At least one global Swedish brand has a brand reputation greater outside its home country than within.
As the San Francisco Chronicle reports, Swedes are often surprised at the brand reputation of Ikea in the United States:
In the Bay Area, home furnishings megastore Ikea is a retailing phenomenon, with long lines of customers and a popular buzz as a place for inexpensive but fashionable merchandise.
It’s another story in its home country of Sweden….
“In Sweden, you don’t brag about buying things at Ikea,” said Marie Soderqvist, chief executive of United Minds, a Swedish consulting company. “A home only furnished with Ikea products is seen as impersonal, a bit of a bad job.”
…Swedes in the United States are sometimes surprised by the Ikea mystique.
“In Sweden, going to Ikea is like going to the supermarket to buy paper towels in bulk. But in (America), Ikea is a wonder of super design,” said Barbro Osher, the Swedish consul general in San Francisco….
For its part, Ikea acknowledges the differences in perception.
“In Sweden, we are so present and visible that we are seen as an everyday thing…,” said Clive Cashman, Ikea’s chief U.S. spokesman.
Ikea…is a global brand…180 stores in 23 countries, with .5 billion in annual sales. Ikea has 22 locations in the United States…and 14 in Sweden…. In the Ikea world, U. S. sales are second, beaten only by German sales. Sweden comes in fifth.
In the United States, Ikea makes the most of its image as an exotic Swedish store. It keeps the Swedish names on all its products and is famous for the Swedish meatballs served in its in-store restaurants.
“They have much more of a Swedish image here than in Sweden,” said Stig Hagstrom, a Swede who lives in the Bay Area.
Keying-in on and understanding cultural differences is key to the success of any global brand. Understanding the emotional motivators behind consumer behavior is critical to an understanding of cultural difference and brand perception, in framing the competitive context by which a brand moves through the world, from culture to culture, through market to market.
IKEA understands this context. It is an understanding that creates a global brand, rather than one viewed narrowly as Sweden’s low-end home furnishings merchandiser.
Ikeas brand reputation - To learn more about this author, visit Steve Cranford's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 |
Related Articles |
|
 Mines a BMW thats me
|
| |
When it comes to cars and other products and services most of us have a pretty good idea of what particular brands stand for, and an accurate mental map of where they stand in relation to other brands. We don't hav...
|
|
What does brand differentiation really mean?
|
| |
Brand differentiation and Product differentiation are often mixed up. In what way they are different is covered in the article.
|
|
Build Your Reputation
|
| |
 I’ve been building the Trump brand for several decades. But from time to time, landmarks do come along.
|
|
Branding What Is It
|
| |
This article is the first in a series on brand management.
|
|
Ikeas brand reputation
|
| |
At least one global Swedish brand has a brand reputation greater outside its home country than within.
|
 |
Related Businesses - Evan Elite Authors |
|
Kim Castle
With nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation.
BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them?
If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
|
The Evan Elite Authors program is currently in beta phase. For details please contact us.
|
|
|
Steve Cranford
(Visit Steve's Website)
Whisper is founded on one big idea: "The
key to any effective marketing, branding
or advertising effort is to change and
take ownership of the conversation." To
own the conversation in your industry, we
provide your organization with a crystal
clear understanding of consumer
relationships, high-end strategic advice
and workable solutions to build and fully
leverage your brand.
|
|
|
|
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif){kind=small}
