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Wasa’s blue and yellow logo already indicates its origins—Sweden. It’s a brand that most Swedes already know, as the company has been making knäckebröd, a type of cracker or crisp bread, for decades. The company, founded by K. E. Lundström in 1919 in Skellefteå, might now be under Italian ownership, but it still has its royal warrant, probably helped by Wasa’s name’s connection to the 16th-century monarch Gustav I and the Vasa dynasty.
The new advertising campaign, aimed at the US, doesn’t look into the name’s royal origins, but plays on its perceived Swedishness. As multinational food brands go, many of them, now absorbed into bigger players, rely on their national origins for differentiation, and Wasa is no exception. The difference is that Wasa knäckebröd remains very Swedish in its execution and is seen as quintessential.
But what is Sweden about? It certainly makes a telling contrast to the United States. The advertisement stays away from anything controversial like health care or law enforcement, and touches on Sweden’s image of an egalitarian democracy.
Clarissa, the American businesswoman in Sweden for work, attends a yoga class, only to find that her classmates are a group of attractive fathers with their babies.
Sweden offers 16 months’ paid parental leave or föräldraförsäkringen. Ninety per cent of Swedish fathers take the leave. This can be contrasted to New Zealand, which offers 14 weeks, increasing to 18 in 2016, after the policy was introduced by the Alliance in the 2000s. The US, where the ad is targeted, offers none—joining Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.
Proclaims one of the Dads in the ad, ‘This is Sweden. We have something called pappaledighet. It’s when the daddies stay at home for six months while the moms are working.’ Clarissa breaks the fourth wall, and ponders, ‘We sent a man to the moon. What a waste, when we could have sent him to the playground as our Swedish sisters do.’
And to seal the deal, perhaps in a very obvious fashion, a baby brings her a box of Wasa crisp bread.
It’s an unusual approach to selling a fast-moving consumer good, but it emphasizes that the Swedish national image remains a very healthy one for companies that have a connection to the Nordic nation.
Article sponsored by Wasa
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