Market entry to the United States - Americanizing Finnish companies' products and brands through marketing

Abstract

Interest towards Nordic products and services has been growing continuously in the United States and Nordic brands have become extremely popular. Americans are interested in Nordic innovations, technologies, education, design, and quality. A growing number of Finnish companies are hoping to capitalize on this boom by entering the U.S. market. There have always been Finnish companies with an interest in the U.S. market but internationalization and the global mindset of companies have resulted in more companies being interested in entering the U.S. market. There are companies that have been very successful in their market entry to the U.S. but the number of companies that fail is still significantly higher than the number of companies that succeed. One of the most common reasons for companies to fail in their market entry to the U.S. has to do with not succeeding in Americanizing the product or service and failing to understand cultural differences.

The aim of this thesis was to provide Finnish companies planning to enter the U.S. market or companies already in the process of market entry with useful tips and information on how to successfully enter the U.S. market. The emphasis was put on examining how Finnish companies could more successfully Americanize their brands and products or services through marketing. The objective was to research how well an example company had succeeded in Americanizing its marketing and to examine the factors that had made it succeed in the U.S. market. The data collection of this study was conducted through qualitative research methods. These research methods included interviews with four global commerce specialists, an example company background interview and a consumer survey. The theoretical part presents different market entry modes, special characteristics of the U.S. market and explains the components of an international marketing strategy.

The research results indicated that there are many different factors that all affect how a Finnish company succeeds in its market entry to the U.S. market. The majority of these factors concerned the adaptation and Americanization of the marketing of a product or a service. Other important factors included the acknowledgment of cultural differences and the failure to assess how much resources were needed for market entry. The results showed that the most important ways to Americanize the company’s marketing were simplifying the company’s marketing message, making the brand look and sound American without forgetting to highlight the Nordic features of the product and to build an emotionally engaging story for the brand.