Selling the concept of brands: the Swedish advertising industry and branding in the 1920s

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to examine how the cartelized Swedish advertising industry contributed to the development of brands in Sweden in the early twentieth century. Specifically, a nationwide campaign for branded goods in 1925 is studied.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a study of primary sources from the Swedish advertising agencies, manufacturers and retailers, which are analyzed using a hermeneutic method.

Findings

The paper shows that the unique organization of the main Swedish advertising agencies and the limited size of the market pushed the agencies into promoting and selling the idea of brands to consumers, retailers and manufacturers, which was done by exploiting established social sentiments in combination with American advertising techniques. It is also found that the Swedish advertising agencies described and conceptualized brands using widely known social ideals rather than the so-called brand personality aspect of branding.

Research limitations/implications

Although limited to the Swedish case, this paper suggests that research could benefit from taking different markets’ unique contexts into more consideration when studying the development of brands and advertising. In this paper, especially the organization and size of the advertising market together with the specific social and cultural values available to advertising professionals when creating brands, have been highlighted.

Originality/value

The paper emphasizes the size of the advertising market together with the organization of the advertising industry as important factors for the historical development of brands in Sweden. It also shows how brands were conceptualized using social ideals rather than the brand personality aspect of branding.

Citation

Åström Rudberg, E. (2019), "Selling the concept of brands: the Swedish advertising industry and branding in the 1920s", Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 494-512. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHRM-08-2017-0046