Design Classics: Timeless Treasures or Fading Fads? A Qualitative Exploration into the Constituents, Significance, and Maintenance of Design Classics From a Marketing and Branding Perspective in a Danish and Swedish Context

Abstract

This thesis aims to theoretically and empirically explore WHAT constitutes a design classic, WHY do design classics matter, and HOW to maintain design classics. The thesis serves an exploratory purpose, given the nascent and underdeveloped state of research on what constitutes a design classic in a Danish and Swedish setting and the implications of marketing and branding hereof. The research employs an interpretivist epistemological approach, rooted in a social constructionism ontology, to discover how design professionals perceive, interpret, and construct meanings of design classics. For this purpose, a qualitative in-depth inquiry into the phenomenon of design classics is conducted through 10 semi-structured interviews with design professionals in Denmark and Sweden to develop a conceptual framework of design classics and the marketing and branding thereof. The study identifies seven building blocks that constitute design classics and highlights the need for active maintenance of these by those involved with creating, producing, and selling design classics. The study also reveals that consumers view design classics as investment opportunities and for identity expression, while businesses rely heavily on sales of these objects as a main source of revenue, underscoring the significance of maintaining their status. The thesis further provides implications for maintaining the design classic’s status over time, including the need for product-centric innovation through reproducing them in new and anniversary editions, as well as leveraging marketing and branding functions to make design classics visible and omnipresent, positioning them within a historical context, leverage their heritage and longevity, showcasing them in modern settings, and creating new and favorable brand associations with design classics. The thesis also provides insights into creating new design classics based on the conceptual framework, emphasizing that it takes time to achieve this status, consideration of the seven building blocks, and various actors’ involvement in marketing and branding efforts are crucial in legitimizing and maintaining their status as a classic.