Teresa Hedlund - Telenor Sverige

In a category where products are largely interchangeable and differentiation is difficult to sustain, brand becomes the primary growth lever. In this conversation, Teresa Hedlund, Head of Marketing at Telenor Sweden, shares how the company is navigating growth in a highly competitive telecom market. From driving consideration in a low-interest category to sharpening brand distinctiveness and adapting to changing consumer behaviour, she explains why consistency, reach, and strategic focus are critical to staying relevant.

Winning in a Category of Sameness

Telecom is, by Teresa’s own admission, a mature category where most providers deliver similar core services. “We operate in a market where we don’t really have any competitive advantages to speak of,” she explains. “The products and services are essentially the same.” For customers, that makes the decision less about specs and more about confidence: choosing a brand they recognise and trust. “That’s why the brand becomes much more important,” Teresa says. “It’s about constantly reminding people, being present where the consumer is, and maintaining continuity over time.”

A key structural challenge lies in the timing of purchase decisions. At any given moment, only a small proportion of consumers are actively considering switching providers. “Roughly 12% of the market is in-market at any given time,” she explains. “The rest are in binding or not actively looking to change Telecom provider.” That means Telenor has to be helpful and relevant both for people who are ready to choose now and for those who will decide later. This dynamic makes an always-on approach essential. Rather than focusing purely on short-term activation, Telenor invests in a consistent market presence and broad reach, so the brand feels familiar and credible when consumers eventually enter the market.

“We operate in a market where we don’t really have any competitive advantages to speak of; the products and services are essentially the same. That’s why the brand becomes much more important.”

From Awareness to Meaning: Solving the ‘Why’

In Sweden, many people already know Telenor — and the opportunity now is to make that familiarity mean something clear and compelling when customers are ready to choose. “We are quite well known, but less known in terms of why you should choose us,” Teresa notes. Brand strategy plays a crucial role in closing that gap by translating awareness into preference. The focus is not just on being visible, but on consistently communicating the reason to choose the brand — in a way that’s easy to understand and easy to remember. “That’s what we’re trying to solve; reaching more people with the ‘why’.”

For customers, one of the biggest benefits is how easy Telenor makes it to connect the people who belong together — families in the broadest sense. “Family doesn’t have to mean a traditional household,” Teresa explains. “It can be your chosen family: Friends, Neighbours, or Extended Family. We allow up to eight people on one subscription.” With everyone gathered in one place, customers get a smoother way to manage their services, unlock family offers, and keep costs predictable. It also makes it easier to add the things that matter in everyday life — from parental controls and security solutions to streaming, roaming, and 5G broadband — in one coherent setup for the whole group. The result is a win-win: it makes it easy for new customers to join, and it gives people even more reasons to stay, because multiple users share the benefits and the experience together.

“We are quite well known, but less known in terms of why you should choose us. That’s the communicative challenge we’re trying to solve; reaching more people with the ‘why’.”

Fewer, Stronger, Better: The Power of Focus

One of the most significant shifts under Teresa’s leadership has been a move towards greater focus, both in media and messaging. “When I started, we were spread across too many channels with too many messages,” she explains. “So we reduced the number of channels and messages to put more weight behind the ones we kept. That clarity makes a huge difference.”

For Teresa, that’s ultimately a prioritisation challenge: deciding what deserves the investment and what doesn’t. “The hard part isn’t coming up with ideas — it’s deciding what to say no to,” she says. She puts it simply: “A strong brand isn’t built through lots of activities — it’s built by choosing what to leave out, and putting real weight behind the activities that support growth, done consistently.”

That focus can’t sit in marketing alone. It starts with business strategy. “Our job isn’t to communicate everything that’s happening,” she says. “The business has to choose the key priorities that matter most — and our job as marketers is to translate them into clear communication that solves a real customer need.”

With fewer messages in market, Telenor also invested in building stronger, distinctive brand assets — with a clear ambition: to be the brand people remember when it’s time to choose. “So we focused on what drives consideration. We want people to remember us at the point of purchase — and choose Telenor,” Teresa says. This included a clearer visual identity, more consistent use of distinctive brand elements, and a long-term commitment to a single creative platform. “We’ve kept the same concept since 2023, and now we’re starting to see the payoff. Media investments become more efficient over time.” The early results have been very positive, including major improvements in both Ad Awareness and Ad Impact.

Together, the approach reflects a broader principle often referred to as “double jeopardy”: brands grow not by doing more things, but by doing fewer things better — and doing them consistently.

“When I started, we were spread across too many channels with too many messages. So we reduced the number of channels and messages to put more weight behind the ones we kept. That clarity makes a huge difference.”

Rethinking Growth in a Changing Category

Beyond communication, shifts in the category are prompting Telenor to rethink where growth and engagement come from. One change Teresa points to is that phone replacement cycles appear to be stretching. “People keep their phones much longer now,” Teresa explains. “So the number of possible purchase moments is decreasing.”

Historically, phone upgrades have often been a natural moment for people to review their mobile subscription. If that moment happens less frequently, it becomes even more important to stay relevant between purchase cycles — by giving customers useful reasons to engage. “We need to find new reasons for people to interact with us; new services, add-ons, things that create value for the customer.”

This could include services such as security products, device repair, streaming services or bundled offerings — additions that create everyday value and an ongoing relationship, not just a one-off transaction. At the same time, perception remains a powerful barrier. “There’s still a belief that some competitors have better networks,” Teresa says. But rather than trying to win on claims alone, the opportunity is to earn trust over time by consistently showing up with clear proof points and experiences that reinforce network confidence — for example, sharing results from independent benchmarks such as OpenSignal or Bredbandskollen where available, making coverage and speed information easy to understand, and backing it up with the kind of service customers actually feel: safe and reliable connectivity in everyday life. Changing ingrained perceptions is a long game — and sustained brand building is what makes it possible.

“We need to find new reasons for people to interact with us; new services, add-ons, things that create value for the customer.”

Future-Proofing Growth in a Fragmented Media Landscape

Looking ahead, one of the biggest challenges is not just what to say, but how to reach people at scale. “Everything is fragmenting, and it’s becoming harder to reach large audiences.” In that environment, Telenor leans into broad reach and continuity — ensuring the brand is present beyond the moments when people are actively shopping. “For us, reach is the most important thing. We need  to ensure we are present across the population, because everyone is a potential customer.”

At the same time, staying present isn’t enough — the communication has to earn attention and build a stronger emotional connection. That’s where creativity comes in, and where Telenor’s consistency matters. To stay true to the brandplatform, the team has established a simple “equation” that every message is filtered through: it starts with a clear customer need, and shows how Telenor helps solve a real problem families experience in everyday life. This helps avoid communication that feels generic or purely sales-driven. “Advertising can sometimes feel quite generic,” she observes. “And a big reason is the industry’s shift towards sales-driving, short-term campaigns — often at the expense of emotion and storytelling.” Telenor’s answer is to combine usefulness with emotion — making the message relevant while still building the brand. “It’s more about being useful: ‘How can we help the individual?’” That requires a deep understanding of customers and their daily lives. “You have to start with insight — what people need, how they live, what their worries are and what role you can play.”

“You have to start with insight — what people need, how they live, what their worries are and what role you can play.”

Balancing Brand and Performance: An Investment Mindset

Finally, Teresa emphasises the importance of maintaining a long-term perspective on marketing investment. In a category where results can be difficult to attribute directly, proving value internally is a constant challenge. “It’s not an exact science,” she admits. “But we use models like MMM to understand the impact of media on sales and show how we are driving sales results.”

Crucially, she reframes marketing not as a cost, but as an investment. “Tomorrow’s sales depend on what we invest today.” This perspective is reinforced by experimentation. “We tested what would happen if we dialled down brand-building and leaned more into tactical communication for a short period — and the results were clear: it didn’t work. Brand and Performance have to work together. It’s not addition, it’s multiplication.” For Telenor, the implication is clear: sustained growth requires both brand and performance working in tandem, supported by consistent investment and strategic focus.

“We tested what would happen if we dialled down brand-building and leaned more into tactical communication for a short period — and the results were clear: it didn’t work. Brand and performance have to work together. It’s not addition, it’s multiplication.”