Restoring luxury corporate heritage brands: From crisis to ascendency

Abstract

The characteristics of enduring corporate heritage brands often include remarkable, but fluctuating histories. The current article presents a longitudinal, retrospective study of two corporate heritage brands, Tiffany & Co. and Burberry that experience structural corporate heritage brand decline, followed by recovery. A major contribution of the article is demonstrating how long-established corporate heritage brands can overcome a structural brand crisis, by restoring corporate heritage. Another contribution is the identification of the roles of heritage custodianship and core brand competencies in facilitating management of corporate heritage. The study offers a holistic, three-stage, corporate heritage brand recovery framework. The proposed conceptual framework to guide corporate heritage brand recovery utilises three key concepts: corporate brand vision; core brand values; and core brand capabilities.