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Digitalization brings the opportunity for businesses to establish themselves and build their brand online. Social media streamlines communication between business and consumer and allows companies to analyze and understand their target audience more easily. The aim of the study was to increase the understanding of how companies work with brand building in social media to generate engagement. The study uses a theoretical framework consisting of theories related to branding and social media. Using a qualitative research method with a deductive approach, individual interviews were conducted with three case companies. This was done with the aim of studying the topic more closely and gaining a deeper understanding of how the case companies work with social media. Observations were also made on the companies' social media sites to confirm the empirical findings. The theories and the collected data were analysed using within-case and between-case analysis. The study has demonstrated that social media can be used as an effective tool for brand building and reaching out to their consumers. The various platforms make it easier for companies to create a personal relationship with their target audience which can result in high engagement and actual purchases.

This paper explores value co-creation and value co-destruction with a focus on the social practices embedded in the online brand community “My Starbucks Idea (MSI).” The objectives of the research are accomplished through a detailed explanation of the study’s stages, starting with the Research design/Planning, and followed by the Community Entry (Entrée), Data collection, Limitations, and Ethical implications. Since the study is exploratory in character, the qualitative research strategy was used. As Bryman and Bell (2011) note, qualitative research gives particular attention to words rather than numbers in the gathering and interpretation of data. This study applied a modified ‘netnographic’ approach, a new qualitative method devised specifically to investigate consumer behaviour vis-à-vis cultures and communities present on the Internet (Kozinets 1998). This study identifies three elements of practice: stalking, gossip, and exhibitionism. It also supports the idea stated by Echeverri & Skålén (2011) that there is no positive without a negative in interactive value formation. Although those authors’ work was focused on the provider-customer interface, the idea proves applicable to the online brand community (OBC) used for illustration in this study. The present study also draws attention to a vital characteristic of practice often forgotten: ‘Language’ as an enabler of all other elements (Whittington 2006). The paper contributes to the knowledge in the practice theory domain, and thus consumer culture, especially relating to OBCs. When using OBCs as a marketing tool, considerable ingenuity must be employed by business managers to gain strategic information and feedback from online forum discussions. Such information can help in the company’s strategic decision making. By building relationships and gaining new customers through the process of collaboration, managers can become more like brand storytellers. Also, such communication can be channelled as a means to create greater awareness, both of the brand and the users’ experiences, along with aiding in the development of better services and products to meet customers’ needs. In the current study, consent was an ethical concern that limited the scope and path taken by the paper. The ten-week research period was another limiting factor in properly covering all of the contextualized consumption activities and gaining sufficient experience within the MSI community.

The use of online brand communities and its effect on brand loyalty has been heavily researched in previous studies. However, online brand communities in the context of motorsport, which is inherently different from other sports, has not been thoroughly researched previously and currently remains unknown. The study aims to understand how motorsport followers become brand loyal within their brand communities and if their identification with the brand has an influence on the process. The following research questions were developed to find these answers: RQ1: "How does involvement in online brand communities affect brand loyalty among motorsport fans?" RQ2: "How do online brand communities influence brand identification for motorsport enthusiasts?" RQ3: "How does member participation in online brand communities contribute to the connection between online brand communities and brand loyalty in motorsport?" A quantitative research design was followed, using a survey with questions developed based on previous research. The final sample size was 403 after the data was cleaned. The findings from the survey suggest that concepts such as brand community engagement had a direct effect on the development of brand loyalty. Other findings also showed that brand identification had a mediating role between certain brand community belonging characteristics and brand loyalty. Additionally, the study found that brand community participation had no moderating effect between brand community belonging characteristics and brand loyalty, however did have a direct link between brand identification and brand loyalty. Further research includes testing the study’s model in other brand communities within the motorsport context to provide more information into this unknown field of sport and its members. / Användningen av online varumärkesgemenskaper och dess effekt på varumärkeslojalitet har undersökts noggrant i tidigare studier. Online varumärkesgemenskaper inom motorsport, som är fundamentalt annorlunda från andra sporter, har dock inte tidigare undersökts ingående och är för närvarande okända. Studien syftar till att förstå hur motorsportföljare blir varumärkeslojala inom sina varumärkesgemenskaper och om deras identifiering med varumärket har inflytande i processen. Följande forskningsfrågor utvecklades för att hitta dessa svar: FF1: "Hur påverkar deltagande i online varumärkesgemenskaper varumärkeslojalitet bland motorsportfans?" FF2: "Hur påverkar online varumärkesgemenskaper varumärkesidentifiering för motorsportentusiaster?" FF3: "Hur bidrar medlemsdeltagande i online varumärkesgemenskaper till kopplingen mellan online varumärkesgemenskaper och varumärkeslojalitet inom motorsport?" En kvantitativ forskningsdesign följdes med hjälp av en enkät med frågor utvecklade utifrån tidigare forskning. Den slutliga provstorleken efter att data rengjorts var 403. Resultaten från undersökningen tyder på att begrepp som engagemang i varumärkesgemenskap hade en direkt effekt på utvecklingen av varumärkeslojalitet. Andra resultat visade också att varumärkesidentifiering hade en medierande roll mellan vissa egenskaper för varumärkesgemenskap och varumärkeslojalitet. Dessutom visade studien att deltagande i varumärkesgemenskap inte hade en modererande effekt mellan egenskaper för varumärkesgemenskap och varumärkeslojalitet, men hade en direkt länk mellan varumärkesidentifiering och varumärkeslojalitet. Vidare forskning inkluderar att testa studiemodellen i andra varumärkesgemenskaper inom motorsportkontexten för att tillhandahålla mer information om denna okända sport och dess medlemmar.

Background: The importance of brand communities is increasing as managers have understood the benefits such communities which can create competitive advantage. Companies are trying to differentiate from the competitors and customer-based brand equity has been acknowledged as a successful marketing tool. Moreover, the development of social media allowed people from different cultures to come together, interact and share experiences in regards of their favorite brand. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the effect of relationships on social media based brand communities on customer-based brand equity in the service industry. Methodology: The research proposes a sequential explanatory design which consists of a mixed approach by collecting and analyzing the quantitative data first, followed by the collection and analysis of the qualitative data in the form of interviews based on the quantitative results. Data has been collected from Facebook Groups and Facebook Fan Pages in regards of an airline. Findings: Relationship that customers form with the brand, other customers and the service on social media based brand equity have a positive effect on customer-based brand equity. Furthermore, perceived brand trust represents a significant moderator in this relationship. Additionally, results show that there are differences between different cultures in enhancing brand equity. Keywords: Social Media, Brand Communities, Customer-Based Brand Equity, Service Industry, Perceived Brand Trust, Culture

A brand has to communicate to its customers in a consistent way to achieve a strong position and to distinguish from competitors on today’s market. Many companies operate and offer their products and services on the current market in physical and virtual environments. Therefore the issue to communicate in a consistent appearance within all channels is an increasing challenge. This thesis work studies the matter of how companiesare working with brand consistency in their business in physical and virtual environments. This was done to analyze the consequences of the problem when a brand isinconsistent in its messages to the customer and in its operations. For this work the qualitative research method and a case study have been chosen. The case study includes observations of three physical Stadium stores, located in the centre of Gothenburg, Sweden and Stadium’s website. This was chosen to analyze this matter in real life in both environments. The theoretical framework consists of two main areas: These are branding and relationship marketing, which support this research. Brand includes the theories of brand identity and brand image, and relationship marketing comprises the theories of customer loyalty, brand communities and additional value. These areas have been used throughout the whole work as tools to research the issue of brand consistency. The empirical data has also been recorded according to these areas. As the conclusion, the findings of the thesis work have shown that brand consistency builds an important part in a company’s communication channels. For the case of Stadium it can be stated that it has positive approaches in working with brand consistency but also points out parts that are lacking and indicating inconsistency. / Program: Magisterutbildning i Fashion Management

Background: The digitalisation and rise of social media completely transformed the dynamics of communication where marketers lost full control over the marketing message to consumers. Companies have adapted by utilising Online Brand Communities (OBCs) with an open environment facilitating their consumer relationship with mutual benefits. Recently, companies have started to fear social media, due to the increased spread of negative word-of-mouth (WOM). Recent research reveals that consumers are more prone to share negative WOM than positive WOM, where certain consumers intentionally seek to harm brands by spreading misinformation. This underscores the need for further exploration of the dark side of OBCs.    Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the presence and impact of negative WOM within OBCs focusing on negative expressions concerning product quality, identity and intention. Specifically, it examines what negative expression has the most significant impact on consumer outcomes in the form of loyalty, intention and emotional attachment. Method: A mixed methodology approach was conducted for this study. The qualitative approach involved conducting a netnography to analyse the dynamics within OBCs and identify negative comments present within the communities. The quantitative approach was then implemented through a survey, incorporating the selected comments from the netnography to understand their impact on consumer outcomes.  Conclusion: The netnography findings showed that negative expressions regarding product quality were predominant within OBCs. The survey revealed that negative expressions concerning consumer identity exert the most significant impact on consumer outcomes. Although product quality discussions dominate OBCs, it was shown to not be the ultimate factor to impact consumer outcomes.

Submitted by Benjamin Rosenthal (benjamin.rosenthal@fgv.br) on 2014-04-07T12:41:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 tese para depósito.pdf: 2068891 bytes, checksum: ba0ae7bd915046b5ba93e4f351e94da4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão (vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2014-04-07T16:08:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 tese para depósito.pdf: 2068891 bytes, checksum: ba0ae7bd915046b5ba93e4f351e94da4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-04-07T16:09:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese para depósito.pdf: 2068891 bytes, checksum: ba0ae7bd915046b5ba93e4f351e94da4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-14 / In this thesis I investigate the extent to which companies can build a more communal environment out of their fan pages while also evaluating the corresponding brand value that may come from having such a communal environment. My research is comprised in three articles: in the first article, I describe how the brand image is created or augmented in the fan page environment, therefore providing demonstrable evidence of value creation. In the second article, I describe how individuals use fan page semiotic elements to communicate their identities. Finally, in the third article, I describe the possible communal characteristics of a fan page and the conditions that enable it to evolve to the virtual brand community concept. As a result, I will contribute to the marketing literature on the use of Facebook for communicating brand identity, on the co-creation of the brand image in social media context, and on the conceptual definition of fan pages as a communal environment.

In the business environment of today, competency-based organisations with a people- centric focus are at large becoming the norm and replacing task-based firms. This shift is driven by the benefits which the organisation can gain from leveraging the skills, attitudes, values and behaviours of its staff, through a competency-based approach (CBA). This approach can be described as a process where the attributes of the staff members, expressed as core competencies, are converted into capital stock of the firm. It is the success of this conversion that yields a competitive advantage for the firm, which past research has indicated lies at the core of the CBA. Similarly, another emerging trend for organisations of today is that of internal branding (IB). IB is a marketing approach where staff behaviour is aligned with the brand promise of the firm in order to enhance internal brand commitment (IBC) and ultimately staff performance. This concept has grown in relevance in an increasingly service centred economy, where the staff member is responsible for the delivery of the brand promise. Exploring the combined efforts of a CBA with that of IB has to date not yet been researched in detail. The basis of doing this is research is thus clear when evaluating the commonalities, as both approaches aim for alignment and leverage of staff attributes and behaviour ultimately resulting in IBC. The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how a CBA, aided by IB as the operative factor, influence IBC. In order to fulfil this purpose, a qualitative study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with employees and managers at a service sector firm. The data collection was grounded in a conceptual model with a foundation in previous research, depicting IB as the operative factor through which core competencies impacted the attraction, selection and attrition, which are stages of the employee lifecycle. These interviews allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of our research phenomena and five underlying themes emerged. The themes were organisational context, competency-based approach, alignment and identification, development and participation and communities and communication. Our empirical findings indicated the interconnectedness and interdependence between these themes. The themes that emerged from our analysis formed the basis for our final conceptual model. This final model provided a visual depiction of the factors that are at play in the creation of IBC through a layered style approach. The findings of the study showed that for a CBA to be effective and successful, the IB components of communities and communication play an important part. Furthermore, the findings suggested that a CBA is a continuous process of influencing actions rather than a three-stage attraction, selection and attrition cycle. Our study highlighted the importance of alignment and integration of the organisation’s HR practices. Furthermore, our study demonstrated how CBA aided by IB can be entrenched in the organisation and influence IBC.

創業已成為今日台灣的潮流顯學。無論規模大小，品牌就像一個當代的時髦名詞，是創業者的流行穿搭，顯現出對於人生態度的品味。品牌經營理論眾聲喧嘩，哪一盞才是照耀夜行中錦衣的明燈？溫馨小品或是夢幻逸品，恰如其分的定位，就能與擁護者對味。 本研究透過大苑子與綠藤生機兩家個案，來探討品牌經營的方式。在巨人們的肩膀上，將品牌經營整理成：「品牌願景、品牌定位、品牌傳播、品牌粉絲」四大方向來建立品牌的內涵，傳遞給消費者。再用策略行銷4C架構分析，以客觀的角度來審視品牌經營之強勢與弱勢之處，並給予行銷建議作為參考。希冀「先以品牌經營方程式建立品牌，再到策略行銷4C分析謀略縝密度」是一把讓未來有志創業者，或是期待打造出偉大抱負的品牌者，可以經營品牌不求人的關鍵之鑰。 經過個案的探討，發現兩家品牌都著墨許多在與顧客信任感的耕耘，如同Peter F. Drucker所說的：「企業的目的與使命只有一個重心、一個出發點，那就是顧客。」品牌經營如何獲得更多的品牌粉絲支持，是經營者與企業內部需同心協力達成的共同目標。 / Nowadays, entrepreneurship is the mainstream in Taiwan. In spite of the size of a company, the brand represents its image. A company’s brand is like the outfit of the entrepreneur, and it represents his/her attitude towards life. There are many theories on brand management, but which is the one that can help brands target the right customers? Through applying the right positioning strategies for different products, brands can attract target customers successfully. This research aims to analyze brand management through the case studies of “Dayungs” and “Greenvines.” Brand management includes brand vision, brand positioning, brand communication, and brand communities. These four items help establish the content and image of a company’s brand, and pass them on to the customers. Based on the 4C marketing framework, this research examines the strengths and the weaknesses of brand management, and provides a marketing proposal for future reference. The process of building branding with brand management, and then analyzing the strategies with the 4C marketing framework, is a key for future entrepreneurs that hope to establish a successful brand. Through the analysis of these case studies, the research found that both brands put emphasis on the customer trust. As Peter F. Drucker said, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.” How to gain the loyalty of more customers is the goal that managers and employees need to achieve with cooperation.