Description

Uriel Alvarado Cancino
Frederik Güldner Kolenda
Advisor: Richard Jones
Secondary Advisor: Larry Light
November 2007

This thesis centers on the management of brands. Particularly the phenomenon is examined through studies from the financial service industry and the case study of Saxo Bank A/S.

The findings reveal that in order to satisfy today’s demanding customers, offerings should be thought of as experiences, and created through internal processes with the aim of being innovative. The challenges are to successfully develop, align and coordinate the internal processes, while at the same time incorporating consumer insights in terms of wants and needs. In order to differentiate the brand, innovation needs to be founded not only on the tangible features and functions of the experience but just as much on the intangibles, such as the emotional rewards, the values and the personality of the brand.
At the outset, the study seeks to explore the trends, motives and drivers of the brand management within the financial service industry. Consequently this thesis materialized from an initial explorative research supported by theory and the case study of Saxo Bank.

Brand management in the financial service industry is today essential to survive in an increasing competitive marketplace. Accurate consumer insights along with effective internal management of resources are vital elements and the underlying premises of this thesis in order to reap the benefits of a differentiated and relevant strong brand.

Consequently, the problem area of research in this study centers on the implications of the changes in today’s economy, to the management of brands in the Financial Service Industry. Thus, this study is a theoretical and empirical examination of 1) “How should companies in the Financial Service Indus-
try create brand experiences with the goal of maximizing shareholder value?” and 2) “How can the stages of the brand management process be applied to a case?”

In the case study analysis, it is found that the developed brand management process applies well to Saxo Bank. However as the focus on brand management has been almost non-existing, the company needs to improve within many areas as outlined in the case conclusion. Conversely Saxo Bank has
through its remarkably strong corporate culture, established a solid foundation to leverage the brand in the future.

Acknowledgments

During the process of this project we received and combined knowledge from various sources. We would like to thank all of those involved in the creation of this project. Our thanks go to our advisors Richard Jones and Larry Light who not only helped us formulating the concepts, but encouraged and assisted us with information and support throughout the writing of the project.

Larry Light was not only an active professor but also opened the doors to his network from where we received first hand knowledge. We would like to thank David Aaker of Berkley University for his energy and comments on our research topic. Our knowledge and the paper have also benefited from management experts, such as Antonio J. Lucio, Senior Vice President at PepsiCo Int.; Margo
Georgiadis, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Discover Financial Services LLC; Jeff Dunn former President at Coca-Cola- North America and Jim Lecinski Director of Google in Central Region.

We would also like to thank Saxo Bank for their contribution with great insights, time, resources and effort. We were in contact with different Saxo Bank managers through the development of the project. We owe special thanks to Rabbe Ekholm, Chief Commercial Officer; Kasper Grønnegard, Marketing Director; Birgitt Juel Christensen, Head of Corporate Brand; Ulrik Branner, Director Global Business Development and Morten Skov, HR manager.

We would finally like to thank Hello Group and Kontrapunkt for taking the time...