Alexander Sprekenhus and Corporate

Branding

by Egle Satinskaite

University of Essex

Spring 2011
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3

The company..............................................................................................................................4

Analysis of a brand.....................................................................................................................4

Marketing Communications and Strategy..................................................................................7

Events that represent the brand and products.........................................................................7

Publishing own catalogues.....................................................................................................8

Selecting beauty salons and hair stylists................................................................................9

Continuity.............................................................................................................................10

Conclusion................................................................................................................................11

References................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction

All items can theoretically be described by a name that represents a certain group of products.

In most cases the name determines the purpose of the product but it is hardly related with a

particular producer or seller. Some companies could decide that this situation is satisfying,

even if their products are not distinguished from competitors in one or more ways. Firms use

common names of the products and do not try to identify the item more precisely. However,

Alexander Sprekenhus® is not one of those companies. It aims to become a world famous

brand for hair care products. Even though the company focuses on business-to-consumer

B2C relationship, the company has major plans for further development of B2B activities.

The objective of this work is to analyse the business from inside and answer these questions:

 What is the extra value that Alexander Sprekenhus® creates to the users?

 Which components of the brand are the most important to the business relationship?

 What does the brand bring into different business relationships?

In order to answer the questions above, we need to:

1. Analyse the brand of the company and its attributes;

2. Identify the market strategy that helps to strengthen the company’s brand;

3. Analyse the competitive advantages of the brand perception;

4. Explain how a brand itself can be important and how it contributes to successful

business relationships;

5. Assess the marketing activities of the company

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The company

A Norwegian businessman Alexander Sprekenhus, established the brand in Los Angeles

2008. The company is involved in producing and retailing high quality hair care products

across the globe. Alexander Sprekenhus aimes to create products that represents not only

beauty, charm and shining glamour hair but also goodwill, environmentally responsibility and

honesty. Therefore, the brand introduced the series of hair products based on the naturally

extracted Argan oil. It did not take a long time for people that are concerned about what types

of products they use, to discover the brilliance within the path that the brand had taken. Soon

the products attained the interest from the media and positive responses were spread to the

public.

Now Alexander Sprekenhus® is recognized and appreciated by many professional hair

stylists on different continents and furthermore the company successfully continue their

activities not only to consumer markets but also actively developing relationships with beauty

salons and the whole hair care industry. Alexander Sprekenhus is the Original Company of

Argan oil with headquarters located in Oslo, Norway.

Analysis of the brand

The brand itself does not guarantee the competitive advantage in the market. Only those

companies that can manage the brand by conveying the identity of it, determining its

elements, uniqueness and value can expect to achieve success. The creation of the brand

image could help to retain its status in a highly competitive market. The concept of a brand

involves the perception of brand linked with company’s intangible capital that must be

managed properly in order to use effectively.

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First, let’s measure the brand equity to the b2c market, as the final link in the b2b

relationships is consumers, having a strong brand communication consumers, undoubtedly is

an advantage in b2b relationships. The components of a brand a shown in the Figure 1:

Perceived
Quality

Brand
Assosiation Brand Brand
Awareness

Brand
Loyalty

Figure 1: Criteria to measure brand equity to the b2c market

Alexander Sprekenhus® distinguishes itself from other hair care brands by featuring a

haircare line based on Argan oil. Argan oil is referred to as “White Gold of Morocco” and is

one of the most expensive seed-oils in the world. It can in addition be considered as one of

the most exclusive oils in the world. The Argania Spinosa tree grows in the southwestern

part of Morocco and is not to be found elsewhere in the world. It is a vanishing species and

protected by UNESCO.

An aspect that demonstrates Alexander Sprekenhus® as an environmentally friendly player in

the market to environment is that they make use of natural ingredients. The manufacturing

plant is located in Los Angeles and has adopted environmental requirements that all

California based producer’s follow.

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In the hair care market you can find a lot of products that consists of dangerous chemicals

such as carcinogen (causes cancer), toxins (harms reproductive system), allergens (cause

rashes or other reactions) and others that more or less have a negative impact on human’s

body. However, Alexander Sprekenhus® represents vegan, drug-free and cruelty-free

business. PETA listed the company as a brand that does not test their products on animals.

Social responsibility is one of the values that Alexander Sprekenhus® stands for and delivers

to the consumers. By using the products people is a part of values and beliefs that have been

developed on the basis of fundamental logical and common sense.

Alexander Sprekenhus® is popular amongst the public profiles. In the magazines there are

many articles where Hollywood celebrities reveals their favourite items and often you can see

Alexander Sprekenhus® products being pulled up from a purse. They gladly reveal that using

the products makes their hair manageable, easy to style and amazing shine. The associations

that comes to mind when smelling, feeling, seeing, or hearing Alexander Sprekenhus® is an

everlasting stream of pure brilliance.

So there is no doubt that Alexander Sprekenhus® creates the perception of elegance,

pureness and a brand statement out of another world. People tend to admire things that are

rare. By emphasizing Argan oil and its unique features on hair and revealing it to the public

Alexander Sprekenhus® became desirable brand not only between single souls but also by

professional hair stylists.

To summarize we can say that Alexander Sprekenhus® is perceived as high quality brand,

which is globally respected for its strategic branding strategies as well as perfect products and

services Alexander Sprekenhus has a clear vision about what the brand itself represents and

have as a result created not only the tangible and noticeable value to the customer, but also

good emotions and feelings that comes with the results. When consumers are satisfied with

the value delivered and especially when receive products or services that they enjoy, they

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tend to stick to the same brand and try various products or services offered by the very same

brand.

If we have a look at the b2b approach we can apply some of the same features. Other

businesses are willing to communicate with companies that have a strong and well

recognized brand. If customers love it that means the brand has received a high value status.

Highly valued brands symbolize reliability, a strong position in the market, and are less risky

to work with.

Alexander Sprekenhus® does not limit itself with taking on its own b2c relationships; the

meaningful part in the business is in many ways b2b relationships. Alexander Sprekenhus

gets to add value throughout one more part of the well known value chain. In order to

strengthen and enhance those relationships Alexander Sprekenhus® developed a unique way

of fulfilling marketing communication.

Marketing Communications and Strategy

The way Alexander Sprekenhus® is being presented outwards differs from traditional

methods of advertisement that other companies use. In this world of intense competition it is

a must to be creative and innovative in order to grow, shine and survive. Alexander

Sprekenhus knows that very well and their marketing communications are pointed towards

demonstrating the uniqueness of the brand.

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Events that represent the brand and products

Instead of using traditional advertisement on TV they may organize events to demonstrate the

product live. Every aspect of an event is carefully considered: from the strict guests list and

selective media representatives to the music diversity and activities involved. One of the

activities of a night can be that of professional hair stylists taking care of the special guests

before and during the event by styling their hair to demonstrate the effectiveness of

Alexander Sprekenhus® products. The way an event is being held also displays the position

of Alexander Sprekenhus® as luxury, exclusive, high quality, and extraordinary brand. The

media catches and relates beauty to the products that has distilled beauty. People reading

articles regarding the events perceive Alexander Sprekenhus® as a genuine and impressive

brand. This creates something magical about the brand that people end up desiring. The

professional recommendations and celebrities’ opinions are one of the key elements for

people that want to identify themselves with beautiful hair.

Publishing own catalogues

Another way is that instead of having a page size advertisement in a magazine, the company

publishes its own catalogue with the newest trends of hairstyle, advices on hair care and

introduces new arrivals of Alexander Sprekenhus® products. Then again, publishing an own

catalogue shows that a page in a magazine is not enough to express the Alexander

Sprekenhus® vision. The professional photographers Ingar Naess, Kjetil Hasselgaard has

worked with Alexander Sprekenhus® on several occasions, and this has been highly

successful. Having a personal, mutually benefitial relationship with b2b contacts is important,

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and appreciated by everyone in the long run. Alexander Sprekenhus® always remain one step

ahead. In this way the style and continuity is saved, therefore people get the right message

every time. The relationship helps to avoid miscommunication problems that often occur in a

world of both chaos and misunderstanding.

Selecting beauty salons and hair stylists

The relationships with hair stylists are extremely valuable and important to the Alexander

Sprekenhus® brand. These people are representing not only their own skills but also the

Alexander Sprekenhus® brand through their hands. That is why company organizes training

sessions to every hair stylist to introduce them to the products and professional techniques. In

order to increase the sales, the company has developed a reward system that registers every

single item that has been sold by every hair stylist. At the end of every 6 months the one that

sold the most will win hair styling courses lead by the most professional stylists in New

York. The company is also in the process of developing an IT portal that pools information

about the hair industry, salons and hairdressers in one place. They have mentioned that it will

be an experiment of an open innovation system.

Developing long-term relationships with professional hair stylists is beneficial to both sides:

 Hair stylists learn new ways of performing their work, it improves skills and they
grow as professionals
 Alexander Sprekenhus® increase their sales, gets the best ambassadors of the brand
that are professional.

The value that both sides receive from the relationship is:

 Loyalty

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  Trust
 Professional growth
 Reliability
 Easier communication, less misunderstandings
 Better image
 More interest from public
 Money and timesaving’s

The selection process in which Alexander Sprekenhus selects the representable beauty salons

and hair stylists to work with is very well considered. Alexander Sprekenhus® is a well brand

and the company can carefully select who is best suited as representatives to the brand. Their

slogan says “The Art of Hair Care” which implies that the philosophy and vision of the

beauty salon or hair stylist should match the ones that Alexander Sprekenhus® is familiar

with. Misunderstanding the message and philosophy could lead to the confusion when

customers is not quite sure what value is delivered when consuming the product, what it

actually represents and stands for. Hence, in order to avoid this problem Alexander

Sprekenhus® developed the special criteria for the beauty salons and hair stylists. At the

moment you can find Alexander Sprekenhus® products at well known beauty salons such as

“Komitè” and “Jojo and Friends” which represents the same qualities and values as

Alexander Sprekenhus®.

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Continuity

A very important aspect of a brand is continuity. It helps to remain as a strong brand in the

market and in people’s minds. Every detail is critical; already when manufacturing takes

place the Alexander Sprekenhus® philosophy comes to life. Alexander Sprekenhus® has

adopted this concept and follows it. The careful selection of beauty salons and hair stylists

repeatedly demonstrates the features of a brand that undoubtedly walks hand in hand with

high a quality concept and a professional approach of a brand. In order to save the continuity

and strengthen the brand in the market the company has a brand manager, who takes care of a

brand image, the values it represents and the exact message the brand is sending to the

society.

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References

1. Anderson J.C. and Narus J.A. (2004), Business Market Management: Understanding,

Creating and Delivering Value, 2nd edition, New Jersey: Pearson;

2. Brenan R., Canning L. and McDowell R. (2007), Business-to-Business Marketing, SAGE

Advanced Marketing Series. SAGE Publications;

3. Christopher M., Payne A. and Ballantyne D. (1991), Relationship Marketing, Oxford:

Butterworth-Heinemann;

4. Eggum, A. (The director of Alexander Sprekenhus) 2011, Personal Communication,

14th and 15th of March;

5. The official website of Alexander Sprekenhus http://alexandersprekenhus.com/, accessed

on 16th of March, 2011.

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