eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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Abstract Research objectives – The financial industry has gone through serious turmoil worldwide during the recent years and in Finland the formerly national and regulated industry has witnessed the entrance of international players through mergers and acquisitions. The increased competition has required new ways of building competitive advantage, and the objectives of this thesis is to study how branding is used and what potential it could have in building competitive advantage, concentrating on young consumers and how branding could be used to attract, commit, and build brand relationships with them. Research Method – The empirical research consists of qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative part of the research is conducted through case study, which explores the three largest banks operating in Finland, Nordea, Sampo Bank, and OPPohjola Group. The quantitative part of the research is established through a survey, which explores the perception generation Y consumers have of the retail bank brands operating in Finland. Main Findings – The main findings indicate that branding is not taken advantage of very efficiently to attract and commit young consumers. The three banks under study offer young consumers similar benefits, which are based on direct functional benefits, mainly in the form of having the basic daily services free of charge. The young consumers have a positive image of the banks, and consider to be loyal customers, but show lack of interest towards the banks and see them mainly as a necessary tool for taking care of their daily banking, having as little personal contact with them as possible. Their loyalty is based mainly on the lack of benefits for changing of their bank, mainly due to the very similar benefits other banks have to offer. Keywords Branding, retail bank, generation Y consumers, marketing,