Dr Maureen Ifada, Marketing Director, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, has urged marketers to preserve the cultural identity of heritage brands while finding contemporary ways to keep them relevant, warning against sacrificing brand distinctiveness in the pursuit of modernity.

In her contribution as a panellist at the 2026 annual summit of the Edge Awards, themed Cultural Heritage & Modern Marketing: Building Brands That Solve Local Problems, Ifada used Peak Milk, a brand with more than 70 years of history, to demonstrate how heritage can become a growth asset rather than a source of nostalgia.

“Heritage is not nostalgia. We shouldn’t see heritage as nostalgia. I like us to see heritage for what it is. It is a growth asset,” she said. “Our job is to convert that memory into meaning for today.”

She identified familiarity, trust, cultural memory and credibility as four benefits heritage can provide. These, she explained, help brands remain recognisable, strengthen consumer relationships and earn the right to participate in new occasions.

Ifada highlighted Peak Milk’s distinctive assets, including its logo, palm tree, mountain, blue sky, canoe and steamboat. She recalled how the brand once considered reducing the prominence of some of these elements in an attempt to appear more international. Consumer research, however, revealed strong attachment to the familiar symbols.

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Consumers associated the palm tree with nutrition, growth and family, while the mountain represented performance and aspiration. The blue sky conveyed hope, calmness and optimism. Their feedback reinforced the importance of retaining the elements that give the brand its identity.

“If you remember how the Peak logo looks, it’s on an island. It’s got a palm tree, it’s got a mountain,” she said, adding that consumers had made it clear: “Don’t touch our icons.”

According to Ifada, heritage brands face two major challenges: becoming trapped in the past or chasing trends at the expense of their distinctiveness. The solution, she said, is to combine “timeless meaning with contemporary expression”.

She outlined a three-part framework for achieving this: preserve, reframe and activate. Brands should preserve their defining assets and purpose, reframe their heritage to address contemporary audiences and needs, and activate it through connected experiences across media, retail and communities.

Ifada also identified distinctive asset recognition, trial, conversion, repeat purchase and advocacy as measures for assessing whether heritage-led marketing is building brand equity.

Concluding her session, she offered marketers a clear warning: “Don’t lose your soul because you’re trying to be modern.”