How did others do it?

Some cases of history marketing

More and more companies are using their history to strengthen their brand or organization. This strategic use of history is called history marketing – and here are some businesses that we at the Centre for Business History have helped become even more active users of history.

Swedbank – 200 years with the savings bank idea

In 1820, the first savings bank in Sweden was founded. Swedbank, whose roots go back to the first savings bank, chose to commemorate this in 2020. On their behalf, we created a 68-page anniversary magazine that told the 200-year story of how the savings banks and – more importantly – the country developed. The magazine was made in both Swedish and English and was sent home to all Swedbank employees. Based on the magazine, a podcast series was also created, where historical developmental steps were commented on from the perspective of today's challenges. Everything was synchronized with the bank's anniversary campaign "Forward then, forward now" and its commercials and staff films. The material was also used online on Swedbank's anniversary pages and historical web section.

Bonus: Swedbank's communications manager Johan Eriksson tells all about the anniversary work in this conversation.

SF Studios 100 Years

Since 1919, Swedish film talent has sought out Svensk Filmindustri, today's SF Studios, to make films, regardless of how the production apparatus looked. We selected the 30 most important productions over 100 years and described their creation from the creators' perspective. A story told for the industry, but of course enjoyable for all film lovers.

The texts and images about the 30 productions could easily have been packaged as a printed matter, but SF Studios naturally chose to ask us to create the story as a website, to accommodate many images – and all the film clips!

Digitaliserad film (1963) ur SPP:s arkiv hos Centrum för Näringslivshistoria.

ICA 100 years

When ICA turned 100 years old in 2017, we told their story, targeting the store owners, in four special magazines, online, and in six films. The historical site is a sister product with the same content – and much more in the form of pictures, film clips, and scanned internal magazines. It is still widely used after the anniversary year: www.ica-historien.se.

Bonus: For internal use, ICA summarized all their work before and during the anniversary in a PDF magazine. Read it here: "ICA: How we celebrated 100 years"

Clas Ohlson 100 Years

In 2018, we made the book "Beloved Gadgets", based on Clas Ohlson's catalogs and divided into ten chapters according to their usage. An exposé on how Swedes have solved their everyday problems for 100 years, told only by Clas Ohlson.

The book was also reused for the history site www.clasohlson100.com, which in addition contains all the catalogs (PDF-scanned) and the story of the company itself.

The History of Svenska Bostäder

Since the 1940s, the housing company Svenska Bostäder has been building homes for the people of Stockholm. We combined historical photos from when the areas were built with newly written texts – and created a web-based timeline and map mashup for them.

The solution was placed on their own website: www.svenskabostader.se/var-historia

Electrolux

Electrolux was founded in 1919 by the legendary Axel Wenner-Gren. For 100 years, Electrolux has improved people's living environments. This story is told in the magnificent book ”Shape living for the better: The first 100 years of Electrolux”, written by Ronald Fagerfjäll, produced by us and published by our publishing house. Additionally, we created the content for the Electrolux historical website, and built a historical exhibition at their headquarters. The same story, many ways to tell it.

Bonus: Electrolux's Head of Communications Martin von Arronet summarized how the company worked with its anniversary in a blog post on LinkedIn. Here you can read his "10 tips: How to make the most out of a corporate anniversary".

The History of Systembolaget

For over 60 years, the exclusive right to sell alcohol has had to be justified and developed, in good times as well as during bribery and scandal times. We tell this story on a website and in a film. The history site is mainly used internally, with visitor numbers peaking twice a year, during introduction periods for new employees. The site can be found at www.systembolagethistoria.se.

Alecta 100 years

The occupational pension company, previously known as SPP, wanted to highlight "the security solution that changed Sweden" and we created film, web, book, podcast, and physical exhibition for them. The historical site, which is a gathering place for this, can be found at www.alectashistoria.se.

Ruter Dam 30 years

When the women's leadership network turned 30 we made a book for them – which mainly focused on societal development since 1987. Over 1200 women have completed the leadership program and they were featured in the book. It became a summary of how working life has changed over three decades, told by the women and business leaders involved. In 2025, we also made a film in which the founder Gunilla Arhén, who led Ruter Dam for 30 years, talks about the program's development.

LKAB

A coffee-table book about the mining giant? Yep, "a masterpiece" said the local media afterwards – about a book we made for the 125th anniversary in 2015 and which was primarily aimed at our own employees.

Marabou 100 years

In 1916, Johan Throne Holst opened a Swedish offshoot of the Norwegian chocolate company Freia. The company was named Marabou – and when it celebrated 100 years, among other things, a historical timeline was made on its own site, a historical overview film and a special edition anniversary chocolate.

More about history marketing

Read "History marketing - Using history as a corproate strategic asset"

A handbook in business use of history that we released in 2023. Full of both theory and practical examples - all based on our over 50 years of experience in helping companies preserve and tell their history.