Brand heritage: bridging the past and future through a systematic literature review and research agenda

Purpose As firms increasingly mobilize their histories to differentiate themselves in competitive and uncertain markets, brand heritage has emerged as a critical construct linking the past to present and future strategy. However, existing research reflects a range of different theoretical, methodological and contextual perspectives on brand heritage. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to organize the extant literature of brand heritage into a coherent theoretical model and propose a research agenda for this domain. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review of 91 peer-reviewed articles published between 2011 and 2024 was conducted. The theory-context-methodology (TCM) framework was used to analyze the current state of the research topic while McCracken’s (1986) model of meaning transfer was adopted to offer a coherent account of how heritage meanings are constructed, communicated and experienced. Findings The review contributes by identifying theoretical gaps, underexplored contexts and methodological limitations in brand heritage scholarship, while also framing brand heritage as a dynamic concept that evolves from institutional encoding to symbolic communication and eventual consumer appropriation. Together, these approaches help delineate a research agenda for the field. Originality/value This systematic literature review uniquely integrates the TCM framework with McCracken’s model of meaning transfer to develop a multilevel analytical structure that consolidates extant literature and clarifies future research areas of brand heritage.