Vi lever i ett samhälle där vi ständigt står inför nya bemötanden, där kläder bland annat används för att för att uttrycka intressen, åsikter och attityder till människor i vår omgivning. För att uttrycka sin livsstil lägger konsumenter större vikt vid sådant som tilltalar deras känslor vid köpbeslut, vilket medfört att varumärkesinnehavare anspelar på olika känslor för att differentiera sig mot andra märken. Varumärkesinnehavarna skapar en egen identitet som skall särskilja dem från andra. Butiker kan med hjälp av varumärkenas differentiering vända sig mot ett ofta nischat segment vilket är kunder som efterfrågar en viss typ av varumärken. Jag har varit intresserad av att undersöka hur relationen mellan en butik och en leverantör påverkas av varumärkesidentitet. Jag har därför samarbetat med grosister, varumärkesinnehavare och butiker för att besvara uppsatsens frågeställning "vilken betydelse har varumärkesidentitet har för relationen mellan leverantör och butik." I uppsatsen redovisas resultatet från mina intervjuer vilket bland annat visar att butiker har en viktig roll i att kommunicera varumärkesidentitet vidare till slutkonsumenten, men också vad märkesinnehavarna på grund av varumärkesidentiteten ser över innan en butik får representera varumärket.

<p>Vi lever i ett samhälle där vi ständigt står inför nya bemötanden, där kläder bland annat används för att för att uttrycka intressen, åsikter och attityder till människor i vår omgivning. För att uttrycka sin livsstil lägger konsumenter större vikt vid sådant som tilltalar deras känslor vid köpbeslut, vilket medfört att varumärkesinnehavare anspelar på olika känslor för att differentiera sig mot andra märken. Varumärkesinnehavarna skapar en egen identitet som skall särskilja dem från andra. Butiker kan med hjälp av varumärkenas differentiering vända sig mot ett ofta nischat segment vilket är kunder som efterfrågar en viss typ av varumärken. Jag har varit intresserad av att undersöka hur relationen mellan en butik och en leverantör påverkas av varumärkesidentitet. Jag har därför samarbetat med grosister, varumärkesinnehavare och butiker för att besvara uppsatsens frågeställning "vilken betydelse har varumärkesidentitet har för relationen mellan leverantör och butik." I uppsatsen redovisas resultatet från mina intervjuer vilket bland annat visar att butiker har en viktig roll i att kommunicera varumärkesidentitet vidare till slutkonsumenten, men också vad märkesinnehavarna på grund av varumärkesidentiteten ser över innan en butik får representera varumärket.</p>

This thesis will discuss the two popular issues recently, which are brand identity and experiential marketing. In addition, raising a strategic experiential model to examine if the case brand FU could effectively convey their brand identity. The purpose of this study were: (1) Figure out the brand identity of case brand FU. (2) Examining the five experiential modules within the all aspects of communication vehicles (3) Whether Case brand could actively deliver brand identity in the communication process. The research method of this research was held by in-depth interview with unstructured questionnaire to explore the incentives and attitudes of interviewees. According to the research findings, four propositions were shown: (1) Each brand identity element would convey through specific communication vehicles. (2) Experiential module mixes will be different in the following of all varied of conveyance medias. (3) Sense experiential module is the corner stone of the five experiential marketing modules. (4) To build firmly long-term brand-customer relationship, all the marketing medias should be integrated to convey the consistent message to the consumers. Future research should examine further the role of experiential marketing. In addition, the approach way from the brand image, on the counter part of the brand identity, should be continued in future studies.

The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Destinationcompetitiveness emphasizes the need to link competitiveness to a destination's ability to delivergoods and services better than other destinations on those parts of the tourism experience regardedas being important by tourists. The phenomenon of using events to strategically build andstrengthen a destination's brand identity has received very little attention. This study aims to investigate how the Destination Management Organisations in Helsinki arebuilding a brand identity, and how events may be used strategically in this process. Interviews havebeen undertaken with few organisations of various sizes and characteristics. Two distinct divisionsformed the base of the thesis; the first with a clear focus on how the DMO is working to create abrand identity, while the latter concentrated on the same topic from a focused perspective; how thebrand identity may be created with the use of events. After this, the research phase is entered, whichinvolves gathering the necessary data required for determining the current identity of thedestination. Once the research phase was completed, the process moved into a phase of shaping thebrand identity. Through the interviews the writer was able to get better perceptions of how the cityis merged with views and objectives of where the city wants to be, or where they desire to be in the future.

During centuries, places and cities have made efforts to make their land more attractive, efficient, democratic and secure. This aspire has accelerated due to globalization and other external factors. Today, there is fierce and global competition between cities and nationalities to create arenas for more investments, productive inhabitants and vibrant culture. The place brand has been a good tool and a key for success. Nevertheless, place branding is challenging; it includes the investment of all stakeholders – possessing different agendas and target markets – and at the same time their coordination and collaborations to ensure there would be no conflicting messages, misusing the place and harming the brand. Therefore, strong collaboration among stakeholders and consistent perceptions – about the city potentials – is substantially important. There are debates among scholars to choose the best initiative for involving all the groups, cultures, interests of a society into branding a city and exploit the potential of the city simultaneously. Place branding is a relatively new but growing field of research. The topic is multifaceted and therefore is considered advantageous to study place branding from a stakeholder perspective. In this current study, the stakeholders are viewed as the actors that are engaged in the act of presenting Umeå based on the cultural potential of the city during its hosting the European Capital of Culture event in 2014. Based on the purpose and research problems of this thesis, it is aimed to provide a framework to examine the gaps between the stakeholders’ perceptions about their city cultural potential during a cultural event. For this qualitative research, a single case study design is used and eight stakeholders – divided in two main groups – are identified for the data gathering by using in-depth interviews. The identity-reputation gap model is used as an analytical tool and gives guidance to the research. This study fills other research gaps by contributing with an understanding of the stakeholder’s role by studying place branding in the context of a mid-size city. With regard to the empirical contribution, this study offers a range of insights for Umeå – the image and the branded potential of the city – and findings can be regarded as a starting point for brand managers as well as cultural coordinators working to develop the place brand identity consistently in other contexts.

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Date                                    May 2012 University                          Mälardalen University                                             School of Sustainable Development of Society and Technology Course                               Master Thesis, EFO 705 Authors                              Maha Al-azzawi &amp; Mac Anthony Tutor                                  Carl G Thunman Examiner                           Ole Liljefors Title                                    Students Brand Preferences between Apple and Samsung Smartphone Purpose of the Study        Is to compare student brand preference between Apple and Samsung Smartphone Methodology                     Quantitative research approach  Conclusion                         This study showed that brand with high value of brand equity and identity would result in having high brand preference among students. The findings reveal that Apple has stronger brand preference more than Samsung among students. Key Words                        Brand equity, brand identity, Smartphone

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Social media platforms, such as Instagram, has created an opportunity for companies to communicate with its stakeholders in a totally different way than before. As Instagram allows two-way communication between the company and its stakeholders, the followers has a part of how the image is related to the brand. However, we have not found any scientific studies that examines how this image is perceived by the followers. This study was aiming to investigate how the Swedish fashion company and brand Filippa K are using Instagram as a communication tool to form their followers’ idea of the brand. More specifically, it studied how Filippa K’s image was perceived by their followers. The research question “what image is perceived by Filippa K’s followers by Filippa K’s visual image communication on Instagram?” was formulated to solve the problem. The results of this study was built upon data from eight qualitative interviews with Filippa K’s followers on Instagram. The analysis leant on theoretical framework about brand identity and brand image, as well as Stuart Hall’s encoding/ decoding theory. By using these in the analysis, the result showed that the followers perceived a positive image of Filippa K. However, the followers also formed their different opinions about Filippa K as a brand as well as alternative decoding beyond the core values that the company’s identity is based upon. The essential parts of Filippa K’s identity was perceived, hence a conclusion was made that the image implicated a Swedish, in vogue brand with high qualitative products that focus on style, simplicity and sustainability. The results of this study has given an insight of the impact Instagram has on how followers perceive an image. With an understanding for the followers, a company can work with its market communication on Instagram to form the brand image towards one way or another.

This thesis focuses on conceptualizing and measuring brand identity in services. The lack of a wider-accepted measure of brand identity is surprising given that it a) provides meaning to the brand, makes it unique and communicates what the brand stands for (Rosengren et al., 2010), and b) is the driver of one of the four principal dimensions of brand equity, namely, brand association (Keller, 1993). Despite its acknowledged importance, brand identity measurement has received remarkably little attention, and efforts to develop a valid and comprehensive measure have been limited. While prior work on brand identity has proposed some conceptual models highlighting different facets that contribute to brand identity development, the majority of these models have not been subjected to empirical testing. This raises concerns over their robustness and validity. More importantly, the applicability of these models to a service context is not clear. For instance, the role of consumers, who participate in the service production process and interact frequently with the service providers, is hardly considered in the prior frameworks. In summary, the dearth of research studies accounting for the consumer perspective of brand identity, along with the lack of a valid and comprehensive scale to measure service brand identity, motivated this research. This thesis thus aims to, first, review and refine the concept of brand identity to account for the consumer perspective of this construct and then develop a multidimensional scale to measure service brand identity and identify its key dimensions. To fulfill the research aims, Churchill‟s (1979) paradigm was followed in conjunction with DeVellis (2003) and other scale development studies (Brakus et al., 2009; Lundstorm & Lamont, 1976). This thesis employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods to achieve the research aims. Qualitative research was undertaken to gain additional insights into the construct (e.g. consumer perspective) and to generate and purify the initial scale items. Quantitative methods were then adopted to validate and establish the final scale. Guided by the aforementioned research design, this thesis developed a service brand identity (SBI) scale consisting of five dimensions labelled: process identity, organization identity, servicescape identity, symbolic identity and communication identity. The analysis confirms that the scale is reliable, valid, and parsimonious. Further, the scale application is demonstrated by assessing and empirically establishing the association between service brand identity and brand trust and loyalty. The results support the proposition that the consumer perspective is important in understanding and developing brand identity in a service context. Relatedly, it is also shown that service elements, such as the servicescape and service process, play a key role in developing a strong brand identity for services. The key contribution of this study is the development of a psychometrically valid and reliable scale. This research extends the literature on brand identity (Upshaw, 1995; Aaker, 1996; De Chernatony, 1999; Kapferer, 2000; Burmann et al., 2009; da Silveira et al., 2013) to include the service domain which has to date not received much research attention in branding. It proposes and empirically establishes two new dimensions of service brand identity (Process Identity and Servicescape Identity) which have not been highlighted in extant brand identity literature. In addition to this, this thesis provides a much-needed consumer perspective on brand identity and its components, thereby responding to calls for more research on marketing constructs to account for the consumer perspective (Rust, 1988; Payne et al., 2009; Arnould et al., 2006). In this regard, this study is among the first to empirically link consumer-based variables to a specific brand identity scale.