Sponsorship, and particularly sport sponsorship, continues to grow ahead of all other forms of marketing communication in stature and spend. As a result, there is a growing need for proper sponsorship management and accountability within organisations. The objective of the study was to evaluate how an organisation manages sponsorship to effectively enhance brand image, a long-term differentiator for brands. Focusing on the Energade brand, a qualitative case study method of research, using data from secondary sources and face-to-face interviews, was used to test the propositions developed through literature review. The study indicated that effective management of sponsorship entails setting of consistently aligned and prioritised objectives. In order for a sponsorship to enhance brand image, the sponsorship has to be leveraged at an optimal ratio; the sponsored property has to be congruent with the sponsoring brand at an intrinsic, positioning, and communication objective levels; and lastly, in order for sponsorship to effectively enhance shift brand image, its association with a sponsored property has to be long term. The Energade sponsorship fell short of enhancing the brand‟s Image. Whilst having some of the prescribed affective sponsorship management practices, a number of limitations were identified. Recommendations for managing sponsorship to enhance brand image, from planning, execution and evaluation were presented. Setting of objectives should be more rigorous, leverage activity and non-sponsorship messages should be complementary, sponsorship congruency should be beyond functional fit, and long-term sponsorship of a single property is more effective than sponsoring different properties over time. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Syfte: Det finns mycket forskning om hur företag påverkas av tillämpandet av strategisk filantropi, dock anser vi den tidigare forskningen i ämnet vara bristfällig gällande idrottsorganisationer. Syftet med denna uppsats är således att få ökad förståelse för hur en idrottsorganisation tillämpar strategisk filantropi och hur det bidrar till att stärka deras varumärke. Metod: Vi antog ett hermeneutiskt synsätt i denna fallstudie då vi hade för avsikt att skapa förståelse för det valda ämnet. Således skapades en teoretisk referensram utifrån tidigare forskning i ämnet samt även empiriskt material som främst samlades in via tio respondenter som arbetar för Brynäs IF genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Analys genomfördes sedan genom jämförelse av det insamlade teoretiska samt empiriska materialet. Resultat & Slutsats: Undersökningen påvisar att strategisk filantropi har positiv påverkan på varumärket hos den undersökta idrottsorganisationen vilket har inneburit ekonomiska fördelar för organisationen. Det framgick att andra företag i stor utsträckning hade börjat intresserat sig för att samarbeta med Brynäs och deras filantropiska satsning. Dock fanns det tecken på att den enskilde konsumenten prioriterar andra faktorer än filantropiska satsningar, när det gäller att stärka varumärket. Examensarbetets bidrag: I denna fallstudie är det teoretiska bidraget att öka förståelsen för hur strategisk filantropi kan kopplas till ett stärkt varumärke samt på lång sikt ge ekonomiska fördelar. Undersökningen påvisar också att idrottsorganisationer som tillämpar strategisk filantropi kommer kunna åtnjuta fördelar i form av samarbeten med andra företag men samtidigt behöva motivera sin filantropiska satsning för konsumenterna. Det praktiska bidraget med detta arbete är att idrottsorganisationen måste arbeta efter sin målsättning, mäta utfallet samt följa upp och förbättra processen med det filantropiska arbetet. Vidare beskrivs vikten av att vara transparenta mot organisationens intressenter för att skapa förståelse för den filantropiska strategin och hur den förbättrar samhället samt vilka positiva effekter satsningen har på idrottsorganisationen. Detta anser vi har en positiv inverkan på intressenternas syn på de filantropiska åtagandena. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vi anser att det finns ett behov av ytterligare forskning i ämnet. Ett område som behöver undersökas är hur den enskilde konsumenten uppfattar idrottsorganisationers strategiska filantropi. En annan punkt vi anser vara intressant för framtida forskning är varför andra företag tycks lockas att samarbeta med filantropiskt lagda idrottsorganisationer.

Globally, the market for green products and services is worth billions of dollars and is growing year on year at an increasing rate. The following study investigated the congruence between brand image and brand identity within the green marketing space, focusing specifically on Pick ‘n Pay’s Green Line of environmentally friendly household cleaning products.Through interviewing Pick ‘n Pay’s brand manager for their Green Line and one hundred shoppers at Pick ‘n Pay’s on Nicol store in Bryanston, Johannesburg, South Africa, the brand identity and brand image were both respectively characterised. Data was also gathered from the shoppers to allow the brand loyalty and brand equity generated to be determined.This research identified that for Pick ‘n Pay’s Green Line to generate positive brand loyalty and brand equity:<ul><li> A strong alignment between brand image and brand identity must be achieved;</li><li> There must be a strong believability of the green claims made; and</li><li> The credibility (trustworthiness) of the green claims must be sound.</il></ul>A model designed specifically to illustrate and summarise the findings of the research is later presented with the aim of providing brand managers who oversee products with green credentials a quick and simple guide to ensure all is being done to ensure that brand loyalty and brand equity for their products may be maximized. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Problemdiskussion: Studien ämnar till att undersöka butikernas roll för kosmetiskavarumärken inom premiumsegmentet i en tid där e-handeln övertar stora andelar av marknaden.Syfte: Studien syftar till att skapa förståelse kring butikens roll inom premiumsegmentet förkosmetiska varumärken.Metod: Studien har grundats på en kvalitativ forskningsmetod och forskningsansatsen har varitabduktiv. För att skapa förståelse kring butikernas positionerande uppgift har författarnagenomfört semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer inom branschen samt utfört observationeri butik.Slutsats: Resultatet av denna studie visar på att varumärkenas främsta fokus gällande butikensroll kommer i framtiden handla om att leverera en upplevelse till sina konsumenter.Varumärkena kommer behöva arbeta med att bygga upp en helhetsupplevelse i butikernagenom välutbildad personal i kombination med ett butiksuttryck som syftar till attkommunicera varumärkets Brand Image. Digitala verktyg används för att förhöja konsumentensupplevelse i butik, samt för att kunna skapa personliga erbjudanden och för att bygga enrelation mellan varumärke och konsument. Varumärkena använder sig även av digitalahjälpmedel för att stimulera konsumenternas sinnen på ett nytänkande och effektivare sätt.Butikspersonalen har en avgörande roll i kommunikationen av varumärkets Brand Image ibutik. Varumärkena kommer i framtiden behöva fortsätta sitt arbete kring utvecklandet avpersonal med högre expertis. Ett arbete som utvecklas med hjälp av digitala hjälpmedel ochutbildningar.Nyckelord: Butiksuttryck, butikskommunikation, kundupplevelse, Brand Image samt säljstöd.

The owner(s) of a brand decide the attributes of the brand, such as name, color, shape, logotype and values. They have the power and control on what they are communicating to the consumers.  However, consumers can freely interpret any information that is being communicated towards them and shape their own perception of the brand. Internet memes can be categorised as a type of satirical communication method that can be used by consumers. The purpose is to explore how satire through the medium of internet memes affect brand image. This research used a qualitative research approach with a cross sectional research design, in the form of semi-structured interviews. The sample consisted of people from the age 20-30 that had knowledge about memes to some degree. A total of 15 interviews were implemented and took approximately 30 minutes each to execute. The conducted research gave insight to how satirical memes can potentially affect consumers perception of brand image. What was discovered was that satirical memes had the potential to possibly affect certain aspects of both the cognitive and emotional components of brand image. When the participants had a neutral or negative pre-determined brand image it was possible to see a negative shift in their perception of this brand image through negative reinforcement. While on the other side, when participants had a strong and positive pre-determined brand image, the satirical memes affected them differently, as they did not make them negative towards the brand but became critical instead. These alterations showed that there was the potential to affect the participants purchase &amp; usage situations and through the satirical memes effect on the different cognitive and emotional components, could possibly change the perception of a brand image as a whole.

Brands implement some strategies in choosing the right marketing activities and engaging in CSR activities in order to build up a positive brand image in the consumer's mind and to influence their perceptions. “CSR-brand fit” is the level of matching between a company's objective and  the implemented CSR activities. The purpose of this study is to explore how CSR implemented activities by a brand could positively influence brand image when those activities are in line with the business objectives of a brand. The study is done by the qualitative strategy with the abductive approach reasoning. Nine unstructured interviews were conducted in order to collect the data needed. Three cases were used presenting a “CSR-brand high fit” so the authors could explore how the “CSR-brand high fit” influences the brand image. The authors found that customers consider the high fit as something reasonable and makes common and logical sense.

This study aims to evaluate how Rögle BK:s work with CSR affects their sponsors relation to their sponsorship cooperation.  We do this via a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the club’s sponsors. Since Rögle BK have many sponsors, we put the limit to be included in this study at 90 000 SEK in sponsorship-money per year. Out of 158 possible survey respondents we received 73 answers. Out of the 73 respondents, 4 of them were selected to an interview. The selection for interview participants was chosen from the type of business they operated in, as we looked for variation of companies in the interviews.  We used the theory Brand Image Transfer in order to understand the reasons for companies to enter a sponsorship coorperation with Rögle BK and if Rögle BK:s work with CSR had any impact on this. The study found that Rögle BK:s work with CSR is appreciated by the sponsors but it is not the main reason for their decision to enter a sponsorship cooperation with the club. This could be because Rögle BK:s business network (which is available for all sponsors who have a sponsorship deal worth 90 000 SEK or more) is very appreciated and is believed to increase the business for the companies that are in the network. Another reason why Rögle BK:s work with CSR don’t seem to be the  one of the most important reasons for sponsorship cooperation could be the lack of communication related to it or that CSR in sport is a relative new phenomenon. However, Rögle BK:s work with CSR have had some impact, as most sponsors like the initiative and one sponsor would have left if it hadn’t happened and another sponsor joined because of it. Our assumption based on the accumulated knowledge from previous researches and this study is that Rögle BK:s work with CSR will be of a greater dignity later on, as more companies are getting more aware of the importance of sustainability.

Within the field of football fan loyalty there has been a desire to examine brand image’s effect on fan loyalty within different contexts. Given this, the aim of this study is to explain how brand image affects fan loyalty in a swedish football context. The study follows a quantitative approach where data was collected through a questionnaire distributed online, and then tested in a confirmatory factor analysis. The findings of the study revealed that brand image affects fan loyalty through the facets of brand image, non-product related attributes and brand benefits. Where non-product related attributes and brand benefits were shown to have the stronger perceived effect on fan loyalty.

A lo largo de los años, la publicidad se ha encargado de explotar estereotipos relacionados a la figura femenina mediante la difusión de ideales que plantean desde los comportamientos que debe tener hasta cómo debe lucir una mujer. De esta manera, la representación de la mujer en la publicidad se ha visto afectada por un modelo poco realista. Sin embargo, desde el año 2014, esta tendencia publicitaria ha intentado ser combatida con la aparición de una nueva estrategia llamada “femvertising”. El uso de esta pretende transmitir a los consumidores una representación más valiosa y empoderada de las mujeres, para que el mensaje publicitario se mantenga alejado de la imagen estereotipada que ha venido mostrada en las últimas décadas. En este marco, el objetivo general de este artículo es analizar la percepción de las mujeres limeñas de 18 a 25 años frente al uso de femvertising para la construcción de la imagen de marca de las empresas de indumentaria. Utilizaremos un enfoque cualitativo centrado en entrevistas personales y grupales a partir de guías de indagación semiestructuradas. / Over the years, advertising has been responsible for exploiting stereotypes related to the female figure through the dissemination of ideals that are told, like some kind of the behaviors they should have or how they might look like. Therefore, the representation of women in advertising has been affected by an unrealistic model. However, since 2014, this advertising trend has tried to be fought back with the emergence of a new strategy called “femvertising”. The use of this is intended to convey to consumers a more valuable and empowered representation of women, so that it’s message is kept away from the stereotyped image shown in recent decades. Within this framework, the general objective of this article is to analyze the perception of the Lima women between 18 and 25 years old, of the use of femvertising for the construction of the brand image of clothing companies. We will use a qualitative approach focused on personal and group interviews, based on semi-structured inquiry guides. / Trabajo de investigación

The culture within an organisation affects organisational performance in a myriad of ways, but the existing research was found by this paper to only examine organisational culture’s effect on profitability. This narrow view creates a gap between culture as a starting point for performance, and profitability as an ultimate endpoint. What about everything in between that culture has an effect on? Rather than examining organisational culture in terms of how it influences profitability, this study looks at how organisational culture influences an aspect organisational performance, specifically: its effect on brand image or on word-of-mouth referral. To do so, this paper unpacks a causal chain of influences in four chapters. The research here shows how that employees situated within the culture influences customers to promise to refer the organisation to their social connections. The literature shows that organisational culture is a context that influences most facets of business, and this context is used as a filter by employees to understand how they should behave and what they should value. This paper proposes that employees receive internal brand communications within the context of the culture. Then, they conduct their service actions according to what is expected of them within this context. Customers who interact with these employees are then coming into contact with the organisational by the proxy of customer-facing employees. These interactions between customers and employees are what causes the customer to enjoy the service experience or not. The theory shows that when a service experience is enjoyed, there is likelihood of positive word-of-mouth referral. This paper correlates that and proposes that when there is a strong degree of alignment in organisational culture, employees receive internal brand communications and conduct their service actions in strong alignment of what is expected of them. This leads to customers perceiving the organisation in a way that is favourable and causes a significant number of customers to promise to recommend the organisation.