Brand development
The Björn Borg trademark was registered in the late 1980s and established in the first half of the 1990s in the Swedish fashion market. Since then, operations have grown strongly, and their development has included the establishment of new product areas and geographical markets.
A stated goal in the Björn Borg business plan is to become a leading player within sports fashion, and so the focus is increasingly on the design and production of sport apparel. The brand has built up a distinctive identity and a strong position in its established markets in its dominating product area underwear, while its newer markets are in a development phase.
With five different product areas and sales in some 20 markets – mature as well as new, and with different conditions and preferences – consistent, long-term branding is essential.
The brand platform mirrors the brand’s sporty identity and a desire to inspire others to reach their full potential through training, an idea on which the whole brand is built and by which it is driven. The belief that we do not live to train, but rather train to live is a strong one.
Björn Borg aims to provide the best possible service to its distributors and licensees, who commit themselves to a specific level of investment in their respective markets. The aim is to provide them with the prerequisites to create sales and brand awareness whilst ensuring consistent development of the brand.
Support to the distributors and licensees includes branding guidelines and marketing support. This includes campaigns, working with influencers, PR, media buying and point-of-sales displays – packaged for each market’s needs, development phase and budget.
Marketing communications
Björn Borg wants its brand to inspire people to become the best versions of themselves, where training is a central part of achieving their goal. The long-term communication concept ’Train to Live’ has been developed to communicate this clearly to the end-customer. The concept is built on the strong desire to inspire people to train to live, instead of the opposite. Also, that training is the key to become the best version of yourself. For Björn Borg this does not mean being the fastest athlete but, quite simply, having the energy for all the other fantastic things in life. The focus is on continuing this shift and strengthening the brand’s position as a sports fashion brand.
The strategy is to build the brand and drive sales consistently over the long term. To achieve cost efficiencies and broad impact, the Group is focused going forward on building a strong community through social media, campaigns, and events as well as instore displays. Social media have continued to grow in importance in the interaction between Björn Borg and its customers. The company sees these channels as important and cost-efficient for branding and sales promotions.
Background material and guidelines are produced centrally as part of the marketing packages that markets and distributors have access to, while detailed planning and implementation are left to each market and channel.
Through the web shop at bjornborg.com, Björn Borg products are sold practically around the world. The website is also a key channel for international branding and for communicating with the target groups.
The Björn Borg stores fill an important role as a marketing channel and for exposure of the brand and current campaigns.
Activities and focus 2021
During the year, Björn Borg continued to position itself in sports apparel through a large number of activities, campaigns and events. The brand has clearly communicated its thoughts and ideas on training through its concept ’Train to Live’ – that we train to live and not the opposite, and that training is the key to becoming the best version of yourself. Due to the year’s pandemic, the majority of activities have taken place digitally. The brand has also placed great weight on being constantly present where the end-customers are and has actively left behind campaigns which were major but short-lived. Instead, the brand is now seen everywhere, all year round. The benefits of training have been highlighted in all activities.
Influencers
During the constant changes and restrictions of last year, Björn Borg has rethought instead of cancelling. The compulsory sports hours on Friday’s at 11 o’clock were streamed live on Instagram when employees were not able to work in the office and train together. In this way, the strong internal Group culture was communicated to the end-customers, since Friday’s sports hour is a strong symbolic statement and clear evidence of the brand’s mission – that by training we can all become better versions of ourselves.
