The brands that win are dual: tradition + modernity, without feeling contradictory

In marketing, “tradition” and “innovation” are often placed in opposite corners. As if, if you’re “traditional,” you’re not allowed to be modern. If you’re “digital” and “new,” you’re not allowed to have roots. In reality, consumers don’t think in black and white, and the brands that grow and endure are, most of the time, paradoxical: they combine continuity with progress.

That’s exactly what we saw in an exploratory study built on 70 conversational interviews about perceptions and expectations of Romanian brands.

“Romanian” isn’t a label. It’s a spectrum.

The first thing worth taking out of the equation: the idea that “Romanian” is something you tick off with a flag on packaging or a nicely told brand story.

Consumers treat “Romanian” as a gradient: “partly Romanian,” “50/50,” “more Romanian than foreign.” They look at multiple cues: where it’s produced, who owns it, what ingredients it uses, what local impact it has, and what emotion it triggers (memory, childhood, “the taste of home”). It’s not a verdict, it’s an internal negotiation.

Here’s the first tension: if you rely only on tradition, you risk becoming nostalgia. If you chase only modernity, you risk becoming generic.

Why duality isn’t a nice-to-have, but a trust mechanism

In the research, trust repeatedly shows up as the real “currency” of brands. But it isn’t earned through declarations, it’s earned through proven performance, consistency, and low-friction experiences. “Romanian-ness” works more like an amplifier when the product or service genuinely delivers.

And this is where the paradox becomes the point:

• Tradition isn’t just “age.” In people’s minds it becomes a marker of honesty, seriousness, morality - “a brand with its feet on the ground.”
• Innovation isn’t just “tech.” It means adaptation, competitiveness, “keeping up,” “not falling behind” - especially in banking/ retail /IT/ telecom.

The brands that win are the ones that do both at once: they give you a sense of continuity (you know what to expect, you can rely on them), while also showing they’re in the present (and even a little ahead of it).

What does a “dual” brand look like in real life?

In FMCG, a successful Romanian brand is like a family recipe cooked in a modern kitchen: emotion and familiarity draw you in, but you come back because the product is impeccable, consistent, and fairly priced.

In services or complex categories, the logic shifts: “Romanian” isn’t visible on a label, so it has to be proven differently: through performance, innovation, experience, and local contribution. In other words: not just “we’re one of you,” but “we’re good - and it shows.”

The repositioning trap: choosing a single identity

When a brand enters a repositioning process, the temptation is to “clean up” the tension: become either “traditional and warm” or “modern and cool.” The problem is, the market isn’t that simple.

Romanian consumers may love tradition, but they rarely prioritize it if quality, price, availability, and a good experience aren’t there. At the same time, they can admire innovation, but they still look for signs of trust and fairness, especially from local brands.

That’s why the “paradox brand” idea matters: you don’t split in two: you build a synthesis:

• Modernize tradition (tie it to quality and contemporary methods, not empty nostalgia),
• Humanize innovation (tie it to usefulness, care, and experience, not jargon).

Inside the report you’ll find exactly the kind of material that helps at this stage: how people define “Romanian,” what criteria they use in decisions, how trust is built, what consumer types exist, and what the perceived “personality” of Romanian brands looks like (with its aspirational–traditional nuances).