(Too) little future

Column The revival of
mythical brands from the good old days is the order of the day. If it is missing
The historian notes with concern: "So many attractive visions of the future
Memory as it is now has never been" (Paul Nolte). This applies, how could it
be different, to a large extent also for our world of goods. The view
back fascinates brand makers and brand users everywhere. Only one
A recent example: it has recently become possible in Germany to
tap water can be mixed with Tri Top syrup, the highlight of the
every children's birthday party - albeit in the seventies, about
No longer available for decades and long since in the brand museum ().

So reminiscing about the good old days seems to be the order of the day. Selective
Memory, of course. Negatives are suppressed. Returns with Tri Top
really only the carefree and happy childhood again - or did
was it not also about the generous and cost-cutting
Mixing ratio of tap water and syrup? What it's all about today
many people again. Or how does everyday life in the GDR justify the so-called
depth psychological structure of the most successful Eastern brand? The
culturally anchored myth of Little Red Riding Hood with its analogy to the
psychological structure of sparkling wine drinking enables the creative
Realization of the tensions between self-control and loss of control,
Fear and lust, seduction and temptation, mysticism and magic
(creative strategy of the communications agency).

There are some things about the phenomenon of collective memory that we would like to
understand. First of all, one wonders why and how the
revitalization of long-forgotten brands can work at all.
How can VW revive the Bugatti myth in 2005, even though almost a
no Bugatti has been produced for half a century (since 1956)? The
The Bugatti brand was already identified by the company founder
described in the 1920s: "Nothing is too beautiful, nothing too
expensive." How did these brand values find their way into something like
our collective everyday cultural memory and can be used efficiently and
be effectively updated again today?

And what does the communicative use of our collective
Memory? On museum preservation, for example, with stylistic
Memories of the predecessors in the thirties and forties
(surely a temptation for the designers of the Maybach)? Or is it
the revival of myths is about the contemporary interpretation
unique lines of tradition? Superficial and pleasing
Historicization or respectful rootedness in history?
The makers of the Mini small car formulate the latter as a claim.
The mini-myth is to be used as a reflex of a
charming-sympathetic individualist companion, very British with
endearingly eccentric quirks. In contrast, the
Confidence in the product substance to avoid the image of the unreliable
of a small car with no storage space.

To conclude, probably the most important question: Is the topicality of the
past was not primarily due to the lack of attractive
to justify visions of the future? Does this also apply to the brand world and the
brand maker the sentence: "There was hardly a future as bright as now.
ever" (Paul Nolte)? Then we should all be worried: "The
The superiority of memory is a compensation for the lost future."

Jürgen Häusler is CEO of Interbrand Zintzmeyer
and Lux Group in Zurich and honorary professor for strategic
Corporate Communications at the University of Leipzig.