Swiss Army Case Study

1.0   INTRODUCTION

      1.1 Background of the company

Swiss Army is an illustration of a company that has developed by basing its product expansion on established brand equity. The brand has its roots in its history of knife development from the 1800s. The knife became wildly accepted in the United States when soldiers brought the knives back at the end of World War II. Swiss Army has a strong worldwide reputation built on quality and reliability with 92% brand awareness in the United States alone.

Leveraging the success of the knife, the company expanded into apparel, travel gear, and other product categories. The launch of the Swiss watch was an overnight success; and now 1 out of 5 watches under $500 in the United States is Swiss. The company enjoyed similar success with its travel gear and expects to do the same with apparel. In addition to building on an established brand, Swiss executives believe in building a long and lasting relationship with its customers. Before any product development occurs, the company talks to its customers to understand what values and attributes they associate with Swiss Army products. Armed with this information, Swiss Army develops products that reflect the values its customers hold about the brand. This has allowed a century-old company to grow with the times without growing old. Teams can separately analyze the website, promotional plans, new product and brand extensions and Swiss Army stores to analyse the current status of Swiss Army stores and new marketing developments.

1.2 Mission of the PBL

To analyze current status of the Swiss Army’s marketing development to retain and expand its international standard brand equity.

1.3 Objective of the PBL

To identify how Swiss Army retain its brand equity and expand it through product line expansion by using strategic distribution channels and effective advertisement methods.

1.4 Marketing tools used to analyze Swiss Army

We have used SWOT analysis and... [continues]

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