Transitioning from Traditional to Digital: 5 Legacy Brands Crushing It

Technology and digitization have changed market dynamics and consumer behavior. To keep up with mobile, tech-savvy customers, it is imperative to shift from traditional to digital marketing. Here are five legacy brands that have successfully shifted from traditional to digital marketing with their creative and innovative approaches.

The shift from traditional to digital marketingOpens a new window is inevitable but never easy. While it is important to connect with customers digitally and create more channels for interaction, it is equally important to stay true to your brand persona, deliver a brand message that is consistent with your traditional marketing approach, and still be creative enough to stand out in the digital domain.

Here are five legacy brands that are crushing the transformation from traditional to digital marketing.

Learn More: Digital Marketing Strategies and Campaigns from Top Brands: Peaks & Pitfalls in 2019Opens a new window

Traditional to Digital Marketing – 5 Brands to Learn From

From going completely digital to being mobile-first to creating compelling digital content, various brands have tried diverse digital marketing tactics. Here are five legacy brands that have inspired us while transitioning from traditional to digital marketing.

1. Cadbury – Building Brand Love with Digital Content
 

Cadbury Opens a new window is creating digital content series in the form of short films to engage customers. Instead of focusing on pure advertising messages, brands want to build deeper and meaningful connections with consumers and create richer experiences as compared to the traditional marketing message.

Cadbury’s Video Campaign – Families Reunited

The digital shorts series for their Heroes miniature range – Families Reunited is an attempt to entertain and help families reconnect while they watch the series and enjoy the Heroes range of chocolates. For instance, the first episode features a dad who wants to reconnect with his distant teen son, by learning to ride a bike; which he hasn’t done for the past 15 years!

This shift from traditional to digital marketing includes building a brand message that cuts through the noise, helps families reconnect, and hence forms a positive association with Cadbury.

2. Lego – Bridging Physical and Virtual
 

LEGOOpens a new window ’s resurrection from being almost bankrupt in 2003 (with $800M debt) to becoming one of the most powerful brands (sales topped $1bn for the first time in 2015) is one of the biggest brand comeback stories. Lego adapted its strategy to reconnect with its customers and restructured to focus more on digital technologies and going mobile.

From The LEGO MovieOpens a new window , a computer-animated film in 2014 to the LEGO movies franchise, LEGO has managed to weave the LEGO bricks magic in animated stories too. In 2017, LEGO rolled out LEGO Life, a social media network for kids. The young LEGO fans can share their creations on LEGO LifeOpens a new window and garner likes from peers as well as Lego characters like Lego Batman!  You can scan LEGO pieces to unlock your powers in Nexo Knights Opens a new window – the LEGO video game.
 

Screengrab of LEGO Life – Lego.ComOpens a new window

The marketing message from traditional to digital focuses on making the brand exciting for LEGO fans of all ages and penetrating the markets with the right message at the right platform.

3. Nike – Digital Everything
 

NIKEOpens a new window ’s impressive brand campaigns and social media strategy to drive customer awareness and deliver exceptional customer experiences has catapulted its popularity and growth in the past few years.

Nike recently unveiled its shoe collection on the streaming platform TwitchOpens a new window to drive awareness. Nike also has a dedicated TeamNikeOpens a new window to exclusively address customer queries and offer customer support. They also built an LED running track in ManilaOpens a new window in collaboration with BBH SingaporeOpens a new window . While running on this track, runners could compete against their ‘larger than life’ digital selves. The Nike Plus app helps the brand interact with customers even when they are not buying from Nike. NikePlusOpens a new window helps them track their health and workouts, get access to personalized training, priority access to sporting events, and much more. Their flagship store Nike by MelroseOpens a new window in LA, has a curated collection based on the Nike Plus members’ personal styles.

Video showcasing the Nike Unlimited Stadium

While transforming from traditional marketing to digital marketing, NIKE has been able to utilize digital technology to successfully execute experiential campaigns and deliver digital experiences through mobile and physical stores.

Learn More: Building a Robust Customer Experience Management Strategy: Lessons From NikeOpens a new window

4. The Guardian – Digital Innovation for Exemplary UX
 

The GuardianOpens a new window has survived the onslaught on print media by going digital. From a newly designed website to the Guardian app, it is focused on presenting informed online journalism, yet innovating to keep up with changing times.

The Guardian’s Interactive App – The Guardian.com Opens a new window

The Guardian is sponsored or subscribed to by readers, which is what finances the online version for independent journalism. The Guardian has revamped its mobile apps for responsive design and a better showcase of editorial and interactive content. The articles have new formats to distinguish between news, features, and gallery posts. Moreover, the editors can allocate different ‘scores’ to different stories and let the algorithm interpret this information to fit the news content to an appropriate size. The visual content like interactive maps is another addition.

The shift from traditional to digital news, storytelling, and exemplary user experience in digital formats has helped The Guardian become profitable in a digital world.

5. Volkswagen – Mobility Solutions for Personalized Experiences
 

VolkswagenOpens a new window has ambitious digital plans and intends to invest 3.85 billion USD in digitizationOpens a new window by 2025 to make their cars the central hub for all their IoT devices.

Volkswagen offers a range of personalized digital services like the WePark app for parking and integrated billing, WeDeliver for easy and flexible parcel deliveries, and WeExperience for personalized offers and recommendations near the car park. They are now expanding their IoT portfolio with WeShare for car sharing.

Volkswagen’s Digital Ecosystem – Volkswagenag.comOpens a new window

By offering personalized mobility solutions, Volkswagen is attempting to integrate its cars into consumers day-to-day activities that aren’t just limited to commuting, so you travel with your world.

This appears to be a digital marketing strategyOpens a new window that could attract customers and make their experiences simpler, seamless, and convenient. Eventually, this strategy will transform Volkswagen vehicles to digital devices on wheels and enable the customer to take their world into their vehicles.

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Shifting from Traditional to Digital Marketing – Lessons from Legacy Brands

Going digital could be imperative for your marketing strategy. Here are a few lessons from these legacy brands to help you transform from traditional marketing to digital marketing:

1. Connect with your customers emotionally through your digital content and build brand love like Cadbury did.
2. Adapt like LEGO to better understand your customers and be present on more channels so they can easily interact with you.
3. Have a killer social media strategy that encompasses brand awareness, personalized experiences, and customer services – Just Do It!
4. Go The Guardian way and create exceptional, in-depth, and interactive digital product experiences and let your product do the talking.
5. Innovate like Volkswagen to create hyper-personalized, integrated, connected, and seamless experiences for your customers in your digital ecosystem. A happy and digitally-enabled customer will become your best brand ambassador.
    

What’s you take on these brand examples? Tell us about your journey from traditional to digital marketing on TwitterOpens a new window , LinkedInOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window ; we’re always listening!