This study examines the effects of two types of consumer knowledge, product and brand knowledge, on consumer fit perceptions between an extension and its parent brand, so as to further investigate the role of consumer knowledge in brand extension evaluations. Based on the reviewed literature four hypotheses were proposed. The first two hypotheses predicted that both product and brand knowledge has an impact of consumer perceived fit between an extension and its parent brand. The other two hypotheses proposed that product knowledge affect more on the fit perceptions between a functional brand and its extension, while brand knowledge affect more on the fit perceptions between a prestige brand and its extension. An experiment was performed to examine these hypothesized relationships. Two hypotheses related to brand knowledge are supported, while the other two hypotheses related to product knowledge are not supported statistically. The results reveal that product and brand knowledge have different effects on consumer fit perceptions between an extension and its parent brand in terms of different brand types, functional vs. prestige brand. The experimental findings demonstrate that brand knowledge has an impact on consumer fit perceptions between an extension and its parent brand, and its effect dominant in prestige brand extension evaluations.

<p>In today’s world, where the consumer is constantly exposed to more and more brands in almost any kind of environment, the importance of exploiting those brands which have managed to reach the consumer’s mind and gained a strong position has increased. A majority of new product launches are extensions of existing brands. Brand extensions can be seen as a less expensive as well as less risky way to satisfy the consumer’s demands and needs within several segments by providing several products under the same brand rather than creating a new name for every new product. Even though the extension of brands has become a popular strategy, it can still be somewhat of a troublesome affaire to extend the brand without loosing its original value. A “very good” brand extension not only creates additional cash-flow but also enhances the brand name. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to identify factors that enable enhanced brand equity through category brand extension. A category extensions is when an existing brand name is applied to a product category that is new to the firm.</p><p>The study is conducted based on exclusively written data whereas a presentation of textual analysis will appear. As the focus is on theoretical findings and not empirical, no entire chapter in this thesis will concern empirical findings. Elementary variables of brands are defined, explained and discussed as well as the concept of brand equity, identity and image. Further, we present a discussion concerning definitions and the research that has been conducted on the subject of extensions. A discussion on the potential benefits and difficulties that are involved in brand extension follows and the concept of extension fit as well as aspects of lifestyle are presented. The conclusions reach are seven factors, all benefiting from having a high level of abstraction. The factors enhancing brand equity through category extensions are: Brand Context Distance, Lifestyle, Brand Awareness, Fit, Guarantee Function, Personality and Relationship.</p>

<p>These days, brands play an increasing important role in our life. Most of firm work hard for brand development. The purpose of this study is to analyze the brand development of H&M in general and how it starts opening in China. The result shows that H&M develops its brand successfully around the world. It not only creates a wonderful reputation and healthy brand image in consumers’ minds, but also makes them satisfied. Even it has been doing well in its penetration in the Chinese market.</p>

<p>Sportindustrin blir alltmer marknadsdriven. För att kunna bedriva effektiv marknadsföring blir det allt vanligare att strategiskt arbeta med att utveckla varumärken, brand management, som man använder sig av för att genom olika kommunikationskanaler attrahera konsumenter. Många av Sveriges specialförbund arbetar idag konkret med sport brand management. Svenska Ridsportförbundet (SvRF) har inte tidigare arbetat med sport brand management varav syftet med denna uppsats därför är att påbörja en varumärkesutveckling genom att identifiera och beskriva SvRF:s varumärke från ett internt perspektiv samt undersöka hur förbundet genom sport brand management kan utveckla verksamheten.  Uppsatsen bygger på en fallstudie med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys som inkluderar semistrukturerade intervjuer med anställda på förbundet. I empirin presenteras SvRF:s erbjudande, varumärke och verksamhetsmål samt några av de viktigaste faktorer som påverkar ridsportens utveckling. Den empiriska sammanställningen visar att trots det faktum att SvRF idag inte bedriver något konkret brand management har varumärket ”svensk ridsport” ändå en stark identitet och många unika värden. Vidare visar slutsatsen att SvRF genom mer fokus på varumärket och brand management kan utveckla verksamheten ytterligare.</p>

Nowadays global market is quite attractive for high competition environment.  First is to reduce risks and uncertainties of the business in their home countries. Second is to exploit the growing global market for goods and services which can lead to economies of scale and the increasing of market share. In order to be visible in global market, brands can be used to play an important role. From marketing point of view, brands are the means that consumers use to distinguish products and services based on essential and non-essential attributes and they are a source of business’s differential advantage. Furthermore, brands communicate tangible and intangible advantages and are attractive to a range of feeling. In order to make decisions for brand strategy, branding plays an important role. Critical advantage of branding is for product identification, and it is also the key element for marketers to differentiate a product from its rivals. However, branding provides many benefits apart from identification and differentiation of products

With  the development of Chinese  economy  and market,  the Chinese brand  is going out  of China, more  and more  overseas Chinese  enterprises  have  attracted  attention outside of China. Among all these overseas Chinese, a group of people called Wenzhounese, famous for Wenzhou Model they created in China, bought back the dynamic industry cluster in regions in Italy. Blooming Chinese  brands  are  increasing  in  the corner  of  streets  and  their  industrial  clusters  range  from  leather  shoes  and  bags  to electric parts, apparel and so on. The purpose of this study is to explore whether the Chinese Wenzhounese immigrant companies in Italy perceive that they have particular common problems and/or benefits in branding themselves in Italy. Through analysis of the role of the brand management in these companies under the context of European/developed market, we aim to find which internal and external factors influence these obstacles and opportunities.

A brand consists of more parts than the visible features such as names and logotypes. No matter in what industry a company is acting the brand in itself determines if the company will succeed or not. A successful brand is extremely hard to copy since two exactly similar brands do not exist. With a strong brand you create positive associations and form emotional relationships with customers. The purpose with this paper was to investigate how banks in the Swedish market explain their brand identity and how they use their brand identity when positioning themselves. Furthermore the authors have investigated the differences in that matter between two of the leading banks in Sweden. This was done through a comparative case study with Nordea and SEB who are two of the leading banks in the Swedish market. A qualitative method has been used to this thesis and in-depth interviews have been conducted to collect information that was suitable for our stated problem. The results showed that both Nordea and SEB explain their brand identity according to the different aspects that the theory states and they understand the importance of brand identity. When building brand identity it is important to be aware of the different parts that the brand identity consists of. Both banks try to develop the different parts of the brand identity but there are differences in the amount of resources they put in each part. When positioning themselves, both Nordea and SEB are answering the questions in the theory concerning positioning and positioning a brand. The theory implies that the core identities are the foundation when positioning and both Nordea and SEB are well aware of their core identities and they are using them when positioning their brand.

These days, brands play an increasing important role in our life. Most of firm work hard for brand development. The purpose of this study is to analyze the brand development of H&amp;M in general and how it starts opening in China. The result shows that H&amp;M develops its brand successfully around the world. It not only creates a wonderful reputation and healthy brand image in consumers’ minds, but also makes them satisfied. Even it has been doing well in its penetration in the Chinese market.

Sportindustrin blir alltmer marknadsdriven. För att kunna bedriva effektiv marknadsföring blir det allt vanligare att strategiskt arbeta med att utveckla varumärken, brand management, som man använder sig av för att genom olika kommunikationskanaler attrahera konsumenter. Många av Sveriges specialförbund arbetar idag konkret med sport brand management. Svenska Ridsportförbundet (SvRF) har inte tidigare arbetat med sport brand management varav syftet med denna uppsats därför är att påbörja en varumärkesutveckling genom att identifiera och beskriva SvRF:s varumärke från ett internt perspektiv samt undersöka hur förbundet genom sport brand management kan utveckla verksamheten.  Uppsatsen bygger på en fallstudie med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys som inkluderar semistrukturerade intervjuer med anställda på förbundet. I empirin presenteras SvRF:s erbjudande, varumärke och verksamhetsmål samt några av de viktigaste faktorer som påverkar ridsportens utveckling. Den empiriska sammanställningen visar att trots det faktum att SvRF idag inte bedriver något konkret brand management har varumärket ”svensk ridsport” ändå en stark identitet och många unika värden. Vidare visar slutsatsen att SvRF genom mer fokus på varumärket och brand management kan utveckla verksamheten ytterligare.

In today’s world, where the consumer is constantly exposed to more and more brands in almost any kind of environment, the importance of exploiting those brands which have managed to reach the consumer’s mind and gained a strong position has increased. A majority of new product launches are extensions of existing brands. Brand extensions can be seen as a less expensive as well as less risky way to satisfy the consumer’s demands and needs within several segments by providing several products under the same brand rather than creating a new name for every new product. Even though the extension of brands has become a popular strategy, it can still be somewhat of a troublesome affaire to extend the brand without loosing its original value. A “very good” brand extension not only creates additional cash-flow but also enhances the brand name. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to identify factors that enable enhanced brand equity through category brand extension. A category extensions is when an existing brand name is applied to a product category that is new to the firm. The study is conducted based on exclusively written data whereas a presentation of textual analysis will appear. As the focus is on theoretical findings and not empirical, no entire chapter in this thesis will concern empirical findings. Elementary variables of brands are defined, explained and discussed as well as the concept of brand equity, identity and image. Further, we present a discussion concerning definitions and the research that has been conducted on the subject of extensions. A discussion on the potential benefits and difficulties that are involved in brand extension follows and the concept of extension fit as well as aspects of lifestyle are presented. The conclusions reach are seven factors, all benefiting from having a high level of abstraction. The factors enhancing brand equity through category extensions are: Brand Context Distance, Lifestyle, Brand Awareness, Fit, Guarantee Function, Personality and Relationship.