Purpose - The purpose of this research is to explore if there is a viable way for a newly brand to speed up the process of creating and acquiring the brand equity. Since branding is a very broad area, we narrow the research down to brand alliance for startups. With this research, we aim to deep into the subject to understand how this has been done and could be done.   Research Question - How can a start-up make brand associations with other well-known brands, in order to leverage their equity and acquire its own?   Methodology - Qualitative research method is applied through an interview to the case study company. This research is conducted in inductive reasoning which conforms to the qualitative paradigm. In addition, the research approach is an interpretive that has a view of subjectivism ontology. By looking into our case company, the description of each of the co-branding partnerships performed with its partners is examined. The information is gathered via an interview to the case company as well as secondary sources.   Findings - This research indicates that the case company has greatly benefited from the large number of co-branding partnerships with other well-known brands. It has benefited both in terms of gaining brand awareness and brand image, as well as accessing the customer base of its partners. It is an indication that a new start-up can speed up the process of branding and customers acquisition by engaging in co-branding partnerships.

Multinationals are subject to questioning about organizational legitimacy issues by foreign governments when expanding overseas. This issue has become more prevalent over the past two decades with the rapid development of emerging countries and the exponential expansion in outward foreign direct investments from the firms of these emerging countries. Many emerging-country multinationals, particularly Chinese ones, confront political challenges in overseas. Accordingly, the global marketing economy is increasingly politicized, however previous research on consumer behavior has not paid attention to this political element. Against this background, this thesis draws on signaling theory to investigate the effect of overseas political challenges suffered by Chinese multinationals on domestic consumer purchase willingness, through shaping brand awareness and brand image in the home country. This study adopts a quantitative approach and administers an online questionnaire-based survey to assess Chinese people's willingness to purchase products made by Huawei (a Chinese national brand). Through PLS-SEM analysis of the survey data consisting of 314 valid questionnaires, our results reveal that the overseas political challenges faced by Chinese multinationals does not directly influence domestic consumer purchase willingness. Instead, awareness of this international political pressure can exert a directly positive effect on brand awareness and brand image in the home country, which in turn triggers domestic consumer purchase willingness. Our study suggests that overseas political challenge delivers a positive signaling effect and is conducive to domestic consumer purchase willingness. By building a theoretical link between overseas political challenge and consumer purchase willingness, uncovering the bright side of the challenging overseas environment faced by many multinationals, this study advances research on consumer behavior and gains deeper insight into the effect of these political challenges as well as extending the application of signaling theory.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the relationship between an influencer’s endorsement of a brand and the subsequent brand’s equity within a consumer’s mind. Research Question: How will an influencer endorsement influence a consumer’s brand equity?  Design, Methodology, and Approach: The authors of this paper used a qualitative approach, inductive structure. Due to the explorative nature of this paper, the authors have conducted 10 semi-structured interviews. This method generated a depth of information which was then coded for the analysis process.  Findings: The findings of the research suggest a strong relation between frequent engagement from the influencer and brand awareness through endorsement. There is also a positive association between the relationship with an influencer. Furthermore, trust in influencers is built through two components, knowledge/expertise and authenticity, however, trust does not influence brand loyalty.  Limitations: The interviews were conducted in English although English was not the first language for any of the participants, this caused some confusion when the interviewees had to explain the more technical terms in simplified language. Furthermore, this may have hindered their ability to express themselves 100% accurately, however, the researchers made sure to get a detailed answer for every question to ensure nothing was lost in translation.  Keywords: Influencer, influencer endorsement, brand equity, brand loyalty, brand image, brand awareness, trust, knowledge, expertise, authenticity.

As social media platforms are increasingly becoming more popular and a part of everyday life, Business-to-Business (B2B) marketers from different industries are realizing social media’s potential for achieving marketing purposes. However, scientific literature regarding social media usage in B2B contexts is still filled with gaps in knowledge; especially when compared to literature about social media usage in Business-to-Customer (B2C) contexts. One of these research gaps is the lack of niched information about each effect of using social media. This paper aims at contributing to filling this research gap by presenting an extensive literature review about social media marketing in B2B; followed by an analysis of empirical data gathered from 11 different cases of B2B companies engaged in social media marketing. Moreover, this is to answer the research questions; how are B2B companies using social media to increase brand awareness? Which types of content inspire the most customer engagement? And how can B2B companies amplify their chances of succeeding in increasing brand awareness through social media? This paper will further contribute to this research topic, by identifying further research gaps and present suggestions for future research.

行動電話早已成為大多數人日常生活中的必需品。在台灣，幾年前行動電話普及率便已超過100％，手機市場是一個非常成熟和相當競爭的市場。手機供應商在市場上提供不同平台（作業系統）產品，來滿足消費者的需求和與其他手機製造商競爭。任何新的公司誰想要進入這個飽和的手機市場，並與其他供應商競爭，將是一個很大的挑戰。 ABC是一個國外品牌的手機供應商，自行開發Windows Mobile平台的手機產品在世界很多地區和國家行銷多年。該公司決定進入台灣市場，第一階段選定一款PDA手機作為進入市場的先驅產品。這項研究的目的是想要瞭解這一外國品牌如何來進入這個成熟的市場，研究者將運用一般行銷人員廣泛採用的行銷計劃相關過程，來進行分析與建議。 這個新品牌理想的行銷策略是什麼？如何區分市場和選定目標市場？什麼樣的定位最適合這的產品？要找什麼樣的銷售管道？研究者在做了相關的分析包含消費者分析、競爭者分析、SWOT分析和STP分析後，建議此新品牌應該在較小市場採取”焦點差異”策略的目標行銷、只選定兩個市場、並定位該研究產品為商業人士的手機。研究者也依據所建議的策略和STP結果，提供行銷4P的作法。希望這些建議可作為該新品牌規劃行銷計畫的參考。除此，這份研究也可做為其他任何對於在台灣銷售行動電話業務有興趣的公司來參考。 / Mobile phone has been in our daily life for the majority of the people. In Taiwan, the penetration rate had been over 100% a few years ago. The mobile phone market is very mature and competitive. Phone suppliers in the market provide different platform (operating system) products to meet consumer needs and compete with other phone manufacturers. Any new player who wants to get into this saturated phone market and compete with other suppliers would be a big challenge. ABC is a brand phone supplier being designing Window Mobile products and selling them in many countries for years. The company decided to enter Taiwan market with a selected PDA phone for the first phase of the entry. This study is aimed to realize how this foreign brand can penetrate into this mature market by going through most of the processes of preparing a marketing plan which is widely used by markers. What strategy is ideal for this new brand to adopt? What segments should be targeted and how the brand should position the studied product? What channel partner should be considered? After going through customer analysis, competitor analysis, SWOT analysis, and STP process, the researcher suggested this new brand pursue “differentiation focus” strategy to differentiate the studied product with competing products in a narrower market, target only two selected segments, and position the studied product as a business user device. The researcher also suggested suitable marketing mix based on the recommended strategy and STP to penetrate this market. This study result can be a good reference to the new brand company and any other companies who might be interested in the same business in the industry.

Bakgrund: Då ett företags logotyp är kopplad till dess varumärkesvärde kan en förändring av en sådan ha en påverkan på det uppfattade varumärkesvärdet. Därför är det av intresse att undersöka huruvida det uppfattade varumärkesvärdet skiljer sig åt för en logotyp som genomgått en liten förändring jämfört med en logotyp som genomgått en stor. Det vore då även aktuellt att utreda vad som är viktigt vid sådana förändringar. Syfte: Att besvara frågeställningen och genom detta generera ett kunskapsbidrag till redan existerande forskning kring varumärkesvärde, logotyper och logotypförändringar. Metod: Studien har genomförts genom kvantitativ metod. Enkätinsamlingen för studien genererade totalt 305 svar. Det vetenskapliga förhållningssättet för studien är positivistiskt och den har en deduktiv forskningsansats. Bearbetningen och analysen av insamlad data har gjorts med hjälp av programmen Excel och SPSS. Slutsats: Varumärkesvärdet utifrån en logotyp uppfattas som mer positivt hos de respondenter som exponerats för en stor förändring jämfört med en liten. Hur pass engagerade konsumenterna är i varumärket är avgörande för hur väl förändringen tas emot. Även färgvalet är viktigt. Slutligen kräver en logotypförändring mycket reklam och marknadsföring för att den ska ha ett positivt resultat, oavsett engagemang och tidigare uppfattning av varumärkesvärdet. / Background: As a business’ logotype is connected to its brand equity, a change of thelogotype may affect the perceived brand equity. Therefore it is interesting to study whether the perceived brand equity differs for a logotype that has gone through a small change compared to a logotype that has gone through a large change. It is also interesting to evaluate which elements that are important when doing these types of changes. Purpose: To answer the research question and through this generate a contribution of knowledge to already existing research concerning brand equity, logotypes and logotype changes. Method: The study has been made using quantitative research method. In total, 305 answers were collected. The scientific approach is positivistic and it has a deductive research approach. To process the data, the programs Excel and SPSS have been used. Conclusions: Brand equity affected by a logotype is perceived as more positive by the respondents that have been exposed to a large change compared to a small. The respondents’ engagement to the brand is crucial for how well the change is being received. The choice of colour is also important. Finally, a logo change requires a lot of advertising and marketing activities to have a positive effect, regardless of level of engagement and earlier perception of the brand equity.

The purpose of the thesis was to investigate how generation Z values ​​the customer-based brand equity of a consumer product. Generation Z is an interesting generation to study since they have shown to differ in a variety of aspects from previous generations. To answer the purpose, a model has been constructed, which is based on previous research. The model consists of the components; brand awareness, brand associations/image, perceived quality and brand loyalty. Together the components form the cornerstones of the customer-based brand equity. Eight hypotheses were tested with the purpose of measuring the interrelationship between the components, and the relationship between the various components and the customer-based brand equity. Six of these eight hypotheses could be accepted. The result showed that the components brand association/image and brand loyalty have a positive impact on the customer-based brand equity, while brand awareness and perceived quality showed a non-significant result. The non-significant results were then further examined through t-test, with the purpose of trying to find possible reasons for the outcome. Moreover, the results showed that brand awareness has a positive correlation with both brand associations/image and perceived quality. Finally, the result showed that brand loyalty was positively correlated to both brand associations/image and perceived quality. For further research, it is proposed that a more comprehensive study consisting of more respondents from generation Z should be conducted. In addition, further research could be based on other consumer products and also examine whether there could be more or other components that should be considered when measuring customer-based brand equity. / Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur generation Z värderar det kundbaserade varumärkeskapitalet hos en konsumentprodukt. Det är intressant att undersöka generation Z då de på många sätt visat skilja sig från tidigare generationer. För att besvara syftet har en modell utformats som är baserad på tidigare forskning. Modellen består av komponenterna; varumärkeskännedom, varumärkesassociationer/image uppfattad kvalitet, och varumärkeslojalitet. Komponenterna utgör tillsammans grundstenarna för det kundbaserade varumärkeskapitalet. Åtta hypoteser utformades för samband inbördes mellan komponenterna samt även de olika komponenternas påverkan på det kundbaserade varumärkeskapitalet. Av dessa åtta hypoteser kunde sex av dem accepteras. Resultatet visade att komponenterna varumärkesassociation/image och varumärkeslojalitet har positiv påverkan på det kundbaserade varumärkeskapitalet, medan komponenterna varumärkeskännedom och uppfattad kvalitet visade ett icke signifikant resultat. De icke signifikanta resultaten som erhölls undersöktes vidare genom t-tester i ett försök att hitta en förklaring till resultaten. Inbördes bland komponenterna visade resultatet att varumärkeskännedom har ett positivt samband till både varumärkesassociationer/image och uppfattad kvalitet. Slutligen visade studien på att varumärkeslojalitet har ett positivt samband till både varumärkesassociationer/image och uppfattad kvalitet. För fortsatt forskning föreslås bland annat att en mer omfattande studie bestående av fler respondenter från generation Z genomförs. Utöver det hade det för fortsatt forskning varit intressant att basera studier på andra konsumentprodukter, och även undersöka om det finns fler eller andra komponenter som bör tas hänsyn till vid mätningen av det kundbaserade varumärkeskapitalet.

Brand awareness and its establishment among consumers has been a central theme in previous research on marketing as it is proven to indirectly induce purchase. It is thus seen as crucial for marketers to establish brand awareness. However, a research gap is apparent in regard to creating brand awareness among Generation Z. More specifically, this study focuses on which communication channel that is best suited for establishing brand awareness for this generational cohort. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explicitly analyse the linkage between these variables and provide a guideline for companies targeting Generation Z. To obtain a deeper understanding, previous research has been reviewed and an extensive data collection has been conducted including two methods; interviews and a survey to obtain empirical evidence and valuable insights. The qualitative data was of main focus with the quantitative data gave more of an overview. By combining and evaluating the empirical findings in relation to previous research and theory we could identify patterns and relationships that eventually led to the conclusion and final results of this thesis. The initial results concluded from this study underlined the importance of brand awareness since it was the first step for the purpose of inducing purchases. In addition, the results also highlight the importance of building upon brand awareness to establish brand liking as it will provide for the increase of purchase intention. For establishing brand awareness when targeting Generation Z, Instagram is a means of preference and should be considered as part of a mix of various communication channels in using integrated marketing communications.

Since the improved people’s living standard, luxury buying has increasingly spread in popularity, especially in developing countries. Conspicuous consumption has resulted in this luxury buying among consumers. This mentality leads to consumers to achieve their own goal through luxury goods, such as reflecting their status, showing the uniqueness and so on. In order to buy their favorite luxury goods, consumers try different channels and overseas buying is the main channel for them. Under this situation, China as the second-biggest luxury market, the demand for overseas luxury among Chinese consumer has credit raised. It is therefore important for conducting consumer behavior research to analyze this phenomenon and identify corresponding factors that lead consumers buying luxury abroad. The purpose of the research is to understand the phenomenon of the consumers buying luxury goods overseas and to identify the corresponding factor for the luxury shop or the company which could conduct managerial implication to encourage consumers buying domestically. Since the improved people’s living standard, luxury buying has increasingly spread in popularity, especially in developing countries. Conspicuous consumption has resulted in this luxury buying among consumers. This mentality leads to consumers to achieve their own goal through luxury goods, such as reflecting their status, showing the uniqueness and so on. In order to buy their favorite luxury goods, consumers try different channels and overseas buying is the main channel for them. Under this situation, China as the second-biggest luxury market, the demand for overseas luxury among Chinese consumer has credit raised. It is therefore important for conducting consumer behavior research to analyze this phenomenon and identify corresponding factors that lead consumers buying luxury abroad. The purpose of the research is to understand the phenomenon of the consumers buying luxury goods overseas and to identify the corresponding factor for the luxury shop or the company which could conduct managerial implication to encourage consumers buying domestically.

O patrocínio a mega eventos esportivos, como os Jogos Olímpicos, tornou-se, especialmente nas últimas décadas, uma importante ferramenta de marketing, comunicação e branding para ampliação do alcance global e local de marcas patrocinadoras. Dentre as ferramentas utilizadas no patrocínio esportivo, destacam-se as ativações de marca realizadas nos locais de competição, que afetam a percepção de espectadores do evento. Mais do que afetar a percepção dos mesmos em relação à marca, tais ações de ativação, se bem estruturadas, têm a capacidade de gerar consciência de marca e, por consequência, agregar valores tangíveis e intangíveis a elas. No entanto, o número de estudos que relacionam as percepções das ativações e a consequente geração de consciência de marcas patrocinadoras de mega eventos ainda é notavelmente baixo. Desta forma, o objetivo principal deste trabalho foi avaliar a consciência de marca gerada nos consumidores e a percepção dos mesmos, sobre as ações de ativação de dois patrocinadores locais (Bradesco e Correios) e dois globais (Coca-Cola e Samsung) dos Jogos Olímpicos Rio 2016. Para alcançar tal objetivo, optou-se por uma metodologia mista de caráter exploratório, explicativo e descritivo. Os dados foram obtidos a partir da aplicação de questionários pré-definidos para uma amostra total de 405 indivíduos, distribuídos em três fases: em Evento Teste da Ginástica Artística, antes da realização dos Jogos Olímpicos (fase 1), no Parque Olímpico da Barra da Tijuca; durante os Jogos Olímpicos Rio 2016 (fase 2), no mesmo local; e, um ano após a realização do mega evento (fase 3), em abordagem online. As análises foram realizadas através da frequência de respostas e processo de codificação e categorização do conteúdo. Como resultado, notou-se um baixo índice de percepção das ações de ativação realizadas na primeira fase. Este baixo índice impactou negativamente o nível de consciência de marca relacionado a patrocinadores locais na segunda fase. Por outro lado, não foi capaz de impactar negativamente os índices de consciência de marca associados a patrocinadores globais na mesma fase. Para a segunda fase, os índices de percepção de ativações de marca melhoraram para todos os patrocinadores, com exceção dos Correios, e impactaram diretamente (promovendo uma elevação) o índice de consciência de marca apontado pelos respondentes na terceira fase de coletas. Conclui-se, então, que no caso de patrocinadores locais, o nível de percepção das ações de ativação realizadas em uma fase afeta diretamente o nível de consciência de marca gerado na fase seguinte. Para patrocinadores globais, no entanto, somente a percepção das ativações ofertadas em uma fase não é suficiente para manutenção do nível de consciência de marca na fase seguinte; é necessário um considerável nível prévio de associação entre o patrocinador e os Jogos Olímpicos para potencializar o efeito de tais ativações sobre os espectadores/consumidores / Sponsorship of mega-sporting events such as the Olympic Games have become, mainly in the last decades, an important marketing, communication and branding tool to extend the global and local reach of sponsoring brands. Among the tools used in sports sponsorship, brand activations created in competition sites, which affect the perception of the event spectators, should be highlighted. More than affecting their perception in relation to the brand, if well structured such activations are capable of generating brand awareness and, consequently, add tangible and intangible value to it. However, the number of studies that relate activation perception and the consequent awareness of the sponsoring brands in mega events is notably small. Thus, the main objective of this work was to assess consumers\' brand awareness and perception about the activation actions of two local sponsors (Bradesco and Correios) and two global sponsors (Coca-Cola and Samsung) of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. To achieve such an objective, a mixed exploratory, explanatory and descriptive methodology was chosen. The data were obtained from pre-defined questionnaires applied to a sample of 405 people in three phases: during the Artistic Gymnastics Test Event, before de Olympic Games (phase 1), which took place at the Barra da Tijuca Olympic Park; during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (phase 2), which happened at the same place as in phase 1; and a year after the mega event (phase 3), by using an online approach. The analyses were carried out by means of frequency of the answers and a process of content encoding and categorization. The findings point to low levels of perception in relation to the activations performed in the first phase. Such low levels influenced negatively the level of brand awareness related to the local sponsors in the second phase. On the other hand, they did not influence negatively the levels of brand awareness associated with the global sponsors in the same phase. In the second phase, the levels of perception of brand activation improved in relation to all the sponsors analyzed except Correios, and exerted direct impact (causing an increase) on the respondents\' level of brand awareness in the third phase of data collecting. It is concluded that, in the case of local sponsors, the level of perception of activation actions in one phase directly affects the level of brand awareness in the following phase. As for global sponsors, however, only the perception of the activations created in one phase is not enough to keep the level of brand awareness in the following phase; a considerable previous level of association between the sponsor and the Olympic Games is necessary to boost the effect of such activations on spectators/consumers