Enhancing Brand Equity – Increasing the Brand Awareness and Strengthening the Brand Image at a Private Equity Firm
(2013) MIO920Production Management
- Abstract
- Background: FTV Capital is a private equity company specializing in growth equity. Even though the company has been very successful, the private equity industry is highly competitive and more and more companies are turning their strategy towards growth equity. To stand out and keep the competitive advantage, having a strong brand and communicating efficiently is particularly important for a private equity firm. FTV Capital believes that the company has a strong image among certain audiences and that its great track record is well-known, but that there is a problem with the brand legacy. Therefore the company requested tangible recommendations for how to enhance its brand image and increase its brand awareness.
Purpose: The purpose of the... (More) - Background: FTV Capital is a private equity company specializing in growth equity. Even though the company has been very successful, the private equity industry is highly competitive and more and more companies are turning their strategy towards growth equity. To stand out and keep the competitive advantage, having a strong brand and communicating efficiently is particularly important for a private equity firm. FTV Capital believes that the company has a strong image among certain audiences and that its great track record is well-known, but that there is a problem with the brand legacy. Therefore the company requested tangible recommendations for how to enhance its brand image and increase its brand awareness.
Purpose: The purpose of the Thesis is to understand how a private equity firm could enhance its brand equity. The aim is also to provide FTV Capital with tangible recommendations on how the company could increase its brand awareness and strengthen its brand image.
Methodology: The scientific approach of this study was a mixture of a systems approach and an actors approach. To conduct the empirical studies a mixture of the exploratory, to gain in-depth knowledge, the explanatory, to analyze connections and synergy effects and the problem-solving approach, to provide recommendations, were used.
Theoretical Framework: The private equity industry is an industry of relations, but it is also an industry of deals. When studying how to enhance the brand within the private equity industry three areas of importance were found: brand equity, business relations and business communication. Together with the different communication channels that permeate the three areas, 12 factors made up the theoretical framework for this Thesis.
Empirical Studies: The empirical studies were carried out in two parts: a case study of FTV Capital and a number of best practice studies. The case study was comprised of interviews and an examination of possible competitors. Additionally,
IV
best practices within brand equity and private equity were studied for inspiration on what a private equity firm could do to enhance its image and raise its awareness.
Conclusion: The theoretical findings that were considered to be important for enhancing brand equity were confirmed by the case study and best practice studies. By looking at how FTV works with brand equity compared to its competitors and general best practices it was possible to find areas for improvements.
The study showed that the awareness of FTV Capital among the target audiences is fairly good, but it varies depending on the sector. In the sectors where FTV has been operating for a long time the company is well-known, but in new industries it is not as well-known, which gives room for improvements. Furthermore, the study showed that the image of FTV Capital is very good. However, the perception of what FTV does is somewhat distorted. Those who have not been in contact with FTV Capital recently still associate the company with its brand legacy of venture capital investments.
The study resulted in 30 tangible recommendations for how FTV can increase its brand awareness and strengthen its brand image. A prioritization of these resulted in five primary and twelve secondary recommendations. The five primary recommendations were to engage assistants more in the sourcing process, facilitate the usage of the CRM system, update the layout of the company’s website, enhance the tagline and focus the current marketing efforts on the sectors where FTV Capital is not as well-known. It was suggested that the company should take action on the primary recommendations first, since these were considered to be most important in FTV’s current situation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/3917360
- author
- Christiansson, Malin and Sundvik, Carolin
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MIO920
- year
- 2013
- type
- M1 - University Diploma
- subject
- keywords
- private equity, brand equity, business relations, business communication, investor relations, entrepreneur and investor.
- other publication id
- 13/5456
- language
- English
- id
- 3917360
- date added to LUP
- 2013-07-03 14:18:55
- date last changed
- 2013-07-03 14:18:55
@misc{3917360,
abstract = {{Background: FTV Capital is a private equity company specializing in growth equity. Even though the company has been very successful, the private equity industry is highly competitive and more and more companies are turning their strategy towards growth equity. To stand out and keep the competitive advantage, having a strong brand and communicating efficiently is particularly important for a private equity firm. FTV Capital believes that the company has a strong image among certain audiences and that its great track record is well-known, but that there is a problem with the brand legacy. Therefore the company requested tangible recommendations for how to enhance its brand image and increase its brand awareness.
Purpose: The purpose of the Thesis is to understand how a private equity firm could enhance its brand equity. The aim is also to provide FTV Capital with tangible recommendations on how the company could increase its brand awareness and strengthen its brand image.
Methodology: The scientific approach of this study was a mixture of a systems approach and an actors approach. To conduct the empirical studies a mixture of the exploratory, to gain in-depth knowledge, the explanatory, to analyze connections and synergy effects and the problem-solving approach, to provide recommendations, were used.
Theoretical Framework: The private equity industry is an industry of relations, but it is also an industry of deals. When studying how to enhance the brand within the private equity industry three areas of importance were found: brand equity, business relations and business communication. Together with the different communication channels that permeate the three areas, 12 factors made up the theoretical framework for this Thesis.
Empirical Studies: The empirical studies were carried out in two parts: a case study of FTV Capital and a number of best practice studies. The case study was comprised of interviews and an examination of possible competitors. Additionally,
IV
best practices within brand equity and private equity were studied for inspiration on what a private equity firm could do to enhance its image and raise its awareness.
Conclusion: The theoretical findings that were considered to be important for enhancing brand equity were confirmed by the case study and best practice studies. By looking at how FTV works with brand equity compared to its competitors and general best practices it was possible to find areas for improvements.
The study showed that the awareness of FTV Capital among the target audiences is fairly good, but it varies depending on the sector. In the sectors where FTV has been operating for a long time the company is well-known, but in new industries it is not as well-known, which gives room for improvements. Furthermore, the study showed that the image of FTV Capital is very good. However, the perception of what FTV does is somewhat distorted. Those who have not been in contact with FTV Capital recently still associate the company with its brand legacy of venture capital investments.
The study resulted in 30 tangible recommendations for how FTV can increase its brand awareness and strengthen its brand image. A prioritization of these resulted in five primary and twelve secondary recommendations. The five primary recommendations were to engage assistants more in the sourcing process, facilitate the usage of the CRM system, update the layout of the company’s website, enhance the tagline and focus the current marketing efforts on the sectors where FTV Capital is not as well-known. It was suggested that the company should take action on the primary recommendations first, since these were considered to be most important in FTV’s current situation.}},
author = {{Christiansson, Malin and Sundvik, Carolin}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Enhancing Brand Equity – Increasing the Brand Awareness and Strengthening the Brand Image at a Private Equity Firm}},
year = {{2013}},
}