This paper examines the mechanisms of “successful” communication in matters of political leaders’ability to gain public trust and credibility during large scale crises. Even though political actors andother stakeholders tend to be very proactive to promote their views, news media also play an activeand important role in framing public policy issues and crises.1 Thus, this thesis involves both politicalactors and media in the context of framing and crisis communication. Their interrelation and itsimportance for explaining successful crisis communication is demonstrated by producing a case studyof the Norwegian government’s communication efforts during and after the terrorist attack in Osloand the island of Utöya 22/7 2011. This paper argues and demonstrates that the active use ofpositive frames, that are cultural congruent and resonate with the media shaping, is a necessity tocreate a favorable context for winning praise and support in times of crisis. In line with previousresearch, framing strategies in crisis communication is demonstrated to be central to the crisisresponse and determines whether a responsible stakeholder is able to create momentum, maintainand even gain increased public support or not.

Studiens syfte är att få en fördjupad kunskap om hur socialtjänsten i Dalarna informerar barn och unga om sina verksamheter via webben. En kombination av kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod har använts och data har samlats in med hjälp av en innehållsanalys av samtliga dalakommuners webbaserade information. Data som samlats in har analyserats med hjälp av barnperspektivet samt teorier kring strategisk kommunikation. Av resultatet har framkommit att det utifrån ett barnperspektiv råder stora brister i kommunernas webbaserade information samt att kommunerna inte tycks ha några strategier för hur kommunikationen med barn och ungdomar bör ske. Av resultaten framkommer även att rådande lagstiftning samt FNs konvention om barnets rättigheter inte tas hänsyn till. / The purpose of this study is to reach an understanding about how the social services in Dalarna are informing children and youths about their functions and services through the Internet. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods has been used and data has been collected through content analysis of all web sites of Dalarnas counties. The data that has been collected has been analyzed from a child perspective and through theories of strategic communication. The results have disclosed that there from a child perspective are many faults in the web based information provided by the counties and it seems like they do not have any strategies for how communication with children and youths should be handled. The result also reveals that current law and the UN conventions on the rights of the child are not taken into consideration.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how the business strategy is communicated by the senior management and interpreted by the employees at a parallel distribution company of pharmaceuticals. These knowledge intense organizations are characterized by complex and ambiguous work tasks. Traditional management control theories are based on the assumption that managers should create rules, order and norms to control their employees. But in complex organizations it is difficult for the senior management to understand the entire work flow and different form of control mechanisms are requested. Recent studies have shown that vertical directions often are questioned and translated by the employees at the horizontal level within complex organizations. This is a fairly new way of looking at management control and moreresearch is required, which this thesis aims at providing. The business strategy is often created by the senior management to control and direct the employeebehaviour, and internal communication is often used to implement the strategy at the horizontal level. Drawing from this it is interesting to focus on the business strategy from employee perspective, to analyse how the employees questions and translates the business strategy to fit their work. The thesis has a qualitative and deductive approach. 14 interviews are conducted. One with the senior manager and 13 with the employees at the horizontal level. The findings suggest that different form of knowledge work require different form of control mechanisms. Some employees interpretedthe strategy the same way the senior management did and some questioned and translated the strategy to be more suitable for their own work. The pharmacists questioned the strategy while the sale force worked according to it. The findings also suggest that in order for the strategy to act as a control tool the content is important and needs to reflect the employees work.

The politicians have entered a new platform with the potential to democratization and to exchange ideas. Therefore, we want to look into what new conditions social media creates for politicians. Through strategic political communication the goal-oriented two-way communication is depicted as it is crucial for relations to establish, build up, maintain and to be affected.   One aspect of this is about the creation of messages and the visual communication affecting the meaning of the content. In our study, these theories have become the foundation in the research, and of the tools used when developing messages for social networks. We have looked deeper into Facebook as a social media and political parties on this platform. We focused on and observed their different ways of developing messages in their Facebook feed and the reactions they generated. We found tendencies saying that pictures and videos have a great effect on a engagement generated in the posts. This proves that visual communication is a crucial tool for political strategic communications within the networks of social media.

In a multicultural society, questions like integration, national identity and swedishness become of immediate importance. The comedy-drama Sveriges bästa svensk was created as a contribution to affect the public debate on these issues and encourage people to think about what is swedish, and to break down prejudices that exist in the society. The purpose of this study is to examine what kind of discussions develop in relation to the film. The purpose is also to examine if these discussions can be related to the purpose and goals of the film project. To examine this, theories about communications strategies of organisations and theories of humor to affect way of thoughts have been used. Two focus group interviews took place, whereof one with swedish-born swedes and another with foreign-born swedes to be able to find similarities and differences in the discussions between the groups. The analysis shows that the purpose, to start a discussion, is accomplished within both groups albeit in different ways. The discussion within the group of swedish-borns is mainly about the problematization of swedishness and the discussions within the group of foreign-borns is mainly about adjustments and belonging. The groups mutually believe that integration should not be about assimilation. They also agreed that the genre of humor for this type of question was problematic because the film, according to them, lost its message. The questions regarding swedishness and integration proved to be current and this type of effort, using film, is an important part of the public debate. / I ett mångkulturellt samhälle blir frågor om integration, nationell identitet och svenskhet aktuella. Dramakomedin Sveriges bästa svensk har skapats som en insats för att påverka samhällsdebatten kring dessa ämnen och uppmana en att fundera på vem som är svensk och bryta ner fördomar som existerar i samhället. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka slags diskussioner, i relation till filmen, som skapas hos en grupp med utlandsfödda svenskar och en grupp med svenskfödda svenskar. Syftet är även att undersöka om diskussionerna kan relateras till det bakomliggande syftet och målen med filmprojektet. För att undersöka detta har teorier om organisationers kommunikationsstrategier och teorier om att använda humor för att påverka tankebanor använts. Två fokusgruppsintervjuer har ägt rum varav en med svenskfödda svenskar och en med utlandsfödda svenskar för att kunna hitta likheter och skillnader i diskussionerna mellan grupperna. Analysen visar att syftet med att inleda diskussion uppnås hos båda grupperna, om än på olika sätt. Den svenskfödda gruppens diskussioner handlar mycket om problematisering av svenskhet och den utlandsföddas diskussioner om anpassning och tillhörighet. Gemensamt för de båda grupperna var att de ansåg att integration inte bör handla om assimilation. De menade också att humorgenren för denna typ av fråga var problematisk då humorn, enligt dem, delvis skymde filmens budskap. Frågorna kring svenskhet och integration visar sig vara aktuella och denna typ av insats, med film, är en viktig del av samhällsdebatten.

In this thesis we take the Bayesian persuasion model, impose a limitation on the signal space and subsequently derive the first order conditions for the equilibrium. Then we enhance the model for several different constraints. We find that the analysis is greatly facilitated if such constraints do not relax when more signals are added to the model. The first type of constraint is imposed to eliminate the perfectly informative persuasion mechanisms. The second type of constraint limits the total uncertainty reduction caused by the persuasion. Finally the third type of constraint is a participation constraint. It ensures a certain level of reservation utility for the persuaded party. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Big data analysis and inbound marketing are interlinked and can play a significant role in the identification of target audience and in the production of communication content as per the needs of target audience for strategic communication campaigns. By introducing and bringing the marketing concepts of big data analysis and inbound marketing into the field of strategic communication this quantitative study attempts to fill the gap in the limited body of knowledge of strategic communication research and practice. This study has used marketing campaigns as case studies to introduce a new strategic communication model by introducing the big data analysis and inbound marketing strategy into the three staged model of strategic communication presented by Gulbrandsen, I. T., & Just, S. N. in 2016. Big data driven campaigns are used to explain the procedure of target audience selection, key concepts of big data analysis, future opportunities, practical applications of big data for strategic communication practitioners and researchers by identifying the need for more academic research and practical use of big data analysis and inbound marketing in the strategic communication area. The study shows that big data analysis has potential to contribute in the field of strategic and target oriented communication. Inbound marketing and big data analysis has been used and considered as marketing strategy but this study is an attempt to shift the attention towards its role in strategic communication so there is a need to study big data analysis and inbound marketing with an open mind without confining it with some particular fields.

A Comunicação Organizacional é um instrumento precioso e imprescindível tanto como ferramenta auxiliar no planejamento estratégico integrado quanto na prevenção ou resolução de uma crise de imagem, sendo esta definida como uma entidade externa e uma construção mental que inclui ideias, sentimentos, atitudes, conceitos mentais e expectativas, e que pode afetar diretamente a relação da organização com o seu público (STERN; ZINKHAN; JAJU, 2001). As estratégias de Comunicação Organizacional interferem diretamente ainda na recuperação da credibilidade e na reconstrução da imagem corporativa após um incidente de crise. Este estudo apresenta estratégias de Comunicação Organizacional e de Gestão de Crise de Imagem adotadas pela Assessoria de Comunicação do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Sul – Campus Caxias do Sul. Dois anos depois de ter sido instituído, em 2010, o IFRS Campus Caxias do Sul enfrentou uma crise ocasionada pelo atraso na conclusão da obra da sede definitiva, fato que ocasionou protestos dos alunos, pais e servidores da instituição e que foi amplamente divulgado pela imprensa O início do trabalho de Comunicação Organizacional se deu em 2013, a partir de um planejamento de comunicação estratégica. Inicialmente, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa exploratória com os stakeholders (alunos, servidores, pais ou responsáveis e profissionais da imprensa), a fim de ampliar os conhecimentos sobre o contexto da crise. Após o diagnóstico da situação, foi realizado um Planejamento de Comunicação Organizacional e um Plano de Gestão de Crise de Imagem, com base no modelo de Timothy Coombs, elaborados para que a instituição pudesse recuperar a imagem abalada e a credibilidade do seu público de interesse. A implantação das estratégias de comunicação e do Plano de Gestão de Crise de Imagem foi planejada e executada em conjunto pela assessoria de comunicação e os gestores responsáveis pela instituição e resultaram em maior proximidade com o público e maior transparência nas relações, despertando o sentimento de pertencimento dos stakeholders em relação à instituição. / Organizational Communication is a precious and indispensable instrument as an auxiliary tool in integrated strategic planning and in the prevention or resolution of an image crisis, defined as an external entity and a mental construct that includes ideas, feelings, attitudes, mental concepts and Expectations, and that can directly affect the organization's relationship with its public (STERN; ZINKHAN; JAJU, 2001). The Organizational Communication strategies directly interfere in the recovery of credibility and in the reconstruction of the corporate image after an incident of crisis. This study presents strategies of Organizational Communication and Image Crisis Management adopted by the Communication Department of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Sul - Caxias do Sul Campus. Two years after it was instituted in 2010, The IFRS Campus Caxias do Sul faced an image crisis caused by the delay in the completion of the definitive headquarters work, a fact that provoked protests from students, parents and employees of the institution and was widely publicized in the press. The beginning of the work of Organizational Communication occurred in 2013, from a strategic communication planning. Initially, a qualitative exploratory research was carried out with the stakeholders (students, servants, parents or leaders and the press) in order to increase knowledge about the context of the crisis After the situation was diagnosed, an Organizational Communication Plan and an Image Crisis Management Plan, based on the Timothy Coombs model, were prepared so that the institution could recover the shaken image and the credibility of its target audience. The implementation of the communication strategies and the Image Crisis Management Plan was planned and carried out jointly by the communication advisor and the managers responsible for the institution, and resulted in greater proximity to the public and greater transparency in the relations, arousing the feeling of the stakeholders in relation to the institution.

The U.S. Department of Defense spent $11 billion in enlistment and retention bonuses from 2006 to 2010, which had only a marginally positive effect on the enlistment rate for the Army. The case study addressed this business problem of recruiting by exploring marketing strategies successful recruiting professionals used to motivate individuals to join the military. The purpose of this study was to determine effective recruiting strategies. Therefore, it incorporated the conceptual framework of emergent strategy theory, which postulated the best strategies are neither completely planned nor completely random, but are rather an adaptation to changing dynamics and circumstances. The population consisted of 2 former recruiters, 1 from the Army and another from the Marine Corps, as well as 38 college students located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Data for the study morphed from face-to-face interviews and 3 focus groups comprised of 10 to 15 students each, for the purpose of addressing the research question. Data analysis occurred through a process of coding and theming. The 9 themes identified included tell the story, advertising strategies, and fit for duty. A lesson learned from these themes was that the key for successful recruiting strategies lies in aligning with the wants and needs of individuals in the target demographic. If senior leaders in the Department of Defense followed the recommendations provided, each of the branches of the military service could potentially achieve higher recruiting rates at a lower cost. The study could result in social change whereby eligible recruits could view the Army and Marine Corps as professions of arms in which individuals can live out their ideals of patriotism but also have a good quality of life due to the benefits of military service.

During the 2008 South Ossetia war, Georgia and Russia fought what the English-language media called "a public relations war“. This was an interesting example of modern information warfare where governments allied with public relations agencies battled for symbolic power on the media field. This study investigates the information campaign that the Georgian government launched to promote their framing of the conflict in the English-language media. First-hand information about the campaign strategies and techniques is gathered by interviewing the people who worked as PR consultants for the Georgian government during the war in 2008. The eventual PR output is mapped and press release texts are compared with articles from The New York Times and The Washington Post in a framing analysis. The results indicate that Georgia won the PR war as the coverage in the U.S. newspapers clearly supported Georgia's framing. This outcome is attributed to the Georgian side's media management activities that skillfully anticipated the needs of the foreign correspondents covering the conflict. However, the study points out that the supportive coverage was not the result of Georgia's information campaign only. Other factors have to be taken into account, most notably the U.S. administration's strong backing of the Georgian leadership that shaped the tone of the articles written about the war. Future research should look at how the war was covered in countries with less explicit political support for Georgia, as well as investigate the PR efforts on the Russian side during and after the war.