Business reminded of archive 'secret weapon'

British business must act now to preserve its corporate heritage or risk losing it through neglect or the maelstrom of the recession, Sir Stuart Rose, chairman of Marks and Spencer, warned yesterday.

Sir Stuart's plea came at the launch of a national strategy to persuade companies that their historic archives can be a "secret commercial weapon" to inspire branding and marketing and new products.

The project aims to exploit the trend towards tradition-based marketing, such as in this summer's advertising campaigns for household names including Persil, Sainsbury and Hovis that focus on archive images to promote messages of quality, reliability and permanence.

Recession threatens the loss of many records. The National Archives, a government agency, and other bodies are battling to save company archives with the closure of companies such as retailer Woolworth, piano maker Kemble and vanmaker LDV.

There has been concern that the Minton Archive in Staffordshire, a unique collection of ceramics drawings from the Industrial Revolution, could be broken up and sold after the collapse of Waterford Wedgwood, bought by US-based KPS Capital Partners.

Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, said: "Without archives our memories would be lost. Without those memories how can we learn from the experience of our predecessors and build on their ideas?" Mr King said records from the 19th century and 1914 were crucial to understanding the financial crisis. He had consulted the Bank's records from the 1944 Bretton Woods conference in considering the future of the international financial system.

Only 20 per cent of FTSE 100 companies employ archivists to exploit their business records. "I don't think that is enough," said Dame Stella Rimington, former director-general of M15, who began her career as an archivist.

M&S is investing £3.5m in locating its archive at the University of Leeds. Highlights from its collection are now on show. "Businesses can learn so much from their pasts that is relevant to today's consumer," Sir Stuart said. "Unless we take action now to preserve our corporate heritage we are at risk of losing it."