How Heritage Brands Stay Interesting: Lessons from Football’s Marketing Playbook

This article is in reference to an inspiring piece in The Sociology of Business, which explores what heritage brands can learn from football marketing. While the article highlights how heritage football clubs maintain relevance, what it’s really describing is how they remain interesting.

The Danger of Playing It Safe

As the original article points out, many heritage brands forget that their longevity exists because their founders were risk-takers. Over time, they shift from innovation to preservation, afraid to disrupt what has worked for so long. The result? They age along with their core customer base, failing to attract new audiences or reinvent their brand story.

Successful football clubs, on the other hand, don’t fall into this trap. Even the oldest clubs, some dating back to the mid-19th century, are thriving as global brands. How? Because they understand that heritage is not a safety net—it’s a launchpad for reinvention.

Football’s Secret: Heritage as a Source of Interestingness

Football clubs don’t just reference their history; they reinterpret it. They use their legacy to shape brand identity, strengthen fan loyalty, and create compelling narratives that evolve with each season. A club’s past is never static. It’s a dynamic story that keeps unfolding.

Heritage brands in other industries could take a lesson from this. Instead of merely preserving tradition, they should ask:

• How can we make our history feel alive?
• How do we create belonging, not just nostalgia?
• How can we reinterpret our legacy in a way that surprises and excites? Wrexam AFC, for example, bought by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney four years ago for $ 2.5 million, is reportedly now worth over 100 million.

Interestingness Over Relevance

Many brands focus on staying relevant, but football shows us that the real goal should be staying interesting. Relevance is reactive. It’s about keeping up with trends. Interestingness, on the other hand, is proactive. It’s about leading conversations, sparking curiosity, and making people care.

Loewe and Aston Martin, as the original article highlights, understand this well. They don’t just rely on their heritage; they use it as a tool to surprise. They create unexpected worlds, tell fresh stories, and engage audiences in ways that go beyond product.

The Playbook for Heritage Brands

So, what should heritage brands take from football’s marketing playbook?

1. Treat heritage as a foundation, not a limitation. Your past should be a source of creative fuel, not a reason to resist change.
2. Create ongoing narratives, not just history lessons. Football clubs stay interesting because their stories keep unfolding. What’s the next chapter for your brand?
3. Build belonging, not just awareness. Football fandom isn’t passive, it’s tribal. Heritage brands should aim to create that level of emotional investment.
4. Be bold. The older a brand is, the bolder it should be. Innovation should accelerate with age, not slow down.

As this article points out, football clubs prove that heritage and innovation aren’t opposing forces. They fuel each other. The secret isn’t just about staying relevant. It’s about staying interesting. And for heritage brands, that’s the difference between fading into the past and shaping the future.