Black-owned brands bounce back: What consumers can expect from revived dormant brands

By Michael Stone, chairman and co-founder of Beanstalk and author of, 'The Power of Licensing: Harnessing Brand Equity'

Black-owned businesses, like Fashion Fair and Madam C.J. Walker, served Black consumers for decades, but then disappeared. Now these brands are making a strong comeback. For Black History Month, Michael Stone explores why these once-dormant brands have been given a new lease of life.

Recently I have been reading about a number of Black-owned brands that have been brought back from the dead (or near death), and it got me re-thinking about what it takes to resurrect a famous brand. In particular, given that it’s Black History Month, I wondered - do brands that are remembered by and appeal to Black consumers have a better shot at revival than other dormant mainstream brands? Sometimes a dormant, once-famous (perhaps even iconic) brand can be revived and make a comeback, but it’s not as simple as it sounds. What does it take to bring a dead brand back to life?

Fashion Fair, the iconic cosmetics brand that served Black consumers, beginning in the 1970s when other brands did not, went bankrupt in 2018 and then virtually disappeared. Two former senior executives of Johnson Publishing, owner of leading Black magazines Ebony and Jet (an attempt at a comeback for those magazines is also in the works), purchased Fashion Fair from the publishing company in 2019 with the goal of bringing it back to its former glory.

The famous Black hair care brand, Madam C.J. Walker, was founded in 1906 to help Black people with scalp hygiene. It was the first mass distributed brand of hair products for this audience when nothing else was accessible or marketed to African American women. And C.J. Walker became the first Black female self-made millionaire. But the brand started a long decline in the 1980s. The trademark changed hands several times and ended up at Unilever in 2017. Shortly thereafter, the brand was re-introduced at Walmart as Madam by Madam C.J. Walker.

Brands can easily be taken off the market, but not so easily erased from our memories. Remember Hess gas stations, Amoco, Oldsmobile, Netscape, Hotmail, Borders bookstores, Circuit City, Blockbuster, Tab soda, and many more. Brands that vanish often leave behind strong equities and imprints on our memories. Sometimes, it’s not just how we remember the brands but how we think we remember the brands, what we misremember about the brand. Our loyalty and trust don’t disappear quickly. Brands disappear from the market for a host of reasons. Yet some dormant brands make a comeback and are revived, such as Puma, White Cloud, Polaroid, Toys “R” Us and The Sharper Image.

To actually be successful for the long term, revival of a not-long-for-this-world or already dead brand needs to address seven factors. Let’s see to what extent Fashion Fair and Madam C.J. Walker satisfy those requirements and whether they have a better chance at revival than your run-of-the-mill mainstream, iconic, dormant brand.

1. Determine if a significant amount of awareness still exists

Brand memory fades with time.

Does sufficient awareness still exist and is it positive? The brand must have been successful in its time, iconic in its category.

Many Black women came of age using Fashion Fair and Madam C.J. Walker products and for those who were too young, they recall the products being used by their mothers, grandmothers and older sisters. There is strong awareness in the Black community of these brands and what they once stood for.

2. Consider whether emotional attachment and authenticity exist

The brand must strike an emotional chord and conjure fond memories with a large enough group of consumers, but also appeal not only to those who used the brand during its heyday, but younger consumers seeking authenticity and trust, who didn’t use the brand when it was around the first time, but still know it.

Black businesses are a source of pride within the Black community and both Fashion Fair and Madam C.J. Walker still garner that emotional attachment.

3. Fill a gap with a unique selling proposition

The brand must serve a need, fill a void in the marketplace.

While many mainstream brands often attempt to serve women of color, they often don’t quite hit the mark. Both Fashion Fair and Madam are entirely focused on women of color, as few brands are. And instead of department store distribution, Fashion Fair launched at Sephora and Madam launched at Walmart. Both brands are aiming to make these products affordable and accessible to their Black consumers.

4. Tell a story

Unlike new brands, dormant brands already have a story built in. The new owner must re-tell the brand story so that it once again touches that nerve with consumers.

Fashion Fair and Madam C.J. Walker have rich stories - a history, a legacy. These are both pioneering beauty brands that catered to Black women, making them feel understood and special. They served the Black community long before inclusivity was a common marketing goal. Very few brands that disappeared as long ago as Madam C.J. Walker can be brought back to life, but Black women know her story, how she had to struggle to succeed in the early 1900s and the impact that she had.

5. Consider the competition and consumer behavior

The competition (likely different when the brand was once successful) must not now be so challenging that there simply isn’t a way for the brand to compete. Understand how the marketplace has changed and reshape the dormant brand to make it more competitive.

The market has certainly changed since Fashion Fair and Madam C.J. Walker were at their height. Many mainstream competitors are now serving the Black community, unlike when these two brands got started.

Black consumers have choices. And while Black consumers still want the colors and products that they remember, they now also care about ingredients and what the brand is doing to support the Black community. Madam and Fashion Fair were revolutionary at the time, and the brands want to be that again. They are both entirely focused on the needs of women of color. They have paid attention to the ingredients in their products to ensure that they are environmentally sound. And they are both making certain that the products compete on price and value.

6. Provide brand management and marketing support

This seems like a no brainer, right? Yet many of the short-term revivals have died a second death because they don’t have the marketing support that they need, particularly in categories where brands are heavily marketed (such as health and beauty products). Fame won’t be enough to propel the brand to success.

The team behind Madam is making sure that consumers know how to use the product and are marketing it on TikTok and other platforms to reach Gen Alpha and Gen Z. Fashion Fair was launched with new white and gold packaging and Kiki Layne (star of If Beale Street Could Talk) as brand ambassador.

7. Feel the power

Every case is different. Sometimes it helps to use instinct and common sense as part of a brand assessment. In other words, you’ll know it (a brand with good revival potential) when you see it. The brand worked before, so reimagine how it can work again.

This is where I’ll conclude and where Fashion Fair and Madam really stand out. Legacy, iconic, dormant brands that were owned by Blacks and devoted their products to Black consumers have a better chance at revival than other mainstream brands. These are brands for Blacks that served an underserved need, that made women feel special, that inspired a sense of community and generated pride. These two brands, in particular, were about Black women entrepreneurs whose stories opened doors for other Black women and still empower them today. They are culturally important, they play a part in fighting racial inequality, they mean something to Black women, spanning several generations. You don’t generally hit those buttons with mainstream brands seeking revival. Fashion Fair and Madam are part of Black American’s DNA, they played a part in the fight for equality, and they serve a higher purpose. They have power.

At a time when, surprisingly, fewer brands are connecting with Blacks this Black History Month (see Advertising Age), this is a time to celebrate and re-discover these two brands, and others like them, and their stories.