Branding Africa in Denmark: The Case of Savannah

Abstract

As consumers are becoming gradually more occupied with sustainability and CSR, the aim of the thesis is to investigate the origin of Savannah’s strategic brand challenges. The incentive behind investigating this matter emanates from the fact that Savannah provides consumers with African produced products that are produced in a sustainable manner and growths development in Africa. Thus, as per much literature and consumer trends, the lack of success is thought-provoking. Further, the limited research on Danish brands providing African products while catering to CSR allowed the thesis to provide insights through analytical generalisations to literature and organisations with similar characteristics. Through the chosen theories and literature five propositions were derived. Based on numerous interviews conducted with experts, current/former employees and a questionnaire, the propositions were assessed and confirmed to various degrees. Several analytical findings were derived, including the fact that Savannah must ensure alignment of the brand internally to ensure a proper external reflection. Auxiliary, brands such as Savannah must increasingly focus on becoming model citizens to enhance their own brand value, seek to challenge external culture and add value to society. Moreover, a significant finding was that brands must consider a fourth perspective, as presented by the thesis, when employing the shared value concept. This involves communication of the shared value to consumers and is predominantly imperative for brands dealing with Africa, as the discourse is frequently characterised by compassion fatigue. Overall, the findings of the thesis can provide interesting insights, learnings and implications for brand initiatives characterised by CSR, Africa and supermarkets