orientation and market orientation – from alternatives to synergy

This paper explores the interaction between brand orientation and market orientation. Brand orientation is an inside-out, identity-driven approach that sees brands as a hub for an organization and its strategy. Similarly, market orientation is an outside-in, image-driven approach. Initially, brand orientation and market orientation appear to be two different strategic options. Though synergistic combinations are also possible, they are not explored in previous theories, nor labeled as part of branding practice and philosophy. A new type of orientation, a hybrid between brand and marketing orientation, is among the key findings of this study. The paper articulates typical trajectories for evolving the orientation and aspires to move the discussion from the tug-of-war between the two paradigms by developing a more dynamic view. The study paves the way for better understanding, operationalization and evaluation of alternative approaches to marketing

The Tetra Pak Trademark Protection Campaign : A life and death struggle

Identity viewed with a branding lense from different prospective

Uncovering the corporate brand's core values

Purpose - This paper aims to describe the uncovering of a corporate brand's core values and implications for strategic management of its track record. Design/methodology/approach - The paper examines the specific track records of Volvo, IKEA, IBM, and Scanpump, focusing on core values and how they evolve. Based on multiple sources of evidence, the track records of the case companies emerge as patterns of values that are: perceived externally by customers and non-customer stakeholders; and rooted internally within an organisation. Findings - Four categories of core values emerge, termed true, aspirational, potential, and hollow. Originality/value - The Core Value Grid is proposed as a managerially useful model on "how to build true values and avoid hollow values". In principle, a corporate brand cannot be stronger externally than it is internally. Rooted core values with track records supporting a brand promise represent the essence of a corporate brand, guiding internal and external corporate brand building and management. The foundation of a corporate brand risks being undermined by hollow core values and empty promises

The brand core and its management over time

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the brand core and its management over time. The aim is to develop a framework for managing the core of a brand for continuity and change. Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal case study of the Volvo brand’s core and its management serves as the empirical basis for a qualitative analysis of the “brand core” using rhetorical perspectives. Findings – The management of the brand core for both continuity and change is an unsolved paradox in strategic brand management literature and practice. Existing conceptualisations offer little or no guidance regarding managing a brand’s core over time. The Volvo brand has evolved by adding and shifting mindsets, which has kept its core surprisingly stable. Research limitations/implications – The new framework mitigates a paradox and, by defining the brand core as a point of reference, allows for brand management to address both continuity and change and consider a range of stakeholders while doing so. The integration ofs rhetoric into the framework makes it applicable to product, service and corporate brands, or indeed anything that can be considered a “brand”. The brand core is defined as “an entity of core values and a promise”. Practical implications – By shifting perspectives on a brand’s core over time, change and development are stimulated while preserving its inner values and promise. Originality/value – The brand core framework integrating rhetoric theory was supported by a longitudinal case study to resolve a strategic brand management paradox

Welcome to the Matrix - How to find and use your corporate brand's core identity

In this article, I use a broad brush to provide a big picture of a corporate brand, how corporate branding works, and what it takes to manage a corporate brand. In the movie The Matrix, Mr. Anderson is invited to come behind the scenes to see and experience a world beyond the projected image. My article’s title welcomes you to discover and experience a corporate brand’s reality with its opportunities and challenges. The Corporate Brand Identity Matrix (Urde, 2013; Greyser & Urde, 2019) provides a structure and logic for this discovery with topics and questions to be further developed and discussed during the course

Märkesorientering - Utveckling av varumärken som strategiska resurser och skydd mot varumärkesdegeneration

The aim of this study was to examine how an organisation’s approach to brands can, in the building up of a brand competence, prevent trademark degeneration and develop and protect brands as strategic resources. A line of argument is put forward for adopting a new corporate approach (mind-set) to brands. The starting-point is the concept of trademark degeneration (genericness), which is both the key and the gate to a range of fundamental questions related to brands. Trademark degeneration means that a brand loses its distinctiveness, becoming instead a general term forming part of the language. Something happens in the process where values and meanings are created. Words such as dynamite, windsurfer, vespa, insulin and gramophone are examples of successful brands which have eventually degenerated (varies between countries). When a brand degenerates, it ceases to be the exclusive legal property of a certain company. Within the marketing and strategy theory, views are diverging and sometimes even conflicting as to whether the phenomenon of degeneration is a sign of success or a problem. I argue that it is a strategic problem. Ultimately it is a question of what the company wants to achieve by means of their brands, i.e. their aims and objectives. The mind-set prevailing within an organisation with regard to brands influences the preconditions for developing sustainable strategic resources in the form of brands. The case studies deal with Tetra Pak (Tetra Brik), Nestlé (Nescafé), DuPont (Teflon) and Pharmacia & Upjohn (Nicorette). The investigation of these companies’ brand processes, brand strategies and trademark protection reveals that there is, or at least has been, "an intent to own the category". This mind-set within the organisations is an expression of their attempts to dominate their respective product categories by means of brands which are perceived in generic terms. This type of "categorising brands" has a twofold function; as brands and as generic terms. "Categorising brands" run the risk of becoming generic, and various strategies to prevent degeneration are identified based on the case studies. The most effective strategy is to develop a core value-based brand identity, giving the brands an emotional value as well as a symbolic meaning. This requires both brand competence and a brand oriented mind-set. Brand competence is defined as the ability to create, develop and protect brands as strategic resources. Brand orientation is a mind-set that focuses the processes of the organisation on brands. The key brands of the company become a strategic platform. A conceptual framework for the brand oriented company is introduced, bringing together, among other things, the concepts of brand equity and brand identity. The model reflects the semiotic process on which brand development is built. The integration of different legal, semantic and semiotic foundations creates bridges between marketing and resource based strategy theory

Varumärken : vår tids symboler

A contribution to the Swedish National Encyclopedia (year book) on brands as symbols of our time. Definitions, examples, and reflections of the phenomenon of brands

Brand Orientation: A mindset for building brands into strategic resources

Brand orientation is an approach in which the process of the organization revolve around the creation, development, and protection of brand identity in an ongoing interaction with the target group with the aim of achieving lasting competitive advantages. Learning to see intangible values and symbols as resouces is the necessary step in brand orienation ... Case studies Nestlé, DuPont, Tetra Pak, Volvo ..

Brand Orientation – A Strategy for Survival

This was the first international article on brand orientation. Brand orientation is defined and related to other orientation. The article is also an early fore runner within the field of corporate branding. The relation between product brands and corporate brands is discussed with the Nicorette / Pharmacia case study

Core value-based corporate brand building

Abstract The aim of this article is to introduce a conceptual framework for a corporate brand building process based on core values. The nature, role, and function of core values are considered a central part of the value foundation of a corporate brand. In line with this reasoning, a distinction is also made between three groups of values: organisational values, core values, and added values. This article is based on research into the brand building efforts of more than 50 major companies over a period of 10 years. The Volvo case is used as an illustration and places special emphasis on internal processes. The role of the core values in the ten steps of the framework is explored and illustrated. The work is based on first-hand experiences, interviews, and unique internal strategy documents from Volvo. The discussion defines core values as overarching concepts that summarise the identity of the corporate brand and as guiding lights for the brand building process. Another conclusion drawn from the article is that core values are vital for continuity, consistency and credibility in a value creating process. The theoretical and practical implications of using core values as a unifying common thread are discussed in relation to the paradigm of brand orientation