Brand Modernization: Key Findings
Personal and societal threats have made today’s consumers far more discerning, according to an Edelman 2023 special report on brand trust.
They’re more price-conscious, do more research before buying, make fewer impulse purchases, and even avoid brands based on where companies are headquartered.
Quick listen: Betty’s Nicole Meyer on how Kemps refreshed “It’s The Cows” to turn nostalgia into modern relevance in under 2 minutes.
For legacy brands, recognition alone isn’t enough to stay relevant.
That reality shaped the decision by Kemps, a century-old Midwestern dairy brand, to refresh its long-running “It’s The Cows” campaign.
In an exclusive interview with DesignRush, Nicole Meyer, creative director of Betty, shares insights from Kemps’ latest brand refresh.
Betty is a full-service creative agency that helped strike a balance between honoring the brand’s history and making it feel urgent in today’s grocery aisle.
Who is Nicole Meyer?
Nicole Meyer is Group Creative Director at Betty, a Quad agency. With over a decade of cross-disciplinary experience, she creates engaging, strategic content for brands like Fender, Target, and Buffalo Wild Wings. Her award-winning work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Fast Company, and Sports Illustrated.
Know When Brand Equity Isn’t Enough
Strong recognition doesn’t always equal modern relevance.
While Kemps’ “It’s The Cows” campaign still had equity and appeal, audience research revealed gaps, especially with younger millennial families who wanted more than nostalgia.
Consumers were increasingly seeking transparency, authenticity, and a meaningful brand story.
And in a category where “quality” and “local” are now table stakes, the brand needed a more distinctive message that went beyond product claims.
“Legacy recognition doesn’t equal modern relevance,” Meyer says.
“Refreshing the messaging for today’s consumers, especially younger millennial families, would help keep the brand culturally relevant.”
Insight: Brand leaders should regularly test whether consumer expectations have outpaced existing equity. If audiences want more than recognition, it’s time to reset.
Protect the Core, Modernize the Story
When refreshing a legacy platform, the hardest decisions often involve what to keep, what to evolve, and what to leave behind.
For Kemps, the team protected its Midwestern farming heritage and the beloved cows, while modernizing the storytelling to give the cows more humor and personality.
They also wove in local landmarks to highlight community ties and the farm-to-table journey.
What they left behind were generic “quality” claims, which no longer differentiated in a 100-year-old brand with an established reputation.
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“We wanted to showcase the relationship people have with Kemps products spanning generations,” Meyer explains.
Key Takeaway: Legacy refreshes work best when brands protect their emotional core but modernize how the story is told.
Avoid Trend-Chasing in Legacy Refreshes
When legacy brands try to modernize, many fall into the trap of chasing trends, piling on buzzwords, flashy visuals, or influencer tie-ins that dilute the core message.
The result often alienates loyal customers without making a meaningful connection with new ones.
“Trend chasing by layering on buzzwords, flashy visuals or influencer gimmicks dilutes a brand’s core message, and often alienates loyal customers while failing to truly connect with new audiences,” Meyer says.
Pro-tip: Start with the emotional resonance that originally made the brand successful. Modernization should clarify the core, not bury it under passing trends.
Ground Modernization in What’s Uniquely True
Instead of chasing trends, the Kemps team went back to what makes the brand distinct: its Midwestern farming roots and family ownership.
Consumer and category research guided the creative direction, ensuring the refresh was anchored in authenticity.
The cows were given more personality and humor, while local landmarks reinforced community connection.
“We leaned into Kemps’ authentic heritage and ownership by Midwest family farms, grounding the campaign in what is uniquely true and meaningful about the brand,” Meyer said.
Why this matters: The most effective brand refreshes start from a place of truth. Highlight what only your brand can claim, then modernize the storytelling around it.
Make Strategic Choices That Go Beyond Nostalgia
For Kemps, success meant evolving the story so it resonated with today’s grocery shoppers and not just leaning on past recognition.
This meant clarifying differentiation, aligning with millennial family values, and showing the breadth of products with consistent storytelling.
“We repositioned the brand message to ‘Quality dairy made by Midwesterners, for Midwesterners’ to provide a clear, authentic point of differentiation grounded in family ownership and local roots,” Meyer said.
What to remember: When modernizing a legacy platform, make deliberate decisions early, otherwise nostalgia can overpower relevance.
Measure Beyond Media Metrics
A brand refresh can’t be judged on media impressions alone. For Meyer, lasting connection is just as important as sales lift.
“A key indicator of success is increased brand love and loyalty,” she said.
To get there, the team is tracking sentiment among millennial families, monitoring social conversations and in-store feedback, and looking for sales lift across categories to validate that the refreshed story is motivating purchase.
The bottom line: Balance short-term KPIs with long-term sentiment to see whether a repositioning truly sticks.
Balance Reach With Relevance
Legacy campaigns must resonate broadly while staying true to local roots.
“Making the cows our stars was a strategic creative decision to help balance authenticity and entertainment,” Meyer explains.
By weaving in Midwest landmarks and community cues, the campaign stays locally grounded while its humor and storytelling keep it relatable at scale.
Expert advice: Pair creative devices with universal appeal and local details that reinforce authenticity for core markets.
Turning Nostalgia Into Relevance
For legacy brands, the lesson is clear: recognition is valuable, but relevance is essential.
By grounding in research, honoring heritage, and aligning with modern values, Kemps shows how nostalgia can be refreshed into a living, breathing story that builds both loyalty and new connections.
Through Betty’s lens, it’s a reminder that creative agencies play a key role in helping brands transform their history into relevance for today’s audiences.
Early indicators, including increased social engagement, brand sentiment, and product lift, suggest that Kemps’ heritage refresh is resonating with millennial families.
Betty and Kemps are now expanding the campaign across in-store displays, digital media, and regional partnerships.
Brand Refresh FAQs
Why hire an agency for a brand refresh?
Agencies bring an outside perspective, grounding decisions in research and creative strategy that balance heritage with modern relevance.
What’s the risk of modernizing a legacy brand without expert help?
Many brands fall into trend-chasing, piling on buzzwords or gimmicks that weaken their core message and alienate loyal customers.
How do agencies measure success beyond sales?
Agencies track both short-term KPIs (sales lift, impressions) and long-term metrics like brand love, loyalty, and consumer sentiment.
