Cultural Influence on Brand Marketing in the Machinery Industry: A Study of Austrian and European/Global Strategies for Tractor Brands

Abstract

With the emerging importance of diverse marketing outlets of both digital and traditional nature, the need to differentiate oneself as a brand becomes prevalent even in industrial markets, where traditional aspects of products, such as their quality, reliability and high-end production, are no longer enough to truly portray a tangible benefit to the customer. Industrial brands, in this sense, still lack the connection that many B2C companies manage to establish with their targeted audience, most notably due to the very specific segments where they are active, as opposed to more commerciallyacclaimed products that are much more utilized by a widespread audience in B2C segment. Due to this challenge, B2B sector needs to strike a balance between their previously established technicallydriven branding activities, and the necessity to have real and longlasting connections to the customer base, either through emotional appeals or common touchpoints. As such, the general objective of this master thesis is to investigate the creation, identity, and subsequent positioning of a brand entity in relation to the automotive and machinery industry, including the cultural and regional influences of brand’s origin to the overall differentiation strategy, on the basis of brand STEYR of the company CNH Industrial, in relation to the Austrian market. Here, the motivation is to expand the knowledge of brand creation in industrial markets by evaluating influential examples of companies with wellestablished image amongst its customer base. With strategies such as creative portrayal of brand personalities, storytelling and perception of customers when considering their country and cultural preferences of B2C brands, a deeper insight into how industrial brands may adapt these concepts is necessary for the improvement of overall competitive advantage in their own markets. Based on the evaluated theoretical findings thus far, this master thesis aims to propose a balance of technical and personal aspects of a brand when appealing to the customer base of both endconsumers and industrial partners, based upon the responses of five interviews of marketing personnel who works with the brand Steyr on central and local levels, split between Austria for local, and Italy for central orientation. Beyond inteviews, insights into potential strategies that tap into regional and emotional aspects of an industrial brand were further analyzed to create a comprehensive picture of what could be done in that line of thought. These findings are presented in the chapter focusing on empirical findings, where the subsequent conclusion encapsulates the comparison of practice-derived findings with those of theoretical input. The final result of this thesis sheds light on the unique landscape of machinery industry when considering B2B and B2C markets, where the involvement of multiple internal and external stakeholders is confirmed by the associated marketing department, as well as it is encouraged, to create an organic, reliable and transparent image of a brand with which the company wants to present itself to the customers. The influences of regional preference, as well as the utilization of brand’s history is proven to be a strong differentiating factor when trying to create competitive advantage on the market. The results have also revealed a need for a diverse combination of both personal and global campaigns, with personalized touchpoints that allow to enhance the communication between the company, its distributors, and the end-consumers. For a machinery producer, in this case also in automotive and agricultural circles, the existence of, and dependence on a stakeholder ecosystem for brand creation is existent and encouraged.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Supervisor	Christopher Korntner-Kanitz (Supervisor)