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J Ö N K Ö P I N G I NTERNATIONAL B U S I N E S S S CHOOL JÖNKÖPING UNIVERSITY Brand Heritage Helping Strengthen the Brand Identity of Husqvarna Motorcycles Bachelor Thesis within Business Administration Author: Victor Gårdh Tutor: Erik Hunter Jönköping June 2009 Acknowledgements After three years of academic studies at JIBS with special focus in international manage- ment and marketing, I seized the opportunity to specialize my knowledge in brand man- agement as I embarked on writing my Bachelor Thesis within Business Administration. Husqvarna Motorcycles invited me to their company in Varese, Italy and let me study their brand identity redefinition process. I would like to thank my contact person Diego Arioli and the project leader Sara Radin as well as their colleagues at Husqvarna Motorcycles for sharing their time and this opportunity. I hope that my work will be of benefit to their project and that we remain in contact. I thank Erik Hunter for his honesty and for letting me complete what I started. Finally I wish to express my warmest gratitude to my nearest and dearest who supported me throughout the journey. ___________________________________ Victor Gårdh, Jönköping, June 2009 i Bachelor Thesis within Business Administration Title: Brand Heritage: Helping Strengthen the Brand Identity of Husqvarna Motorcycles Author: Victor Gårdh Tutor: Erik Hunter Date: June 2009 Key Words: brand heritage, brand community, retro brands, brand identity, brand image, Husqvarna Motorcycles, BMW Motorcycles, Morgan Motor Company, Triumph Motor- cycles Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to learn how brand heritage and retro brands can help HQM strengthen their brand identity. Background: Companies with a long history have a strategic choice to make re- garding the use of their heritage in marketing communications. Such companies also enjoy a history of interesting products, for which some may exist the possibility for a retro relaunch. Husqvarna is such a company, which made it interesting to find out how these two strategic tools can or cannot strengthen the studied company‘s brand identity. Method: Through an inductive and exploratory case study with interviews of the personnel at Husqvarna Motorcycles, Italy, three theoretical areas emerged to be researched, brand identity, brand heritage and retro brands. The latter two required the help of real life examples for better understanding. The analysis had a deductive approach where the studied theory was applied to the companies, and conclu- sions were drawn from the accumulated knowledge to help streng- then the brand identity of Husqvarna Motorcycles. Conclusions: HQM is a brand with heritage in the process of taking a strategic de- cision to use its heritage as a tool to strengthen the brand identity, hence on the way to become a heritage brand in the true meaning of the definition. As the oldest brand on the market, HQM can use its heritage to differentiate itself from the competition, creating uni- queness impossible to copy. A retro product can be a useful vehicle to carry the newly uncovered heritage to surface. With the help of theory and a real life example, a contender within the historical company product portfolio was recognized. Finally, the band identi- ty as stated by HQM was redefined according to the findings. ii Kandidatuppsats inom Företagsekonomi Titel: Företagsarv: Att förädla varumärkesidentiteten hos Husqvarna Motorcyklar. Författare: Victor Gårdh Handledare: Erik Hunter Datum: Juni 2009 Nyckelord: varumärkesarv, varumärkesgemenskap, retro-varumärken, varumärkesidenti- tet, varumärkesbild, Husqvarna Motorcyklar, BMW Motorcyklar, Morgan Motor Company. Sammanfattning: Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att lära känna hur varumärkesarv och retro-varumärken kan hjälpa Husqvarna Motorcyklar förstärka sin varumärkesidentitet. Bakgrund: Företag med en lång historia har ett strategiskt val att göra gällande användandet av sitt varumärkesarv i sin marknadsföring. Sådana fö- retag åtnjuter också en historia av intressanta produkter, för vilka några det kan finnas en möjlighet till återlansering i form av retro- produktion. Husqvarna Motorcyklar är ett sådant företag, för vilken anledning författaren av denna uppsats fann intresse i att undersöka hur dessa två strategiska verktyg kan eller inte kan förädla det aktuel- la företagets varumärkesidentitet. Metod: Genom en induktiv och undersökande fallstudie med intervjuer av personalen på Husqvarna Motorcyklar i Italien, trädde tre teoretiska områden fram att studeras djupare; varumärkesidentitet, varumär- kesarv och retro-varumärken. De två senare begreppen fordrade verkliga exempel för bättre förståelse. Analysen antog en deduktiv ansats där den studerade teorin applicerades på fallen och slutsatser kunde dras från den ackumulerade insikten för att uppfylla syftet att förstärka varumärkesidentiteten hos Husqvarna Motorcyklar. Slutsats: Husqvarna Motorcyklar är ett varumärke med arv som har påbörjat processen att ta ett strategiskt beslut om att använda sitt arv som ett verktyg till en starkare varumärkesidentitet och därmed är de på väg att bli ett arvsvarumärke i ordets rätta bemärkning. Som det äldsta varumärket i branschen, kan HQM använda sitt arv för att särskilja sig från konkurrensen, och därmed skapa en unikhet som är omöjlig att kopiera. En retro-produkt kan vara ett användbart medium för att bära det nyuppdagade arvet till ytan. Med hjälp av teorin och ett exempel från verkligheten identifierades en kandiderande motorcy- kel från bolagets historiska produktportfölj. Slutligen omdefiniera- des HQMs varumärkesidentitet enligt resultaten från studien. iii Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................ 1 1.1.1 Husqvarna Motorcycles in Sweden ........................................................ 1 1.1.2 Husqvarna Motorcycles in Italy ............................................................... 2 1.2 Problem Discussion and Research Questions ....................................... 2 1.3 Purpose .................................................................................................. 3 1.4 Delimitations ........................................................................................... 4 1.5 Contributions .......................................................................................... 4 1.6 Overview ................................................................................................ 5 2 Method ....................................................................................... 6 2.1 Research Approach ................................................................................ 6 2.2 Research Method ................................................................................... 6 2.3 Research Tools ...................................................................................... 7 2.3.1 The Case Study of Husqvarna Motorcycles ........................................... 7 2.3.2 Primary and Secondary Data ................................................................. 8 2.4 Research Procedure ............................................................................... 8 2.5 Research Analysis Method ................................................................... 12 2.6 Validity and Reliability ........................................................................... 13 3 Data Collection ........................................................................ 15 3.1 History of the Brand Identity and Marketing Campaigns....................... 15 3.1.1 Brand Management under Cagiva Ownership ...................................... 16 3.2 Current State of the Brand Identity ....................................................... 17 3.2.1 HQM Corporate Identity ........................................................................ 17 3.2.2 HQM Brand Identity: The Fried Egg Model ........................................... 17 3.2.3 The Name, Logotype, Company Profile and Colors ............................. 21 3.2.4 Nationalities and HQM Brand ............................................................... 21 3.3 Future of the Brand Identity .................................................................. 22 3.3.1 Description ........................................................................................... 22 3.3.2 Discussion ............................................................................................ 22 4 Theoretical Framework ........................................................... 25 4.1 Brand Theory ........................................................................................ 25 4.1.1 Brand Definitions .................................................................................. 25 4.1.2 Brand Identity ....................................................................................... 26 4.1.3 Brand Communities .............................................................................. 27 4.2 Heritage and the Brand ........................................................................ 27 4.2.1 Heritage Brands vs Brand Heritage ...................................................... 28 4.2.2 Defining a Brand’s Heritage Quotient ................................................... 28 4.2.3 Understanding and Using Heritage....................................................... 30 4.3 Retro Branding and Marketing .............................................................