Hedgren was established in 1993 in Belgium and is one of the leading brands in bags and lugage. Over the last 30 years the brand has perfected the craft of making long-lasting bags with a focus on functionality. Designed with both men and women in mind, these are unisex accessories built to withstand the rigors of daily life – for the busy commuter as for the seasoned traveller.
the challenge
As an iconic brand, Hedgren was able to appeal to several generations of fans with its functional products. The entry of new investors accelerated the brand’s global growth and created the need for a repositioning based on today’s Hedgren customer, coupled with an optimised customer experience for all touch points in the customer journey.
the insights
Hedgren is internationally known as a particularly high-quality brand of bags and luggage. To maintain its focus on the unique blend between rational functionality and emotional appeal, a worldwide shift to a customer-centric approach became imminent.
the solution
The process started with an in-depth brand analysis, taking into account both internal strategy, desired target groups and competition. During a workshop with managers from around the world, a picture was developed of how the brand wanted to evolve and which target groups needed to be addressed. In addition, our strategists delved into the rational and emotional motives for interaction of different target group segments and the general trends in the industry. Together with Hedgren, we examined the main players in the market to complete a competition study and draw a first conclusion on a distinguishing positioning.
After thoroughly checking the preliminary conclusions from the analysis phase internationally, our experts went to work with a working group at Hedgren to develop a future-proof brand strategy. Initially, we incorporated the insights from the target group study into a series of personas symbolising the desired target group segments, their lifestyles and their buying motives. Based on this and a solid brand purpose, we worked out different directions for the value proposition the Hedgren brand story, starting from a consumer centric approach and a set of clear values and claims based on the lifestyle of the ideal customer, or “Hedgrenist”. The goal was clear: to position Hedgren as a unique and premium player in the market based on the concrete needs of the target group.
Finally, we translated this new brand strategy into a concrete framework for customer experience. Based on 8 crucial moments of truth in the customer journey, concrete action points and priorities were defined regarding marketing, product development, co-branding, ambassadorship, point-of-sale communication, employer branding, omnichannel sales and customer experience. The focus here was on the smooth and efficient implementation of the actions from the framework into real life by Hedgren staff and external agencies alike.
