Förändring av varumärken
This thesis aims to study brand change, which can be of interest since a brand during its lifetime can be expected to meet a lifecycle consisting of five phases; innovation, introduction, growth, maturity and recession. In order to avoid the recession phase and the sales decline that follows there is a need for a change of the brand.In order to study brand change, theoretical framework is compared to two real world cases that have gone through an active change.The conceptions of positioning, repositioning and revitalization are clarified. Positioning deals with how brands are located in customer?s minds as well as on the real market. Repositioning implies a change of the current position and is also often a move towards a new market segment. Revitalization deals with giving the brand new associations as well as changes in the product. Revitalization in its simplest form can be just a repetition of old messages and associations mixed, in some cases in combination with new ones. Ongoing revitalization can in the long run be seen as incremental repositioning since the brand is updated with small steps in order to follow the customer?s changes in preferences and after a while end up in a new position. Radical repositioning means that you during a short period of time change the foundation of a brand by creating new associations and an almost new product, all to accomplish a trustworthy message to the new target group.The two brands, Festis and Explorer Vodka, have both gone through changes but with different reasons. Festis did not have a large customer group and therefore aimed at finding a new attractive target group. Explorer Vodka already had a large circle of customer, which it could not afford to lose, and therefore just a small image change was the solution.Festis performed a radical repositioning and switched target group and thereby recaptured the market leader position in the stilldrinkmarket. Explorer Vodka has with small steps improved its image and at the same time stick to their target group by revitalization.