Cherished Brands - When Memorabilia Survives the Business

Companies come and go. So do brands and promotional memorabilia. Interestingly, though sometimes a logo becomes so cherished it can actually last longer than the actual company who produced it. When this happens, it is an indication of serious feelings of customer goodwill, employee satisfaction, and positive associations in general.
People become nostalgic. They collect memorabilia of deceased companies. Such items are like keepsakes. Companies that disappear have employees that value the insignia of their place of employment. They have happy customers who enjoyed their interactions with a trusted name. And, there are executives and officials who have pride toward a successful creation.
Surviving memorabilia ranges from tiny trinkets given out the general public, to achievement awards bestowed upon hard working staff such as pins, trophies, lapels, and other items. There are a wealth of other memorable items like golf balls, coffee mugs, and pens that outlive a business. In the beginning, they were created to build loyalty to the brand and more or less for business and marketing purposes. Yet, often times, these items assume characteristics of warm memories later on.
Even uniforms and corporate apparel can embody the same feelings of fondness and the good ole’ days. When people put in years of service with a particular job, they have powerful memories of the brand for countless reasons. They want to save the products and at the same time hold onto the events that coincided with their experience there. Think about a worker who has served 30 years in a position at a certain corporation. Perhaps this same worker met his spouse there; perhaps he had built a community of friends and colleagues.
Moreover, experts in marketing field as well as psychologists say that when people cherish those momentos from their old work environments, what they are doing is actually participating in a form of healing or therapy. The products have the potential to stir such positive feelings that they can act as a balancing and restorative tool. It’s amazing that reflecting on such a simple piece of memorabilia can have such an effect, but even more, it’s cheaper than an actual therapy session. Some claim that such products also offer an element of stability and tangibility in a disposable, changeable world. In other words, people need something to hold onto.
We live in a very different work world than we did just fifty years ago. The environment is more dynamic, fast paced, and radical than ever before. Whereas in the past, traditionally people committed themselves to careers and remained in them throughout their lives; today we change careers and shift gears from one avenue to another sometimes several times in our lives. Companies endure similar patterns. They are created, merged, disintegrated, split, retired, and revamped.
Change is hard on people: employees, customers, those in charge, and those affiliated with a business. Even if the circumstances are positive, the adjustment can be a challenge. Comfort and familiarity are usually preferred even if the new outcome promises a better deal for all of those involved. Hence, another reason for holding onto those promotional items of yesterday.
What is also remarkable is that employees have a pattern of changing their opinions on their work place after the fact. Researchers have studied this. After the dissolution of a business, workers romanticize their former place of employment. It’s a natural feeling for one to have. Idealizing the past helps individuals to make the transition involved with moving on and putting the past into perspective. Psychologists also say that any loss, regardless of how small, includes the grieving process to heal. Having positive associations of a work environment facilitates that process.
• There are special implications related to the investment of memorabilia. Even though promotional products may have been originally made for commercial purposes, they transform into unique and magical items after the disappearance of a business. Keepsakes expand beyond their intended purpose.
• Such products help to creating a bond among those involved. There is an element of camaraderie that exists when memorabilia unites people. Items spark conversation and remind the players of the game of their earlier times.
• Know that the survival of a brand is a sign of huge success. Why are people saving products of a company that is no longer in existence? There is something about the organization that is not dead, and that the public is not done with. Consider the products readily being purchased on e-bay, in flea markets, and in yard sales that are all associated with a company of the past.
We’ve all heard the cliché “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.” People apply this principle to brands and companies as well. Memorabilia that survives its parent business is a demonstration of a company unique and valued.