Reigniting a Classic Brand with a Start-up Mindset

The Third Growth Option with Benno Duenkelsbuehler and Guests

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Reigniting the spark of a 48-year-old legacy company, whose founder had passed away some years ago, is a difficult balancing act. Chuck Fraelich, president of tag - a legendary tabletop and seasonal decor brand founded by David Glassberg - in this episode is walking me through both the brand relaunch, and the 4 stages in his career that prepared him for the task at hand:

1. Engineering mindset - connecting problems with opportunities, adaptive thinking and nurturing curiosity.
2. Family start-up business - hands-on experience in wholesale and retail business.
3. Private equity business - gaining disciplined management skills.
4. Reinvention of a 48-year-old by rediscovering its startup mindset.

3:33 - in the engineering phase “It required a lot of adaptive thinking. We had to keep improving. It was curiosity, I was very inquisitive, I was always asking questions.”

16:54 - “There was a transition period, and you come in and you’re trying to reinvent and reinvigorate and refresh enough… but not so much that it becomes unrecognizable. That’s a real balancing act.”

18:56 - “...an older company that’s got this new startup kind of mindset, and what this meant is we didn’t want to lose the past.”

20:24 - “We had a third party facilitator come in and we did Mission, Vision, and Brand statements. That was an enlightening and fun project for our employees and it gave us all again direction, the North Star.”

22:05 - “Nothing drives creative people more crazy than if you give them so much freedom that there is no direction, and no sandbox within which to be super creative.”

You can find Chuck on LI, or feel free to email him at [e-mail].