Rebranding a century-old brand

Abstract: As customer segments age and technologies advance, many brands realize that they have to do something in order to survive and appeal to younger consumers. Oscar Jacobson, a brand that has existed since 1903, had experienced decreasing sales due to an aging customer base. A rebranding process was started when ownership of the company was shifted. The rebranding resulted in a renewed assortment, new concepts, ways of working with brand communication and adopting new communication tools. The purpose of this study is to examine what reasons underlie a company’s decision to rebrand, what strategies they use to do so, as well as further understanding how a new image from rebranding is communicated to customers. Research and analysis has been conducted on how internal values can be communicated externally, and how a brand can rebrand whilst keeping their heritage. The study focused on the case study company, in our case Oscar Jacobson, where facts and opinions regarding the rebranding process have been collected from the company’s management. To conclude the study, we found that when rebranding, brand elements that are weighing down the company need to be eliminated and focus should be shifted to modernizing these elements. For Oscar Jacobson, internal brand elements such as assortment needed to be evolved and changes need to mediate to the market through cohesiveness in all communication channels in order to transmit the right message to the customers. The design of the study is a case study, empirical material has been collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews with representatives within management positions of Oscar Jacobson. In the theoretical framework, different concepts regarding the subjects of branding, rebranding and brand communication have been discussed, in order to help us understand the concepts and to present and analyze the findings as accurate as possible.