André van Tonder | Managing Executive | On the Dot | mail me |
Most companies manage their identity through language. They develop mission statements, brand voice guides, and value propositions. However, these messages often lose their meaning when people repeat them without conviction.
What actually builds trust is something different. A strong brand identity often connects to something people can hold, rather than something they are simply told.
I’ve spent my career in print circulation. Most recently, I helped bring the Financial Times Weekend back into local print in South Africa after more than a decade away. That experience reinforced a lesson the media industry overlooked during its rush towards digital platforms.
Identity does not always transfer effectively through a screen. Instead, physical experiences can give people something tangible to recognise, remember and trust. This principle offers valuable lessons for businesses seeking to develop a tangible brand identity.
The psychology is not sentimental; it’s measurable
Nostalgia once carried an almost embarrassing association. People viewed it as a wistful detour rather than a serious psychological phenomenon. However, research has changed that perception. Psychologists Constantine Sedikides and Tim Wildschut led research published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Their findings showed that nostalgia improves psychological wellbeing by strengthening authenticity and aligning people with their true selves. Researchers tested this effect across Western and East Asian samples.
Meanwhile, a separate body of research by Hepper and colleagues found that nostalgia often centres on specific, tangible things. These include keepsakes, photographs and objects associated with particular periods. In other words, nostalgia rarely exists as an abstract memory without a physical anchor.
Nostalgia rarely concerns a general feeling alone. Instead, a specific object often brings the memory to life. At a collective level, this effect extends beyond individual experiences. A 2023 meta-analysis published in Psychology & Marketing found that collective nostalgia strengthens group identity and social cohesion. Collective nostalgia connects people through a shared past rather than personal memories alone. Consequently, a physical object with genuine history can help a brand establish connections that digital-only experiences may struggle to replicate.
An accidental decision that became 130 years of heritage
The Financial Times offers a useful example of how tangible brand identity develops over time. When the newspaper began printing on pale pink paper in 1893, it did not intend to create a heritage asset. The decision was remarkably practical. Unbleached, lightly tinted stock cost slightly less than bright white paper. It also distinguished the newspaper from its rival, the Financial News. The printers were not thinking about brand heritage. They were considering costs and shelf differentiation.
However, the consequences proved far more significant than the original decision. Within a generation, pink paper had become central to the newspaper’s identity. Today, the economics have reversed. Dyeing paper pink costs more than leaving it white. Yet the FT has never considered switching back. A cost-saving decision from 1893 now carries a premium because the physical object, rather than the reasoning behind it, has become something readers trust.
This example illustrates how heritage develops organically. A marketing team did not create a value statement to establish this identity. Instead, a physical detail outlived the logic that inspired it. Over time, that detail acquired greater value than the original decision ever held.
What this means for anyone building a brand, not just a newspaper
The FT’s experience offers a broader lesson for businesses across industries. A lasting identity often connects to something tangible. This could be a distinctive object, a meaningful ritual or a recognisable artefact. People must be able to return to it physically, while its meaning should extend beyond whoever explains it. Businesses can use this principle to develop a tangible brand identity that customers recognise through experience, rather than through messaging alone.
The FT did not initially choose pink paper for its symbolic meaning. That meaning emerged later. Readers repeatedly opened the same pink pages, followed familiar reading habits and associated the newspaper with particular moments in their lives. This ritual continued for well over a century. Eventually, repetition transformed a practical choice into a powerful brand symbol.
For businesses, the lesson is straightforward. Before writing another values statement for the office wall, consider what customers can actually experience. A mission statement can change in an afternoon. However, a genuinely trusted object takes decades to earn that trust. Language alone cannot provide a shortcut.
Ultimately, a tangible brand identity develops when people encounter consistent, meaningful experiences over time. Businesses should therefore identify the objects, rituals and interactions that can bring their promises to life. The goal is not to imitate the FT’s pink paper. Instead, it is to understand how physical experiences, repeated consistently, can turn an ordinary detail into a lasting source of recognition and trust.
