S Group's brand, i.e., the S Brand, consists of cooperative activities and co-op membership, together with S Group's overall service supply and brands.When co-op members enter an outlet where they see the stylised letter S or the S-Etukortti card indicating co-op membership, they will know that they are in a place they themselves own andthat they are making purchases in a trade group whose operations are based on democratic form of governance and whose development they can themselves affect.
As a guarantor brand, the S Brand makes a promise on the level of service to the customer:the letter S warrants an expectation of good, extensive and quality-wise consistent service that will not disappoint the customer.The cooperative brands are regional manifestations of this S Brand.
The overall S Brand has been systematically developed within S Group for two decades.With focus on cooperative activities and co-op membership, the development of the brand started from the recrystallised idea of why the cooperatives and S Group still existed.
From the 1960s through the 1980s, this basic premise had somewhat faded away:services and marketing were directed at the whole population, leaving co-op members on the same line with other customers.The emphasis of the activities was on event marketing, newspaper advertising and top discounts.Cooperatives were unprofitable and close to bankruptcy.
In the 1980s, an extensive structural change was carried out in S Group, bringing along regional cooperatives.After the change, chain concepts were further developed and the importance of membership was fortified.From product-based marketing, which had customers running from one shop to another after individual items, a shift was made towards construction of chain brands, consistently inexpensive prices and clarification of the concept of co-op membership.
Focusing on co-op membership, S Group got to a new rise in the 1990s and 2000s.Today, the S-Etukortti card is one of the top-rated service brands in Finland.
In addition to co-op membership and cooperative activities, S Group's overall S Brand comprises S Group's service brands (e.g., Prisma, S-market, Kodin Terra, Sokos, S-Bank, ABC, Sokos Hotels, Amarillo, Rosso), product brands (private label products such as Rainbow), company brands (SOK, cooperatives and subsidiaries) and communication channel brands (e.g., Yhteishyvä, yhteishyva.fi, Samarbete and S-kanava.fi).S Group's national brands are owned by SOK.