Abstract:

In 1989 Whirlpool bought Philips's major domestic appliance division and embarked on a transfer of the Philips brand name to Whirlpool in Europe. Research was central to this process. The existing and desired positionings of the brands were determined at the outset and, along with trade attitudes, tracked through this period to inform management centrally and in the countries of when and how best to transfer. This full information on our customers enabled the risks inherent in the brand transfer to be kept to a minimum.