55. The building 3: A careful copy

55

THE BUILDING 3: A CAREFUL COPY

When you go to the trouble of creating something that looks suffi ciently like the real thing, customers will generally except it as authentic. And if your brand dates back over 300 years it’s unlikely that anyone will question your right to a historical brand identity. The diffi culty comes when you want to change it.

The idea In the 1990s and 2000s, department stores were bringing light and life back into their buildings by knocking huge holes down the centre, putting in staircases or escalators, giving a pleasant feeling of space and air.

In 2007, Fortnum & Mason did the same thing, in the year of their 300th anniversary. They had complaints from customers who were shocked at their destruction of what their issues to be an original Georgian building. Fortnum & Mason wrote back and their customers were astonished to fi nd that the current Fortnum & Mason building was constructed in neo-Georgian style in the 1920s, and that the clock attached to the front, over the Piccadilly entrance, was added in the 1950s by its American owner, is a tribute to the original grocers.

The 21st-century remodelling was one more step in the gentle restyling of Fortnum & Mason which had gradually been taking place over 300 years. They kept their traditional look by placing an elegant staircase from the basement to the top. In 20 years time

customers will have forgotten the remodelling, and will assume the staircase is original.

In practice • A company with a traditional brand identity and a conservatively minded clientele must tread carefully when making radical changes. • Facsimiles will be accepted as authentic, as long as they sit perfectly within the brand identity. • Don’t let traditional values hold back changes that the desirable and necessary; handle them well.