SWEDISHNESS SELLS: Brand Perception in Germany and Sweden

MANDEL MARKETING & STRATEGY CONSULTING Sveavägen 66, SE-11134 Stockholm, Sweden Tel/Fax +46 (0)8 222 022

Matthias Aßmann [email protected] www.mandel-consulting.com

SwediShneSS SellS. how the image of a Country influenCeS Brand PerCePtion and viCe verSa.

by Franziska EndtEr

MARKETING & STRATEGY CONSULTING

Abstract of theoretical and empiri-cal findings of a study by Mandel

Consulting, conducted by Franziska Endter, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.. The study investigated image transfers between the nation brand Sweden and Swedish consumer brands among Germans and Swedes.

No identity without heritage

Communicating Swedishness by means of branding seems more visible than ever. Brands “of Sweden”, blue and yellow brand colourings and images of blond Swedish tes-timonials and untouched Nordic landscapes are gladly used to attach that special some-thing to a brand. But is Swedishness a suc-cess factor? And what exactly is perceived as Swedish? To be able to explain how a brand can prof-it from the image of its country of origin, a description of what a brand is and offers is needed. A widely accepted definition of a brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol or de-sign, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers to differentiate them from those of competition“ (American Marketing Association).

Additional to its primary function of differ-entiation from competitors, it also expresses a certain attitude of the consumer that uses it and shows his belonging or differentiation to a social group. This symbolic function of a brand exceeds its functional use and is the base for creating a lively brand personality. With higher international standards of man-ufacture, quality differences diminish and it becomes crucial to a brand to stand out by adding extra symbolic value.The first step to achieve this is to define a brand identity by means of functional, emo-tional and social values. Using human charac-teristics the brand can then develop a special brand personality which facilitates the cus-

tomer’s identification with it. Just like the hu-man personality is rooted in a cultural or na-tional origin, the brand should connect to a cultural or geographical background to com-plete its personality and become authentic.In this context the country of origin (COO) of a product and its effect on consumer judg-ment and purchase behaviour has enjoyed increasing attention in the last decades. However, with opening trade boarders and multinational production, the place of pro-duction in terms of “made-in” became more and more blurry. Research showed that the origin of the brand is more salient to the customer than the country of production: it is much more visible in thebrand communication.

Graphic 1: Modes of conveying the brand origin.

As graphic 1 illustrates, the modes of con-veying brand origin are diverse: It can be communicated through direct reference in Slogans or brand names (“Volvo - from Swe-den with Love”, “Tiger of Sweden”), through indirect linguistic reference by using the na-tional language in the brand name (Haglöfs, Fjäll Räven, Hästens), through national sym-bols or colours within the logo (Ikea using a blue and yellow logo, Kosta Boda using the Swedish royal emblem) or through the dis-play of the lifestyle or stereotype people of the country (Lätta TV spot displaying blond girls and their affinity to nature or Ikea TV spot promoting relaxed family life).In contrast to the COO as place of produc-tion or assembly, a brand origin can basically relateto any origin that seems favourable, re-

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Swedishness sells. How the image of a Country influences Brand Perception and vice versa.

by Franziska Endter



Beyond product brands – also a nation can and must be branded

“As long as a public opinion matters – and it matters terribly because the public is the market – then it is (…) vital for countries to (…) ensure that the public opinion is as fair, as accurate and as positive as it possibly can be.” (Anholt 2006a)

In an increasingly competitive globalised market where dissolving national borders lead to the extension of the marketplace not only products fight for their USP, also nations do. The notion that a nation can be branded just as a product is enjoying grow-ing attention as the achievement of political, social and economical goals depends on how a nation is perceived by its target groups. In order to gain international awareness, trust and goodwill, methods need to be developed to manage a nation’s image and create sus-tainable and relevantrelations.

Nation Branding is the approach to use the tools of Marketing in order to position andcommunicate a nation as a brand. Although parallels exist, there are two crucial differ-ences between a nation and a product brand: The nation does not offer a physical product but a variety of associations and values. Be-cause of the complexity of a nation one can hardly speak of total brandability. A nation’s brand identity cannot simply be made up out of the blue. It is tied to the cultural values and the self image of the nation’s people. From this starting point the core values need to be defined and wrapped into a message that is multidimensional and fits to the demands of several stakeholders. This is what makes Nation Branding such a challenge, as Fan (2006) puts it: „branding requires simplicity and clarity, but the image of a nation is com-plex and vague“.

Beyond communication, the delivery of the promised product needs to be secured. That branding is an extremely powerful tool is undeniable. “But it will not work if other

gardless of physical places of value creation.

According to trademark law any product can be given a Swedish sounding brand name (think of Häagen Dasz being created in the US). This artificial referral to a brand’s COO is called “borrowed origin” and is a popular strategy. However, it is illegal to put a made-in-Swedenlabel on a product manufactured in China. Emphasising the country of design or country of assembly is another way to connect to a geographical resp. cultural heri-tage in case country of production has an unfavourable connotation.However, it should be kept in mind that the more authentic the brand identity and its background story is the more trustworthy and credible it is. Wrapping the real origin into a “true story” - may it be country of design, country of assembly, country of pro-duction or country of branding is adding val-ue to a product, increases identification and recognition. The brand’s image in the mind of the consumer, e.g. perceived functions, asso-ciations and their evaluation, becomes three dimensional.Brand awareness, brand recognition, brand associations and their evaluations altogeth-er constitute brand equity. Consequently, choosing to communicate an appropriate, relevant and favourable COO that the cus-tomer remembers increases brand equity. It has to be underlined that the brand image is a result of consumer’s association and can-not be fully steered by the brand manager. It evolves upon the interaction of individual experiences and associations with cultural values and norm.

Graphic 2: COO in the Brand Equity model. Source: Keller 1993

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components of the strategy (finance, R&D, production, distribution) fail to deliver what the customers want. Nation Branding is no exception” (Fan 2008, S. 11).

Defining Swedishness: Sweden’s Na-tion Branding Strategy

The brand communication tools of a nation are diverse and mostly relate to the local his-tory, culture or nature. The national flag, royal symbols, landscapes, iconic buildings, typical products as well as celebrities and historical personalities etc. pp. all represent a nation. Thinking of Sweden primary associations are the national colours blue and yellow, the roy-al crown, the archipelago scenery as well as woods sown with little red wooden houses,painted in the typical falun-red colour. It is mooses, ABBA, Björn Borg, Ingmar Bergman and the royal family. All these symbols and associations can be concerted in one com-munication strategy by creating an umbrella brand that attaches meaning to them in a larger context. How can Sweden’s umbrella brand be defined?

The governmental initiative “Swedish council for the promotion of Sweden abroad” (NSU)involves the Swedish Institute, the Swedish export council, Invest in Sweden Agency, Swedish tourist board Visit Sweden and Swe-den.se. It aims at concerting the visual and verbal communication in order to create a consistent, authentic and modern image of Sweden. The core values to be communi-cated are innovation, openness, care and au-thenticity. These cumulate in the brand core “progressivity”:

„Our degree of progressivity is what distin-guishes Sweden from other countries and thus whatmakes us interesting to others. It is a summary of what we as a group believe to a high degree andwhat we thus offer the world. It is the basis for our work to cre-ate a new, contemporary image of Sweden. (…) Sweden can thus best be described as a country focused on development based on people’s needs and environmental condi-tions – a progressive country that strives for balanced development. On a comprehensive level, progressivity means having strong faith in the future and a desire to gradually make the world a slightly better place. It means having faith in the creative force of peopleand the ability to take responsibility for one’s life. Working together and being open to the rest of the world and to the future in or-der to take advantage of its opportunities.“ (Swedish Institute 2008b)

This message needs to be supported by as many means as possible. Stories need to betold, pictures need to be shown that clearly represent these values. The media channelshould be carefully selected in order to cor-respond to the brand message: Primary me-diaused by the NSU are interactive online media and social media as well as personal contacts in order to ensure a direct and indi-vidualised communication and use the word-ofmouth effect.

According to the message and the media involved the pre-defined audience of brand Sweden shares its values and consists of pro-gressive, modern and creative people who live up to innovation, individuality and toler-ance.

But there isn’t only one target group: The na-tion brand needs to be relevant within six dimensions that differ in their relevance to each audience: governance, tourism, culture, immigration and investment, people and ex-port.

Export is the most relevant dimension to consumers as they base their purchase deci

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sion not only on the expected functional use of a product originated in a certain coun-try but also on it’s symbolic values. Buying a Swedish brand is a statement towards the governance of Sweden, the people, the cul-ture etc. Vice versa, the framework that a na-tion delivers to the creation of products in-fluences expectations towards it. Therefore the perception of the nation as a whole re-flects in purchase behaviour towards Swed-ish brands.

The Status Quo of Sweden’s Nation Brand

The nation branding efforts of NSU have been successful: Sweden is a strong brand, especially within Europe. Since the beginning of the measurement of Nation Brand images in the Anholt NBI1 2005, Sweden found itself among the top 10 countries in the world, al-though its position slightly dropped in 2009. There are two reasons for this:

1. The panel of the NBI changed in 2009, 2. Sweden used to be at the forefront of strate-gic Nation Branding and now, other Nations catch up and grow stronger. Unquestionable is, that the values of Swedish society, em-phasising openness to new ways of thinking and ethic behaviour as well as development based on people’s needs and environmental conditions remain important. The country is still admired for its fair governance. This builds the framework for a strong nation in all regards.

Especially the focus on social and education-al equality results in high living standards that give way to higher education. Sweden scores high in the Global Talent Index, reflecting a high number of highly skilled workers, es-pecially graduates. These brain workers are the fundament for innovation and economic growth.

Table 1 displays a number of global rankings. Sweden ranks high in all categories. For com-parison, Germany’s position is given as well.

Table 1: Sweden’s position in global country rankings.

In the brand hexagon the image is visualised per dimension. Accordingly, Sweden showsstrengths in governance, economy and ex-port, attraction of immigration and talents as well as its people, whereas weaker dimen-sions are tourism and culture. It also shows the evaluation of the country that is most positive towards Sweden, Germany, and least positive, India.

Graphic 3: Sweden’s brand hexagon according to NBI 2008. Source: SI 2009

It is argued, that weaknesses of the Swed-ish image result from a lack of knowledge. People outside Europe are not really aware what Sweden is and what it has to offer.

“We can see in the research we do, for ex. from the NBI, that the perception of Swe-den around the world is fairly similar, but it’s stronger or weaker. For example in Ger-many, Sweden’s image is very positive and strong, Sweden is well known. While in India Sweden is not wellknown at all. But it’s the same things that we are strong in. You can generally say that in a country like Germany, knowledge isn’t a problem. If you go to India, people don’t even know that

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The Nation Brand Index is the world’s largest measurement of nation brand imag-es. It was developed by Simon Anholt and measures since 2005 the strengths of 50 countries on the six dimensions of the na-tion brand hexagon. In 2009 the panel consisted of 20.000 people in 20 coun-tries who responded to questions regard-ing cultural, touris-tical, political, eco-nomical and human aspects.



Germans homogenously have a positive im-age of the country, its people and their pro-duction and marketing skills. The more expe-rience they have with the country, may it be through media or personal contact, the more positive is their image. Although it cannot be said which is cause and which effect, Norén explains that travel to Sweden increases in-terest in products: “People that have been to Sweden have a much more positive image of Sweden. That opens up an interest in the products as well”. It is therefore vital to mo-tivate people to travel to get involved with the country.

Sweden’s product related Country-Image

Sweden’s economic profile is very strong. In the NBI 2009 Sweden ranks 8 among the big industrial powers Japan, USA and Germany. Germany has besides the USA the most positive Image of the Swedish economy and ranks it 6 out of 50. This is a very important outcome as Sweden’s largest export partner is Germany, making 10.4 % of the total ex-port volume (Source: Swedish Export Coun-cil).

Due to its relatively small domestic market it relies heavily on export, first and fore-most of semi-manufactured goods, services & technology but also to a large extend of consumer products, such as foods, furniture and automobiles. According to the Mandel study, furniture & decoration, fashion, out-door and sports equipment and kids prod-ucts are those industries that are most asso-ciated with Sweden. Cosmetics, sweets and jewellery are not perceived as typical Swed-ish products.

It is notable that these associations refer to brands rather than products, due to the fact that Sweden as a country-of-manufacture has lost relevance. Production is outsourced to mostly low-wage countries in the Far East, Baltics or Eastern Europe. The label made-in-Sweden has practically disappeared. It is argued that the production in low-wage

Sweden exists and if they mix it up with Switzerland. In those countries we have to flag: we are here, we are interesting.” (Norén 2009)

Another explanation for the positive Image in Europe and the weak image in Asia and Africa is the cultural distance: Sweden is a highly individualistic, feminine culture with alow hierarchy level. In this regard it is close to the German culture which provides a certain base of mutual understanding. In Asia where collectivistic values, a masculine culture as well as high hierarchies are predominant, the appreciation and understanding of Swedish values might be low.

Especially in Germany the interest in Swed-ish culture and governance as well as in trav-el to Sweden is rather high and results in wide knowledge about the country. Results of the Mandel study show that Germans use the following media frequently as primary sources on which they build their image of Sweden on: Kids fiction, TV-documentaries about Sweden and travel. In documentaries and news, the Swedish Model and the edu-cational system is often referred to as a role model for Germany. Reports from Sweden portray its untouched nature and space for developing people and thoughts. Fiction for-mats like „Inga Lindström“, “Michel aus Lön-neberga” or „die Kinder von Bullerby” show a very idyllic, peaceful and perfect image of the country. On the other hand they give a rather oldfashioned and traditional impres-sion.

The high density of Swedish crimes in the literary bestseller list and on TV conveys an image of a dark and cold country with cruel murderers everywhere. But people seem ei-ther to be aware that this is purely fictional or to ignore the reference to Sweden, be-cause it does not affect the image of Swe-den in a negative way. Instead the country is perceived as an extremely safe and just country.

Findings of the Mandel study suggest that

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countries has no major effect on the per-ception of the product, as long as the brand suggests a Swedish origin:

“For example Volvo: it is owned by Ford, some parts are built in Finland, Austria, Mexico. As long as it is perceived as a Swedish product, as long as it is perceived as having the qual-ity and aspects like safety, that you would expect from a Swedish product than it isn’t a big problem to produce in a country with an unfavourable image. I have a BMW and it’s been built in America and I would never buy an American car.” (Norén 2009)

Recalling statements from Swedish brand managers and a number of quantitative stud-ies2 the core values communicated by the NSU reflect in product attributes that are perceived as typically Swedish: quality, reli-ability, safety and innovation. Innovation is specified by Norén as innovation for safe-ty and care for people. These associations proved to be fairly similar among Germans and Swedes. Swedes evaluate innovation more and eco-friendliness less preferable than Germans. In the eyes of German con-sumers, brands perceived as Swedish are highly likeable. Both consider modern design as something closely connected to Swedishbrands. In this regard, Sweden benefits from the spill-over of the perception of Denmark and Finland as great design (think Alvar Aalto or Arne Jacobsen), as many German consum-ers do not clearly differentiate between the Scandinavian countries. Vice versa, Sweden has to be aware that damages in the image of another Scandinavian country affects its image, as happened during the Danish cari-cature fight 2006.

Furthermore, environmental friendliness is clearly something that is expected from a Swedish brand. Based on the progressive Swedish climate, energy and environment policies that seek to reduce emissions and promote eco-friendly business practices, Sweden’s Image as an industrial nation is replaced by the image as an environmental nation.

There are hardly any product categories or attributes that Sweden is bad at. This clear and positively perceived dimension of Swe-den as a Nation Brand is an important ad-vantage for Swedish companies. Especially unknown brands that seek to enter new markets are dependant on the trust that is given to Sweden. Vice versa, the perception of the country’s economy is vital for the country’s total image.

Country-of-Origin-Effect – is the coun-try image transferred to Swedish brands?

The export dimension is part of the product-related country image or country-of-origin image as it is described in scientific litera-ture. It is the outcome of the perception of the country as a whole including political, ed-ucational and social conditions, economic in-frastructure and the production and market-ing capabilities of the people based on media exposure and personal experience with the country, its people, its brands and products. All these experiences are saved within the associative network in the consumers mind and can activate each other when exposed to one related cue.

The stimulus can be the Swedish flag on a product package, which then activates the country image. Such a cue initiates the in-ference of the country image to intrinsic or product-related attributes of the product, such as quality, durability, safety and work-manship. To sum it up, the Country-of-Origin effect means the image transfer from the country image to attributes of the product associated with the country by means of branding.

The consumer uses COO as a cognitive shortcut especially when cognitive capa-bilities and/or the motivation to investigate intrinsic attributes are low. This is the case in situations where quick decisions are re-quired or when the product is a low-involve-ment product. Empirical findings imply that in the condition of low familiarity with the

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the history of being a company from 1851, with over 150 years of tradition of building hand-crafted beds. In this particular case focussing on something more old-fashioned, more retro-style is enhancing the history of this very old company.” (Haas 2009)

Although positioned in a different segment, the bed manufacturer Hästens risks get-ting associated with Ikea by emphasising its Swedish heritage. Ikea as a provider of mod-ern furniture with a short life time opposes the durability and craftsmanship of Hästens, but has to a large extend built the product-related image of Sweden, especially in the fur-niture category. Hästens differentiates itself not only through price, but also by using the emblem of the royal purveyor and imagery of Swedish open and untouched nature, the origin of the materials for the Hästens bed, as well as the skills of the Swedish people manufacturing the bed. Ikea instead refers to affordable, creative design, family values and equality, also Swedish values but different ones. The complexity of a nation’s image is of advantage when it comes to choosing the most favourable aspects of it for the product brand.

Swedes are on the one hand considered shy and quiet, but also free-spirited and selfcon-fident. The latter is what the Swedish under-wear brand Björn Borg builds upon. They refer unignorably to their heritage by using a living Swedish sports legends name. Their mission is to spread the Swedish spirit all over the world: Being playful, colourful and daring. The brand communication conveying creativity and innovation pre-dominates ste-reotypes associated with Swedes. The brand clearly has the power to change a country’s image. Brands are ambassadors of their country and transport its values. They often are the first connection to it. “A lot of Ger-mans have never been to Sweden, but they know Ikea and for them Ikea and Sweden are synonym” (Helfrich 2009).

Considering Swedens largest brands Sony Ericsson, Ikea, H&M, Volvo and Saab: As am

product, COO is relied on heavily adding ad-ditional information. Consequently the im-age transfer should be stronger. This relation could not be found for Swedish brands in the Mandel study, e.g. there is no stronger as-sociation with Sweden’s image for unfamiliar products than for familiar products.

The central finding of the Mandel study is that the pure information that a brand is origi-nated in Sweden leads to a positive product evaluation. This COO-Effect could be shown across all product categories. Taking into ac-count that Sweden’s product-related country image hardly shows any weaknesses within the European markets, the Swedish heritage has positive effects on the product percep-tion. It should therefore be reinforced, es-pecially if brand managers want their brand to be perceived as exclusive, innovative, high quality, safe and caring for people or/and eco-friendly and sustainable.

One might argue that the image of Sweden as a traditional, slightly old-fashioned country contradicts its image regarding technology and innovation and could therefore irritate the consumer. But there are brands that ex-emplify that these perspectives can co-exist, just as a person’s history can be the basis for his or her progressive development.

“Sweden also as a country has an image abroad that is very traditional and has those values like pure nature, lots of space for people to live. On the other hand Sweden is perceived as a very technical and IT coun-try and Hästens is also now changing the position on the market. We launched it as a traditional brand with quality and 25 years warranty; we have communicated very old values like the nature of materials, being the purveyor of the royal household. But if you stress only functionality or technical aspects, it is possible to copy them. But if you try to stressother values, if you withhold a certain per-sonality - creating a lifestyle around the brand is something that is unique, it gets in-tangible. Hästens would like to enhance

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bassadors for their country they have shaped the product-related image of Sweden enor-mously. They have built trust in Swedish brands. Swedishness attaches not only sym-pathy and trust to the brand Ikea, or quality and safety to Volvo, but also to other brands that are associated with Ikea or its COO Sweden. In table 2 those brands are shown that came to mind when asked for a Swedish brand from the respective category in the Mandel study (unaided recall).

Table 2: Most recalled Swedish brands per category.

Most Swedish brands are known in the seg-ments outdoor & sports, sweets and fash-ion. The segments that Swedish and German consumers feel most familiar with are furni-ture, fashion and sweets. It seems likely that the familiarity with Swedish furniture and fashion brands is due to the ubiquity of Ikea and H&M. An explanation for the familiarity of sweets might be that these products are frequently bought and many sweets refer to their Swedish origin (Marabou, Almondy, Gille). They might do this because

1. food products must be marked with their country-of-production and

2. Swedish brands react to the fact that Swedes prefer local foods as they are cul-turebound products adapted to taste pat-terns, cultural tradition etc. of the Swedes.

The brands then use the same local commu-nication abroad because they are too little don’t have the budget to adapt it locally. In future they might not adapt it because Swe-den is just the right association that enhanc-es their brand value.

Is there one optimal COO-strategy?

Roth & Romeo have developed a model that helps choosing the right COO communicat-

Source: Mandel Study.

ion strategy as shown in graphic 3. This sug-gests that the country-image can be favour-able or unfavourable for a brand depending on the product category and relevant prod-uct attributes. A product’s or brand’s COO should not be communicated if the country is perceived as weak regarding the dimen-sions that are relevant to the product. This configuration is an unfavourable product-country-match (quadrant II). If no associa-tion between the productrelated country image and the attributes relevant to the product exists, we face a mismatch. This mismatch is favourable if the country has weaknesses regarding relevant product di-mensions (quadrant IV). Not to refer to the COO in brand communication is then the appropriate strategy. As there are hardly any weaknesses in the country image, no exam-ples can be given for Swedish unfavourable

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However, to only rely on the Swedish heri-tage as selling proposition is not recom-mendable. COO can solely reinforce the perception of product-related attributes such as innovation, design and quality. If the suggested expectations are not fulfilled by the product, authenticity and credibility get lost. A negative back-transfer on the country image and other Swedish brands might hap-pen. That is why Strid, author of the book „The Viking Manifesto – The Scandinavian Business Approach“, recommends a strong, differentiating primary message that works independently from national origin.

„National Origin is a weak argument and not a very good way to differentiate a brand on the international market. No brand or company can ever claim a national identity as its own. Nationality is neither specific nor unique enough. On the other hand nation-ality can be a good way to reinforce the primary brand message. IKEA is a perfect example. The brand is built on design, price and a sort of innovative populism – traits that are very much part of the Swedish character.” (Strid 2009)

The German attitude vs. the Swedes attitude towards Swedish brands

Results show that Germans that have a high-er contact frequency to Sweden or Swedish media are more aware of Swedish brands and have a more favourable image of Swed-ish brands than those with less frequent contact. This latter relation might be medi-ated by personal values: A consumer shares Swedish values and consequently has an in-terest in Swedish subjects. At the same time he has a positive attitude towards brands perceived as Swedish as they are believed to carry Swedish values.

This illustrates the importance of consider-ing the specific market and consumer cul-ture in order to be able to predict positive or negative COO-effects. This intercultural perspective takes into account that a brand has the expressive function of reflecting cul

product-country-matches and favourable product-countrymismatches.

An unfavourable mismatch (quadrant III) oc-curs, if the COO is strong in relevant prod-uct dimensions, but the consumer does not associate the product to its COO. This leads to the recommendation to put stronger em-phasis on the COO in brand communication. This applies to Swedish cosmetic, sweets and jewellery brands. Consumers prefer a product from Sweden, if they perceive rel-evant product attributes to be strengths of its COO (quadrant I). This is the ideal con-figuration and called a favourable product-country-match. In this case there is a synergy situation for country and product brand.

The brand that is a perfect example of a fa-vourable product country match is Ikea, the most important brand ambassador of Swe-den:

“The values of brand Sweden and brand Ikea – this is a very good match. It is about design, it is cutting edge and progressive but it is also design for the people. It is inno-vation with the flat packs, Do it yourself is something specific Swedish. Ikea has done so much to build brand Sweden and Swed-ish values as well. I think they are a very good ambassador. (Norén 2009)

Graphic 4: Product-country matches. Source: Roth & Romeo 1992

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favourable product-country-mismatch

none?

unfavourable product-country-mismatch

CosmeticsSweetsJewellery

irrelevant

unfavourable product-country-match none?

favourable product-country-match

Furniture & Decoration Outdoor & Sports Fashion Kids’ products

relevant

Product attribute dimensions

negativepositive

Country image dimensions

favourable product-country-mismatch

none?

unfavourable product-country-mismatch

CosmeticsSweetsJewellery

irrelevant

unfavourable product-country-match none?

favourable product-country-match

Furniture & Decoration Outdoor & Sports Fashion Kids’ products

relevant

Product attribute dimensions

negativepositive

Country image dimensions



tural and personal values. Therefore socially visible products might be particularly sen-sitive to the COO-effect. In a very collec-tivistic culture such as the Chinese, people prefer domestic products and refuse foreign products to demonstrate conformity with their In-Group and support the local econo-my. This phenomenon that is rooted in obe-dience to strong social norm is called con-sumer ethnocentrism and has widely been examined in larger countries, such as China, Japan and USA. The Mandel study analysed the level of consumer ethnocentrism in relation to Swedish brands in Sweden and Germany. Results indicate that the image of Swedish brands was not more favourable among Swedish consumers than among Ger-man consumers. The degree of consumer ethnocentrism is in both countries rather low. Possibly, this is possibly because of the extensive exchange with other cultures and their products, as Norén desribes:

“I don’t think the argument that buying Swedish products supports the Swedish economy is very strong in Sweden. In the USA for example you can see it very much more, probably in France, too. That is also because Sweden has been a very export oriented country, we have been relying on export for a long time. We have never been able to have this protective market. We have sold our products and imported others.” (Norén 2009)

Although an ethnocentristic attitude of the Swedes could not be explicitly proved, they still might prefer Swedish products in the actual purchase situation. It is obvious that Swedish products are more easily accessible to Swedes than to Germans. Norén com-ments on ethnocentrism among Swedish consumers as follows:

“Those who buy a Volvo do it because it’s really a safe bet, high resale value and it’s made for Swedish roads. It has been the most sold car in Sweden for many years. And then you have the other side where people would never buy a Volvo because it’s so dull,

so average. We feel Swedish products are a little boring and average”.

It seems as if the foreign owners of large Swedish brands like Saab, Volvo, Absolut Vodka are very careful to still position their brands as Swedish. Big companies from oth-er countries seem to see the value of be-ing Swedish more clearly than the Swedish companies do. For the Swedes it is nothing exotic or special about being Swedish, as Norén explains. This lack of exoticness might be one of the reasons why brands originated in Sweden choose to communicate a “bor-rowed origin”. Gant or Lexington appear to be American in order to differentiate from Swedish “lagom” (engl.: mediocrity).

H&M and Ericsson use a global brand strat-egy arguing that it is easier to act on a global market if there is no cultural rooting visible to the consumer that might evoke consumer ethnocentrism or consumer animosity. Addi-tionally, when H&M launched, there seemed to be no benefit in emphasising the Swedish heritage. Sweden was not known as a fashion country at all. This has significantly changed.

How Swedish brands build their home country’s image

It is important to stress that the image trans-fer is bidirectional. For smaller, less known brands the transfer from the country image to the brand image might be larger whereas larger brands have a considerable influence on the country image. Olle Wästberg, Head of the Swedish Institute illustrates that „Ikea has done more fort he Swedenimage abroad than all governmental efforts together“. If H&M had clearly communicated its Swedish heritage, it would have helped Sweden to be perceived as a fashion country.

Every brand that communicates Sweden as COO builds the brand Sweden, intentionallyor non-intentionally, for good or for bad. Consequently, the brand management of Sweden and the brand management of indi

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This approach should be extended to com-munications just as the Scandinavian Out-door Group (SOG) exemplifies: This alliance of Scandinavian outdoor and sports brands aims at generating synergies in distribution and communication. Not only the image of each member brand as eco-friendly and high quality is to be strengthened, but also the im-age of entire Scandinavia as an export region for sustainable high-quality outdoor equip-ment.

It is not about large scale sales of a stan-dardised product. It is about an additional symbolic value that goes beyond the con-sumer’s need for low prices. In Noréns eyes this is what constitutes the power of small brands.

“We always talk about the big brands, Ikea, Volvo, Absolut and Ericsson. They certainly are great ambassadors. But we shouldn’t forget the small brands. Of course they don’t reach as many people but f. ex. fashion companies in Tokyo buy Nudie Jeans. And a lot of people will find out where Nudie comes from and they will tell their friends. There are a lot of small brands that make up the image of Sweden. The customers of small brands that cater to a niche market are more aware and interested in finding out more about the brand. I think the exclusivity today is not anymore about buying something expensive but it is about finding it. Making an aware choice. It is about story and genuineness, to have something that is different from what everyone else has.” (Norén 2009)

…or is the brand’s origin overrated?

Genuineness and “making an aware choice” is what matters increasingly to the consum-er and what makes him pay more attention to the brand’s origin. But can a brand alone respond to this?

The fact, that social responsibility and sus-tainable production is crucial for buying with a good conscience may give reason to a sig-nificant turn in consumer choice behaviour.

vidual consumer brands, as small as they might be, need to interlock in order to cre-ate synergies and build and maintain a strong and consistent image in the mind of their stakeholders. Strid sums the interaction of Swedish brands and the Nation brand Swe-den up:

„Swedish Brands have put the country on the map, but not proportionally to their level of success on the international market. Fifty years ago, few people could find the country on a map, today Sweden is a concept. Yet, considering the unprecedented success of hundreds of companies, Sweden could and should be much better known. The Sweden country brand has not lived up to its poten-tial for two reasons: One, the Swedes are culturally low-key and reluctant to talk about themselves and two, Swedish companies are very often more interested in being per-ceived as international than Swedish. Much more could be done on a number of levels in both the private and public sector” (Strid 2009)

Again, Ikea has done pioneer work: In Ger-many, which is next to Sweden Ikeas largest market, a strategic cooperation of Ikea with Visit Sweden and Swedish ambassador’s takes place to increase awareness and knowledge about Sweden. Another popular example of how brands build the brand Sweden are Swedish fashion labels: Sweden has in the last decade grown to a nation of exclusive fashion, because of the joint force of small brands that referred to their Swedish ori-gin (Filippa K, Whyred, Cheap Monday, Tiger of Sweden etc.). They presented a product that reinforced the perception of Sweden as a country with high design affinity. Fur-thermore to appear as one face to the trade customer and raise awareness for Swed-ish fashion, the brands networked instead of combating each other and facilitated the development of international distribution. The Swedish Institute supported them by promoting Swedish fashion in international fashions and art shows.

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The paradigm that the brand origin is more important to the consumer than the manu-facturing country is about to shift. Paying at-tention to this development, Swedish compa-nies return to local production, not only for strengthening the domestic economy and se-curing higher standards for their employees. But also because buying “made in Sweden” gives the consumer the confidence to make an ethical choice. In delivering this promise and not only thinking short term profit ori-ented, Swedish companies like Klättermusen, Hästens or Light my fire that execute all pro-cesses of the value chain in Sweden seem to be far ahead to other countries’ brands.

A consumer that shares the values that Swed-ish brands promise cannot be satisfied un-less the product keeps its promise. An aware consumer will feel cognitive dissonance – an imbalanced state of mind that causes tension within the consumer – if intrinsic product at-tributes and the brand image do not match. Daring a look into the future, the growing sustainability movement gives the nation brand Sweden and Swedish brands a pole position. The image of the country as well as its “hard” location factors, its economic and social infrastructure, natural and human resources create a great basis to accomplish the request for sustainable products:

“As an advanced economy with a humanist touch, Sweden, as well as its top competitors Canada and Switzerland, is seen globally as a model of how to successfully balance growth with the need to protect the rights and freedoms of citizens and the commit-ment to protect the environment. Maintain-ing this exemplary brand attribute is para-mount to the continued success of Sweden’s brand. With environmental problems grow-ing in importance on the international con-sciousness, the value of Sweden’s strength will likely continue to grow. Sweden needs to cherish these three aspects of its reputtion: environmentalism, technology and education. It needs to keep them closely monitored, and ensure that it continues to deserve them: you never own a reputation, you only rent it,

and that rent needs to be paid on a regular basis.” (Latshaw 2008)

About the author

Franziska Endter studied Intercultural Business Communication with Focus on Scandinavia, Media Studies and Psy-chology at Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, Germany. During her studies she worked with International Brand

Management, Advertising and Trend Re-search in Jena, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Stockholm.She joined Mandel in 2009 to work on her final thesis on the above subject and to ex-change knowl-edge between business and science.

The study was conducted in coorperation with Mandel Consulting. MANDEL fo-cuses on Marketing and Media Services & Consulting for Brands, Products and Ideas in all Europe & Scandinavia.Mandel is a team of dedicated Marketing Consultants, professional Media workers and thorough Strategists. We love Brands and the Communication of their Message.

If you are interested in more findings of the study, you can purchase the ex-tended version including interviews or product category specific analysis. Please contact:

Franziska [email protected]

Matthias Aß[email protected]

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Systematics of the Study

The study involved a quantitative survey among Swedish and German consumers. The sample has been generated through interna-tional networking platforms such as Xing or Facebook. This suggests that the sample is highly culturally open, so that results cannot be generalised to the entire population.

The questionnaire contained standardised questions to measure the following for nine product categories:

purchase frequency of Swedish vs. other • brandsthe personal importance of the brand’s • COOthe brand image among the product-related • attributes quality, design, technology, value for money, eco-friendliness, innovation and the non-product related attributes sympa-thy, prestige, servicethe readiness to pay more for a Swedish • brand than for one with unknown COOthe image of Sweden in general and its • product related country image in terms of marketing & production skills of the Swed-ish peopleConsumer ethnocentrism• for the German sample: Frequency of con-• tact to Sweden / information sourcessociodemographics: age, gender, nationality, • income

To gain further insight into qualitative data, expert interviews have been conducted with:

Joakim Norén, Brand Development Swe-• den, Swedish InstituteRocky af Ekenstam Brennicke, PR Björn • BorgMarcus Haas, Marketing Hästens• Jens Helfrich, Internal Media Solutions Ikea • GermanySteve Strid, Author of „The Viking Manifes-• to – The Scandinavian Business Approach“

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