Per Holgård - Lantmännen

Lantmännen is an agricultural cooperative and Northern Europe’s leader in agriculture, machinery, bioenergy and food. The group is owned by 17,000 Swedish farmers and is operating across the whole value chain, “from field to fork”, with a portfolio of well-known product brands within food such as Scan, AXA, Vaasan and Kungsörnen. Yet the Lantmännen brand itself does not sell products directly to consumers. Instead, the brand functions as a powerful endorser brand; a guarantor for quality, sustainability, and local origin that supports the credibility of its many product brands.

In this conversation, Per Holgård, Head of Group Marketing at Lantmännen, explains how a consistent endorsement strategy can strengthen both product brands and corporate reputation, and why long-term brand building remains essential in a fragmented media landscape.

Building Value Through an Endorsement Strategy

At Lantmännen, the corporate brand plays a unique role. Rather than competing on supermarket shelves, it acts as an endorser brand that reinforces the promises of the company’s product brands. “Each of our product brands has its own positioning,” Per explains. “But when consumers connect the product brand to Lantmännen, it adds credibility. It signals sustainability, responsibility and origin.”

Brands like AXA may focus on health or nutrition, but the connection to Lantmännen provides additional reassurance that those promises are genuine. This endorsement strategy has been built deliberately over many years and is visible on packaging across the company’s portfolio. The logic behind it is simple: a strong corporate brand can elevate the perception of the endorsed product brands beneath it.

The Halo Effect of Trust

The strength of this strategy has been confirmed through research. Lantmännen conducted a comprehensive Endorsement Contribution Study, comparing consumers who knew that a product brand belonged to Lantmännen with those who did not. The results were striking. “We see clear halo effects,” Per says. “Consumers who recognise the connection score higher on almost every brand KPI: preference, consideration, brand associations and purchase intent.”

Interestingly, the improvement goes beyond the specific values Lantmännen represents. Even attributes unrelated to responsibility or origin show improvement once consumers recognise the brand connection. “Our positioning is around origin, responsibility and sustainability,” Per explains. “But when consumers know the brand is part of Lantmännen, the perception of quality and taste improves as well.”

Trust therefore becomes the most important metric for the corporate brand. “As a cooperative owned by Swedish farmers, trust is fundamental. It matters for our members, for our business partners, for potential employees and for consumers.”

“Our positioning is around origin, responsibility and sustainability. But when consumers know the brand is part of Lantmännen, the perception of quality and taste improves as well.”

Consistency: The Long-Term Engine of Brand Growth

One of the defining characteristics of Lantmännen’s brand building is its remarkable consistency. For nearly two decades, the company has communicated a clear narrative around Swedish agriculture and the journey from field to fork. While internal stakeholders often bring new initiatives or stories they want to highlight, the marketing team has learned the importance of focus.

“You always receive internal requests to communicate different projects, products or innovations,” Per says. “But if you try to communicate everything, nothing becomes clear.” Instead, Lantmännen prioritises a small number of core messages and commits to them over time. “Our storyline has been running for almost 20 years with some minor changes. That consistency has been critical. Brand building requires patience and the courage to stick with your strategy.”

“Our storyline has been running for almost 20 years with some minor changes. That consistency has been critical. Brand building requires patience and the courage to stick with your strategy.”

Creativity Still Matters Most

While strategy and consistency provide the foundation, Per emphasises that creativity remains essential for effective communication. Especially emotional creativity. “Research consistently shows that creativity is one of the most important drivers of advertising effectiveness,” he says. “If your communication isn’t creative and evokes some kind of emotion, people are less likely to notice it.”

For Lantmännen, creativity is closely tied to evoking emotions, which makes authenticity important. All of the farmers who appear in the company’s campaigns are real members of the cooperative. “It’s very important for us that everything feels genuine,” Per explains. “Many of the people you see in our advertising are actually our members and real farmers. They wear their own clothes, and we film on their farms.”

This authenticity reflects the company’s identity as a farmer-owned cooperative and helps ensure that the brand’s communication feels credible rather than constructed.

Reaching the Next Generation

Despite its strong reputation, Lantmännen faces a significant challenge: maintaining relevance among younger consumers. The changing media landscape has made this increasingly difficult. Traditional television audiences are declining, attention spans are shrinking, and media consumption is more fragmented than ever.

“Our communication has historically relied a lot on video,” Per says. “But younger audiences consume media very differently. Exposure is shorter and more fragmented.” For a corporate brand like Lantmännen that holds no own stores and doesn’t carry any own products, this presents a particular challenge. “Consumers mainly encounter us through market communications rather than through a product on the shelf. That makes media reach extremely important.”

Maintaining awareness among younger audiences therefore requires constant investment and adaptation. The company experienced this firsthand during the pandemic when media investment was temporarily reduced.

“We saw awareness decline quite quickly among younger audiences,” Per explains. “It shows how quickly brand memory fades if you stop investing.”

“Consumers mainly encounter us through market communications rather than through a product on the shelf. That makes media reach extremely important.”

The Long-Term Discipline of Brand Building

Looking ahead, Per believes that the fundamentals of brand growth remain surprisingly simple — even if executing them is not. His advice for marketers focuses on two principles.

The first is long-term consistency. “Brand building is a long-term investment. You need to resist becoming too tactical and instead commit to your strategy over time.”

The second is creativity. “You can have the best strategy in the world, but if your communication isn’t creative enough to evoke emotions and be noticed, it will become a challenge to develop your brand and business.” Together, these principles form the backbone of Lantmännen’s brand strategy: a clear purpose, communicated consistently and creatively over many years.

“You can have the best strategy in the world, but if your communication isn’t creative enough to evoke emotions and be noticed, it will become a challenge to develop your brand and business”