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We often use the word “legacy” to describe successful, long-standing brands. But in today’s market, resting on history is a trap. If you only rely on the past, you risk becoming a museum piece, not a market leader. To drive sustainable growth, brands need to move from being “legacy” to being culturally relevant.

In this episode of Connecting the dots, I sat down with Alexander Matt, former Global CMO at Fjällräven, Levi's and Adidas Originals and a key architect behind iconic brand moments at Adidas Originals and Levi’s. He has spent his career building brands that don’t just sell products but create movements.

Here is what we covered and how you can apply these principles to build a brand people will actually fight for.

Cultural relevance > Legacy

Many marketers conflate “legacy” with strength. Alexander challenges this immediately. To him, “legacy” often signals history, heritage, and looking backward.

Cultural relevance, on the other hand, is about the now and the future. It’s having a deeper meaning in consumers' minds, innovating, and helping people progress. A brand doesn’t need to be 100 years old to be relevant; it just needs to add value to the culture it inhabits.

The 3 pillars of a brand people fight for

How do you actually build this relevance? Alexander breaks it down into three non-negotiable pillars:

1. Community (Authenticity over transactions)

You can’t just “buy” a community through influencers who aren’t really committed to your product. True community building requires listening, adapting, and creating a platform for your customers to express themselves. It’s about engagement that feels organic, not forced.‍

2. A strong point of view

You have to stand for something bigger than what you sell. Whether it’s empowering creativity (Adidas) or valuing nature (Fjällräven), a strong point of view triggers emotion. As Alexander notes, "You will lose some people, but you will gain so much more".

3. Radical consistency (the internal connector)

This is the hardest part. To be consistent externally, you must be aligned internally. Marketing, sales, product, and distribution must speak the same language.

The brave alignment behind the Stan Smith comeback

One of the best examples of this internal alignment is the relaunch of the Adidas Stan Smith.

Before the shoe became a ubiquitous fashion staple again, the leadership team made a bold, counter-intuitive decision: they took it off the market entirely.

To reposition the shoe from a "discounted heritage item" to a "progressive icon," they had to clean up the distribution first. Sales, marketing, and product teams aligned to remove the shoe from shelves for a year before bringing it back through high-end fashion channels.

That is the difference between a marketing campaign and a brand strategy.

The commercial argument for the long run

We all face pressure to deliver short-term revenue. But Alexander argues that long-term brand investment is actually the smartest commercial play.

Why? Because loyal consumers are the ones who purchase most often and bring in the most money.

If you are constantly chasing trends or buying short-term traffic, you are renting growth. Building cultural relevance is how you own it.

How to apply this to your strategy

If you are looking to strengthen your brand’s relevance, start here:

  • Define the "active consumer": Stop looking at vanity metrics. Measure community health through NPS scores and the number of active consumers who advocate for you.
  • Audit your internal alignment: Does your sales distribution match your marketing message? If you want to be a premium brand, you can't be everywhere at once.
  • Clarify your POV: Write down what your brand stands for beyond the product. If it doesn't make you a little nervous to say it out loud, it might not be strong enough.

📩 Want to hear how Alexander would build a culturally relevant brand from scratch today? We asked him a bonus question that didn’t make the main episode. Subscribe to the Connecting the dots newsletter to read his unconventional "start soft" strategy.

🎧 Watch the full episode on YouTube or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.