they are not defining factors.
Ferruccio Lamborghini was the founder of a tractor factory that brought him huge financial success after WWII. By his 60âs, he was a rich, happy man, and like other rich and happy men of the time, he owned a Ferrari.
Youâd think a luxury car would be engineered with custom parts, but Lamborghini, a mechanic himself, realized that his Ferrari 250 GT was in fact made with many of the same basic parts as his tractorsâââand it was part of the reason why he was often forced to take his car in for repairs.
Cheap materials in luxury vehicles confounded him, so when he met Enzo Ferrari, founder and creator of Ferrari sports cars, he naturally brought up the issue.
Two successful men talking over sports cars should have a respectable exchange, but legend has it that Enzo Ferrari, a race car driver turned manufacturer, responded with little humility, saying:
âThe problem is not with the car but with driver.â
In other words, stick to your tractors, son.
It must have been a real moment, because that spectacular Italian insult changed automotive history forever.
In less than 6 months, Lamborghini bought land just outside the racing city of Bologna, built a modern manufacturing plant on it, created the first Lamborghini 350 GTV luxury sports car, and took Ferrari head on in what may have been the greatest clap back ever.
So whoâs the real legend here? A race car driver whose love of fast cars pulsed through his blood?⌠or the self-made mechanic who showed that racer what real sports cars were about?
You can call yourself a legend, or you can make legendary moves. Lamborghini didnât build a car. He took it upon himself to correct the course of the sports car industry.
But even more importantly, he built a brand on his belief of what it means to be an entrepreneur.
Lamborghini gives people permission to say f-you to the haters.
Lots of brands give people meaning to their purchases or a fresh lens on the world, but very few actually compel consumers to redefine their own lives by a certain standard like Lamborghini does.
Anyone can be a legend.
The very core of a legend originates from certain concepts:
- Moments of Meaning
- Bonding Memories
- Defining a Movement
Weâre about to dig into all of these, but itâs important to note that legends come from action.
That means any brand, young or old, can lay the foundation for a legend that it strategically builds upon over time.
Heritage, history, contentâââall of those things can reinforce a legend, but they do not create one.
Like most good brand strategies, it requires a healthy dose of risk and correctly forecasting your position in a world of unknowns.
Thatâs not easy by any measure, but understanding how legends germinate will significantly shape your understanding of marketing forever.
Moments of Meaning
Legends have two kinds of events that thread through their brand narratives over time. The Inflection Point and Spark Moments.
â The Inflection Point is the origin story where something happened and nothing was ever the same again.
It basically says, âSomething happened here, and it changed the world.â
If you look at Supremeâs legend, there is a clear inflection point where music and skate culture came together with the original mid-â90s crew that owned the Lafayette scene in New York.
It was a critical mass of new fashion with new sport, and from that moment on, everything changed. A subculture was born, as well as a new mindset.
Today, you can see that subcultureâs huge influence on modern pop culture, and it all threads back to that original inflection point in NYC.
The original crew of skaters, their love for hip hop during itâs golden era, and the immortalized stories of the Lafayette scene that played out during those years, all describe a moment where culture inflected.
â Spark Moments are definitive moments which follow the Inflection Point and cement the brand in its reputation.
These are moments where a brand overcomes challenges, pivots direction, expands to new territories (both literally and metaphorically) and so on.
Spark Moments typically pose a risk. They force your fans to either double down on their love for your brand, or dissent and walk away. They also open you up to the possibility of new audiences.
Thatâs exactly what happened when Supreme collaborated with Louis Vuitton. Some fans deepened their connection and shelled out more than ever to own a piece of the legend, while others declared it a sell out.
It was a clear risk, prompting Supreme to issue a statement saying, âThroughout the history of the brand, weâve seen our customers have apprehensions whenever we do something unexpected. However, we have always stayed true to the culture from which we came.â
But for true fans, what made this Spark Moment even more meaningful was the fact that that Louis Vuitton actually sued Supreme eight years earlier back in 2000 for unlawfully using their logo on skate decks and other Supreme products.
Supreme, the irreverent, free minded brand that has always made bold moves, seemed to come full circle with a hyped Louis Vuitton collab seven years later.
(You can read more about fashion narratives like this in my article here. Paywalled, sorry.)
An âahaâ moment is not an Inflection Point.
The storied Silicon Valley âahaâ moment isnât a true inflection point. It can be a part of a legend, but it doesnât create a legend on its own.
The vast majority of tech founders tell their story as âI had pain point X, and thatâs when I decided to fix it by inventing Y.â
While that may be true, it still falls short. Looking at the chart below, we see that âahaâ moments fail to capture the imagination of an audienceâââwhile these are all great brands, none of them embody a legend.
None of these stories have an inflection point. There is no exciting narrative that tells us ânothing was ever the same again.â
Except for Steve Jobs and Apple.
Jobsâ âahaâ moment may have been wanting a computer interface as pretty as the calligraphy on his college campus posters, as the chart above says, but whatâs the one thing everyone in the world knows about the Apple legend?
That it all started in a garage.
Two oddly brilliant men, Jobs and Wozniak, not only saw the world differently, but built a new world to match that vision.
Now, the fact that the garage story is highly romanticized and amounts to little more than a myth, doesnât deviate from itâs purpose as an Inflection Point in the legendâs narrative.
We can point to a time and a place, see it in our mindâs eye, and say âSomething happened here, and it changed the world forever.â
Itâs not merely about the location or the pain point. Itâs the immortalization of a moment that pushed us into the future.
There is a clear before and afterâââone looking very different than the other.
Our perspective of the world was shifted⌠and keep in mind this isnât really about the product. Itâs about how the story is told.
Every major Spark Moment after that Inflection Point either forced Apple fans to double down on their love for the brand, or dissent and walk away.
Bonding Memories
Bonding memories weave a brandâs past into a consumerâs past, and Harley Davidson knows that.
From epic cross country rides to local motorcycle clubs and rallies, Harley Davidson makes sure owners not only feel a sense of tribal belonging, but also collect a series of life-defining moments for the soul.
Itâs not the size and scope of these events that matters (with some rides attracting more than 10,000 bikers) so much as the commitment thatâs involved.
Thereâs some science to that, too. Shared experiences create a special bond among people, especially if those experiences are novel, engaging, and challenging.
Many companies try to cheat shared experiences with costly, short-lived, gimmicky experiential campaigns, but a branded experience will not create the same memories as a bonding one.
Harley Davidson knows itâs an emotional brand that supersedes the sub-par quality of the machines it makes, and thatâs why theyâve chosen very unique and somewhat abstract brand pillars by which to define themselves.
Fire, Muscle, Bond, Icon, Rebel.
Pillars like this give a brand enough latitude in order for a consumer to find their own identity within the company.
These five words can mean so many things to different people, but are still unmistakably specific.
Itâs why Harley Davidson is one of the most tattooed logos in North America.
You donât need to host pricey events or put on big spectacles, but creating forms of initiation, belonging and life passage are all very effective markers for Bonding Memories.
How to measure the bond.
Seth Godin offers a really simple and effective way to measure how bonded people are to your brand.
Will they miss us if weâre gone?
Answering that question is easy, and a strong indicator of your brandâs bond with your audience.
If youâre a founder with an even moderate amount of success, youâll know whether the answer is yes or no⌠and youâll quickly realize that commercial success doesnât necessarily mean people will miss if youâre gone.
You can bet Dave in Ohio with the Harley logo tattooed on his arm will miss the company if it disappeared tomorrow.
No one will miss you if youâre not willing to make some bold moves.
We miss the things that make us feel.
Define AÂ Movement
Chanel has done a great job of managing their legend, most recently through the Gabrielle Chanel short film series.
You can watch the whole series, from beginning to end, here:
http://inside.chanel.com/en/quest-for-freedom
In these 20 frenetically breathtaking short videos, a new generation of consumers was reacquainted with Chanelâs personal inflection point as a female designer, as well as spark moments that forced the brand to further define itself after that.
The sixth film in the series, titled Mademoiselle, is especially powerful in placing Chanel in the lives and histories of all of us.
You simply cannot watch this film and not feel as though Chanel changed history, and after her, nothing was the same again.
Donât be fooled into thinking Gabrielle Chanel was simply the embodiment of a fashion brand.
This is the story of a woman who defined a movement around femininity.
It is her hope and heartbreak, experienced against a very specific historical background that creates the initial jolt for the brand.
Something happened to Gabrielle, and to all women, in that time and place. Chanel is that moment, reforming and traveling through the here-and-now.
Legends arenât just subjects of good stories, they are the story themselves. When a new brand defines a movement, concept or category, they make a move toward permanence.
You can create something new, or recreate something already done, but every brand from Apple to Nike has created their space and/ or recreated a space ready for change.
Chanelâs story is quickly revealed as a feminist movement.
Marriage, class, equality, gender roles and sexuality are top line issues punctuated throughout the brandâs legend.
That applies just as much today as it did decades ago.
Thatâs the beauty of a legend that defines a movement. It can be reinvented and couched in an updated context from generation to generation.
Borrow the things you cannot own.
Shinola is no Chanel, but theyâve found a way to borrow the history of a town in order to âcheatâ a certain kind of heritage.
In the article The Real History of Americaâs Most Authentic Fake Brand, journalist Stacy Perman describes a brand that has borrowed American history to create a bond.
With Shinola, Kartsotis has performed a near magical marketing actâââcreating an artificial heritage brand by co-opting othersâ rich American histories…
If the Shinola name feels vintage, thatâs because it is. In 2010, his outfit reportedly spent some $1 million to buy the name of the long-defunct American shoe polish remembered today for being part of a World War II-era insultââââYou donât know shit from Shinolaââââand reaniÂmated it with a new narrativeâŚ
Most important, by hatching the brand in Detroitâââa city emblematic of American hardship, resilience, and craftsmanshipâââthe brand is selling more than watches; itâs selling a comeback.
For those in the know, the brand can feel contrived, but for many others itâs the real deal worth buying.
You donât need to co-op heritage to the degree that Shinola has, but if youâre a new brand, you can find ways to tap into a story bigger than yourself.
Shinola found a hidden story (Detroitâs resilience), dusted it off, and told it properly.
You can claim your part of a larger story as well.
Brand legends come from action.
Itâs your choices that will make you legendary.
Itâs the big moves that people remember.
Itâs just that simple.
Any brand in any category can be a legend, so long as you build the right story from the ground up and nurture that story with constant reinforcement.
Yes, it does take a good deal of luck and an even greater deal of restraint to stay the course, especially if youâre a marketer tasked with short-term growth⌠but brand strategy is often a longer-term game.
Take deliberate action and build a brand that makes people see their lives differently.