Kejsarens nya kläder : En fallstudie på H&M:s Lagerfeldkollektion

As companies exert themselves to find new ways of achieving market dominance and stronger brands, the phenomenon co-branding has become increasingly popular. By cooperation between two different firms the combined effects can result in synergies not only on the balance sheet, but even through softer values such as Brand recognition, equity and larger market share. Recently the fashion company H&M launched a collection together with the esteemed fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. The objective of this paper is to examine the effects the collaboration had on consumer’s attitudes towards the two brands. Did the above mentioned collaboration result in a repositioning of any of the two parties? Theories regarding branding, positioning and attitudes, as well as Joint ventures are taken into consideration while analyzing the research based on questionnaires given to a random audience. The respondents were among else asked to grade the two firms as to four different qualities, thereby placing them on perceptual maps. After that they were asked whether the collection had affected the exclusiveness of H&M and Karl Lagerfeld. A large majority answered that H&M had profited, while Lagerfeld’s exclusiveness was unaltered. Meanwhile, many first heard of Karl Lagerfeld through the H&M-collection. This paper will show how two differently positioned parties successfully can achieve synergies, but that since they enter the venture with different possibilities and motives, the synergies most probably will appear on different levels