Page 18 - Rolls Royce, Bentley Mihi Exculta Magazine (Made for Me) - Issue 9, designed and produced by Connell Marketing Associates, UK
P. 18
PREMIUM BRANDS For Bang & an environment which lived up the
their expectations meant the com-
Design On The Olufsen there is pany had to develop its own retail-
Future ing route.
no conflict; quite
How to profit from The Matchpoint concept was all
principle simply, the company about matching the quality of its dis-
tribution to that of its products. In-
LIKE MANY COMPANIES with a long history and expects its products to be as
an exclusive brand name, it is not the evitably, some existing retailers
company itself which confers the excellence tag. pleasing to live with when felt they could not meet the
standards and that
It is their customers who put these brands switched off as when switched on. meant some gaps in
in an entirely different emotional com- the distribution
partment from other manufacturers Although Bang & Olufsen has always network.
of products which perform the Rather
same functions. represented the leading edge in combining
Bang & Olufsen was than
technology and design, the company is never- compro-
different from the mise its in-
very beginning. theless very aware of the importance of its herit- tegrity, Bang &
Olufsen determined
When Svend Olufsen and Peter Bang met at the School of age. There is a strong belief that it is the continua- that it must develop its
Engineering at Århus in Denmark in 1925 they didn’t just own.
want to build radios together, they wanted to build the per- tion of the tradition that B & O products are built
fect radio. Seventy-five years on the company is driven by the Fifty-nine new Bang &
goal to ensure that the latest technological advances are ex- in West Jutland by people who have worked for Bang Olufsen dedicated shops were
ecuted in the world’s most striking designs. opened around the world in the first
& Olufsen for generations that has kept the strength half of the 1998/99 financial year.
It is a strategy which has given Bang & Olufsen products The current target is to open another
iconic status. In 1972, the Museum of Modern Art in New and the focus in the brand. To move elsewhere would 100 new shops each year before
York selected no less than eight B & O products for its 2002.
permanent collection of modern design. This was followed in be a mistake, particularly in terms of the
1978 by a major, three-month long exhibition – an honour If Bang & Olufsen considers the
which has been extended only twice to a single company. development of products. It is this focus which has environment in which its products
are displayed and presented as im-
Excellence in design has always been an integral element meant that the company is not diverted by the tran- portant, its attitude to the people
in the Bang & Olufsen appeal. To customers coming new to who service that environment is
the brand, design appears to be the primary attraction; for sient activities that take place in more cosmopoli- equally exacting. Highly skilled tech-
long-term customers, the main attraction is the way it works. nical knowledge is a given, but un-
tan markets. derstanding what customers expect
18 MIHI EXCULTA - August 1999 from a foray into a Bang & Olufsen
Such a strong allegiance to its Scandinavian environment is just as important.
roots does not mean the company does not have an The company regards its retailers
as business partners and the serv-
international language; it speaks through its ice they provide is seen as a fun-
damental and pro-active mar-
products. Bang & Olufsen’s reputation for inherent keting tool.
The famous Bang &
quality is world-wide and the people who buy its Olufsen logo remains a sym-
bol of the company’s desire
products believe that what they buy is the best in to create distinctive, lead-
ing-edge design and yet
the world. retain the power of its
heritage. It was cre-
Surveys show that Bang & Olufsen customers ated in 1931 by
Henrik Dahl-
not only buy the product but also share in the com- Mikkelsen who,
only 16 at the
pany’s fundamental values time, was in-
spired by the
and attitudes to quality. prevailing
graphic style of the
Whilst these values are Bauhaus school. The design cost
ultimately expressed Svend Olufsen just 30 Danish Kro-
ner.
in the products them-
Now, with a turnover of 3.1 bil-
selves, they also pervade lion Danish Kroner, a consistent sales
growth of 10% per annum and a
everything the company strong profit performance, the Bang
& Olufsen formula is a proven
does. Bang & Olufsen is success. ❖
deeply conscious of this and
understands that it must
draw a direct line between cus-
tomer expectations and the sig-
nals – in no matter what guise -
it sends out.
It is part of the Bang
& Olufsen ethos that it
plans on keeping cus-
tomers for a lifetime.
Very often products
are passed on from
one generation to the
next and the company
has an enviable repur-
chase rate of 68%.
The influx of Japanese
brands and the evolution of
high street multiples, along
with the consequent demise
of the small, specialist retailer, meant that
Bang & Olufsen had to take a long hard look at
how it approached its customers if it was not to be
swallowed up by the mass market. The commodity
marketplace is alien to the Bang & Olufsen culture
and the determination that its products should con-
tinue to be presented to discerning customers in
