The tendency of using nordic branding as a strategic tool has been highly adopted by several brands. Many companies use the label “new nordic” in their branding, even brands who do not produce their products in the Nordic. But how come this brand tendency experience such an enormous usage? And what is nordic branding?
This thesis has sought to answer these questions as well as to outline an example of nordic branding within the Danish landscape.
Nordic branding is built on the foundation of Norse mythology, myths and the nordic values. The term is rather complex, and so is its definition. Therefore, the meaning of nordic branding is both encapsulates the branding of the whole North, but also how this can be used as a strategic marketing tool.
This thesis has investigated the newly shaped concept in marketing, nordic branding. The thesis takes its point of departure in the Danish company, Kähler Design. With the intend to research the existence of Kähler Designs usage of nordicness within their branding. In order to analyze the usage of nordicness within Kähler Design’s branding, two interviews were conducted with the head of marketing and E-commerce, and the PR and Marketing specialist of Kähler Design. The interviews were conducted in order to investigate the brand identity of Kähler Design. By analyzing the brand identity, we found several parallels to the usage of nordicness in Kähler Designs way of branding themselves through imaginative stories drawn from the very beginning of Kähler Design back in 1839.
Furthermore, the thesis has aimed to explore if the consumers perceive Kähler Design in a nordic way. In order to observe the perception of the consumers a rather large data collection was conducted throughout the social media website, Instagram. Here, the data was collected through consumers tagged pictures on Kähler Designs officiel Instagram by the use of the hashtag, #Kählerdesign. Writing this thesis, we discovered that the consumers perceive Kähler Design as a nordic brand without them knowing it themselves.
Lastly, the thesis concludes that the usage of nordic branding should be a permanent branding method for Kähler Design. Since, there exist several parallels drawn to the nordic branding technique, which provides a competitive advantage. This was substantiated due to the fact that half of the data collected by consumers showed that Kähler Design was perceived as a nordic brand.