Why the iconic 80s status symbol Filofax still means business in the tech age

“It was a status symbol in the 80s,” says Susan Graham, managing director of FLB Group, the parent company of Filofax. “It just boomed and went from nowhere to everywhere overnight.”

Filofax might not be the sought-after brand it used to be, but Graham tells The Drum that the 100-year-old company has stood its ground determined not to be made obsolete by tech but to instead embrace it.

In 2001, Filofax was a $30m global brand going from strength to strength, but then in 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone, a watershed moment for a business like Filofax and for the wider paper planner market. “2007 was a major change for the brand and a major change in the way people operate,” Graham recalls. “The iPhone has made a massive difference to people’s lives.” Paper products in every sector declined as the world went digital.

But the advent of the smartphone didn’t kill off Filofax. “We stood our ground with the phone,” Graham says. The business pivoted into trends like journaling and wellness, adding page fillers like recipe and travel planners and fitness trackers, for example.

“While Filofax is never in any way going to compete with an iPhone, we can’t ignore the digital age,” she says.

For its first foray into the ‘digital age,’ Filofax has developed a reminder app that users can upload notes from their physical diary onto using QR codes on the pages. The app can be synced with Apple, Google and Outlook calendars to ping updates directly onto people’s phones. Graham was clear that the app isn’t a digital version of its classic planners but purely for reminders and alerts.

“The way people plan has changed, and they’re attached to their phones, they’re attached to their computers, etc, but we believe our products can continue to sit alongside that,” she says. “We aren’t trying to convert people who use digital back into paper, but we are enhancing the paper experience.”

Filofax for a new generation

In the post-iPhone era, Filofax has gained a predominantly female base and garnered popularity in the fashion industry. Its cases are seen as a fashion accessory rather than a way to flaunt one’s social status.

These days, Graham markets Filofax more as a lifestyle product. “What people choose to put into their planner is representative of how you organize yourself in your mind and the different ways,” she says.

Filofax might have reached peak fame in the 80s and 90s but the brand name is still synonymous with refillable diaries, so much so that the company has a major problem with fake merchandise. “It’s got that kudos,” Graham says. It’s also a global brand currently exporting into 40 markets worldwide from the small Scottish town of Dalkeith.

“Filofax has a very loyal following and you stick with it throughout your life. When you believe in a brand and you like what it delivers to you, then you tend to stick with it,” she adds.

Graham hopes that the move into digital will help introduce a younger generation of Filofax users. “I want a new generation loving Filofax like we all did. When you speak to people, they’ve got such an affection for the brand,” Graham says. “It’s never gone anywhere; it’s never left and now we want to re-establish that fondness with the new generation.”

Unlike other beloved 90s brands that have recently tapped into nostalgia trends, Graham thinks Filofax would be wrong to leverage this in its marketing. “We all remember and love the Rubik's Cube, but are you going to go out and buy one?” she asks.

“I would rather play on the line that Filofax has been here a long time and is still here but in a new way. It is versatile and modern, and there’s still a place for us very much in the digital world,” she says.