MADE IN... DENMARK
Imagine if I were selling you a new car. The decision finally came down to a choice between two brands you’d never heard of. What I could tell you was that the two cars were identical in every important aspect. They were of the same design, colour, performance capacity and even price. There was just one significant difference. One car was manufactured in Denmark, the other in Turkey. Which car do you think you’d choose?

My guess is your choice would be a fairly easy one, despite the fact that neither Denmark nor Turkey is known for car manufacturing. However, Denmark’s sound record as a producer of quality products known for their design and luxury would tip the balance in the Danish car’s favour.

Design brands like Bang & Olufsen, Georg Jensen and Arne Jacobsen have helped build a country brand which despite its small population – counting for only 1/70th of the United States, has still created somewhat of a reputation for a sophisticated yet functional and timeless modern design.

At home, I have a salt-and-pepper set designed by Arne Jacobsen. It’s nice but not something you would spend hours talking to your guests about. But there is a story behind the set that you would find fascinating if you were at my table.

You see, almost 50 years ago, the designer had dinner with one of his business partners who admired this salt-and-pepper set. The business partner was so fascinated by the design that he asked Jacobsen to design a whole hotel around the salt-and-pepper set. And so he did.

It took Arne about 20 years, but the hotel he designed became a bit of an icon in Copenhagen. Not only was the hotel specially designed to match the salt-and-pepper set, but also so were the plates, the cutlery, the curtains, the beds, and, well, everything you could name that a hotel would need. The chairs were also inspired by the design, and his “egg chair” later became part of the Museum of Modern Art’s collection in New York. The whole environment was spun from a simple salt-and-pepper set.

What is your perception of this salt-and-pepper set now? Has it changed? Probably, and you haven’t even seen it.

This is in fact the very core essence of the magic many Danish brands have – combining functional design – without forgetting their heritage.

AN ELITE GROUP OF BRANDS
Through decades, Denmark has become known for an elite selection of brands – each brand often representing a unique view on life – so unique that it indeed still seems highly relevant. Pick a Bang & Olufsen radio from 1980 and you could easily be fooled into thinking it was made yesterday.

Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen’s humble beginnings in 1925 led to probably the world’s most respected designer music and entertainment system concept – all born from a simple philosophy of creating simple yet functional design. The brand has today not only secured a permanent spot at the Museum of Modern Art – it has also become synonymous with representing the future in every Hollywood blockbuster movie. As soon as the set is showcasing the world of tomorrow, you can be sure to see a Bang & Olufsen entertainment system.

The Danish philosophy of Design has moved the world one step closer to a daily feast for the eyes. Steve Jobs realised this back in the late 80s when he founded The Apple Corporation and at the same time installed a complete Bang & Olufsen system in his home – a move that ultimately became his source of inspiration for the ubiquitous iPod.

The theme of functional design was as well one of the reasons why Novo Nordisk, the world’s largest insulin company, made history in 1985 when designing a pen-shaped insulin injection system called the Novo Pen. Stylish enough to look like a classy Montblanc fountain pen, this insulin injector was not only attractive looking but was also highly functional.

And that’s what it’s all about, a unique combination of design and functionality – ensuring both disciplines go hand in hand – creating not only good-looking products – but useful brands too.

In fact, the very core philosophy in Danish society is functional design.
      Just take a stroll through the Illums Bolighus store in the heart of Copenhagen and you’ll see hundreds of ordinary products all spinning out of Arne Jacobsen’s salt-and-pepper philosophy – everything from elegant ice scrapers for your car-windows to power converters, space-age phones, egg-formed chairs, energy saving designer lamps and even something as prosaic as a washing-up brush. Even a simple yet sophisticated pill-glass opening system has become a standard aid in every Danish pensioner’s home, helping senior citizen to open those often impossibly tight lids.

Where most companies across the world have led their production process with a rational mind – design has become the main driver in everything Danish. It is precisely this unique approach that might be the reason why the home of functional design seems to be owned by Denmark more than any other country.

But trust seems to be a third ingredient in a success brand cocktail. Trust is all about delivering on time and according to the quality expectations. The Lego company knows this philosophy far too well – running its entire company on a philosophy stating: Even the best isn’t good enough.

I remember when I was a kid I noticed that a new Lego kit came with a couple of extra bricks. I loved it! I actually thought Lego was giving me something extra, an unexpected bonus. A gift! For me! Decades later, I realised those “extra” blocks weren’t really special gifts. They were, of course, the result of operational expedience and economy. But as an adult I will however never forget my unique brand experience.

And this is, in fact, the very essence of why so many Danish brands are doing so well. They over-deliver – and under-promise. Inherent in the Danish culture through centuries – the fear of not delivering on time or according to quality has today become an asset, ensuring a brand consistency hardly seen anywhere else in the world.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN AS A BRANDING STATEMENT
Country of origin, to an ever increasing degree means more and more for a brand. As a branding statement, this means much more than adding a “Made In” label to a product. A product’s country of origin constitutes an important piece of branding that, in many cases, can be so influential that it overtakes the brand’s other reputation builders. For as long as we can remember, cosmetics have been packaged with labels that bear a combination of “Paris – Milan – New York – London – Rome”. Nobody is in any doubt that the perfume or lipstick has been made in all the cities listed on the label. However, think of a slick perfume bottle with packaging that proclaims “Prague – Helsinki – Melbourne – Seattle – Auckland”, and your impression of the perfume will become somewhat altered. This is quite ironic considering none of us believe for a minute that any of the cited locales have anything to do with the product’s manufacture. The origin of a brand is in fact becoming more and more important.
      A high-tech brand from Japan seems a logical starting point for most of us. There can be no doubt that promoting a high-tech brand in, say, the U.S., would be substantially easier if the product hailed from Japan than if it were manufactured in Iceland. Why? Because the product’s country of origin – in this case, Japan - has a reputation for producing superior high-tech products. Thus, the country establishes the brand’s initial reputation.

Conversely, brands themselves can create countries’ reputations. Consider Finland. If I asked you to respond to the notion of Finland 10 years ago, you’d probably have said things like “cold”, “midnight sun,” and so on. When you think of Finland today, you’re just as likely to think of high-tech mobile phone technology. And this huge mind shift is directly linked to the global success of Nokia (which, by the way, manufactured chainsaws just 20 years ago).

Denmark today is likely to represent the label of not only functional design – but also trust and quality. This might be the reason why a label stating Denmark as the country of origin if you happen to belong to the industry category of design, innovation, farming and the pharmaceutical seems to make more and more sense.

It’s a distinctly symbiotic relationship, and will be important to bear in mind next time you have the opportunity to build a brand from scratch or consider where to place the home of your brand. The theory should not only make you consider what values your brand should stand for, but also where it should be manufactured and where it should be perceived to be manufactured.

Not considering the country of origin as a tool to build your brand could be a very foolish mistake – believing that the staff running your operation does not affect the very reputation of your brand and their commitment to quality would be foolish. If you therefore happen to be in the unique role of deciding where to place your next brand-home – think carefully before making up your mind. Forgoing this option is not necessarily the way to go as nothing sums it up better than a recent statistic from the house of LVMH – representing probably one of the world’s most respected luxury goods brands, Louis Vuitton. More than 80 per cent of Louis Vuitton products are sold to Japanese consumers. Furthermore, 67 per cent of all girls purchasing a Louis Vuitton product dream of getting married in Paris – owning the bag is the first step towards the dream. Strange? Perhaps. But no stranger than making that decision to buy the car made in Denmark rather than the car made in Turkey.

Purchasing decisions are not necessarily rational. So much of what we decide comes from our heart and not our intellect. For this very reason we can understand why country of origin as a branding statement is far more powerful than we first may have thought – and this might be the very reason why Denmark, despite it’s ugly duckling, its cold winters and small population – more and more seems to be an obvious choice for any brand manufacturer believing that a brand is more than a nice logo – it’s a philosophy which needs to be communicated from inside out from a foundation of solid values represented in the society where it has its very base.

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