<p>Background: The Swedish pharmaceutical retailing market was re-regulated in February 2010, which enabled competition. Hence, it has now become important to stand out through having a strong brand. In order for a brand to be strong, the brand identity and the brand image need to be congruent. This study investigates brand awareness, brand identity and brand image in the biggest newly established pharmaceutical retailing company, Apotek Hjärtat. Since brand develops over time, the researchers believe that the newness of the company provides an interesting aspect.</p><p>Purpose: The aim of this study is to explore if there is a gap between Apotek Hjärtat’s brand identity and brand image.</p><p>Method: This study uses a mixed method approach. The qualitative method is used in forms of interviews, in order to obtain information concerning the brand identity of Apotek Hjärtat. The quantitative method refers to a survey conducted on the customers of Apotek Hjärtat, which generated information concerning the brand image.</p><p>Conclusion: Apotek Hjärtat has a strong and coherently communicated brand identity. However, the brand image is not mirroring the brand identity, partly due to the fact that many customers have not yet made up their mind concerning Apotek Hjärtat.</p>

<p>Background: Today firms are facing increased global competition, and it results in shor-ter product life cycles. The present situation demand firms to focus more on marketing and how to communicate with the customers. In the mar-keting field there has always existed a perceived dichotomy between B2B and B2C markets. It is said that B2B markets must be handled differently than B2C markets. Recently the perceptions have changed and it is said that B2B and B2C markets have more similarities than previously as-sumed, and this might affect the decision about which marketing tools to implement. This could even change the old way of thinking, which states that B2C marketing tools cannot be used effectively in a B2B market. Theories show that brand awareness is of crucial importance in B2C mar-kets. Will the change of market structure make brand awareness equally important in a B2B market?</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to critically analyze the attitudes towards dif-ferent B2B marketing tools and the possible appropriateness of using B2C marketing tools in a B2B market in order to achieve brand awareness.</p><p>Method: A qualitative approach has been used in order answer the purpose of the thesis. ROL AB has been used as a case study, and 13 open phone inter-views have been conducted with existing and potential customers of ROL AB. Furthermore, two interviews have been conducted with firms that successfully use B2C marketing tools in B2B markets.</p><p>Conclusions: The typical characteristics of B2B markets show a tendency to blur. This insinuates that brands are gaining importance in the B2B market. In order to react to this change, B2B firms need to increase their brand awareness. The traditional relational (B2B) marketing tools seems no longer to be suf-ficient to be used alone but now need to be accompanied with transac-tional (B2C) marketing tools.</p>

<p>Many interactive products and services have made the move from stationary or desktop applications to dedicated mobile devices. Sonys Playstation has evolved into the PSP (playstation portable), Apples iPod is fully integrated with iTunes, Microsoft’s new media player is rumored to carry the Xbox brand and browsers like Internet Explorer and Opera can be used on pocket PCs, cell phones and Smart Phones. A very interesting example of this development is the global telephony company Skype that offers free calls over the Internet as well as instant messaging, video conferencing among many other things. Skype is making its way from the desktop to a wide array of devices, stressing the need for a unified brand experience. This thesis seeks to explore the different interactive aspects that constitute the user experience of a specific brand. Through listing the use qualities fulfilled by the services in the primary product and examining their requirements and dependencies in the user interface, this thesis proposes a method to foresee potential confinements in the brand experience when distributing an interactive product or service to a new platform. The thesis also aims at examining how the method can be used in the design process.</p>

Problem: Research shows that it is crucial to acknowledge the information search step to understand consumer decision-making. Moreover, consumers‟ buying behavior is affected by their brand awareness. A problem is however that there exist a gap in previous research on understanding the consumers‟ actual behavior and why they choose certain platforms for their information gathering. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to get an understanding of consumers‟ information gathering process about cosmetic products and in turn to what extent that can create brand- awareness and attitudes. The thesis aims at filling the gap of truly understanding consumers inter-action in media and their behavior. The target audience to be stud-ied is young women, age 18-26, in the cosmetic industry. The inten-tion is to take an exploratory research view and to understand how this group of customers behave and also to describe why that is the reason. Methodology: To meet the purpose of the thesis, a qualitative research design was chosen since it allows the participants to express their opinions, re-flections and feelings as well as truly understanding the target in the way it enables deeper discussions. Three focus groups were con-ducted with young female consumers, and one in-depth interview was held with the partner company The Body Shop. The data was color-coded and presented separately in the result section, so that every participant‟s opinion was visible, before combining the results with theoretical reasoning in the analysis section. Conclusion: This study shows that young female consumers spend most of their information search on Instagram and Youtube since it is quick, fun and give inspiration, but they also value recommendations from friends. On all platforms they highly value a feeling of personal rela-tionships. Regarding brand- awareness and attitudes, it was found that brands are for the most part very important for the young fe-male consumers and they learn about brands both in their infor-mation search online and offline when talking to friends or visiting stores.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find what factors, and to what extent these factors, affects students buying behavior regarding textbooks online.   Method: A quantitative and deductive approach by collecting data using a questionnaire through Facebook.  The population for this study is University students in Sweden, and convenience sampling was used. A descriptive research design was chosen for this thesis.   Conclusions: In this research it was clear that students did not experience perceived risk when purchasing online. Regarding the price as an affecting factor, there was an impact on the students buying behavior. Also the convenience was seen as a factor that was influencing a purchase. The two last factors, social influence and brand awareness, was affecting the students buying behavior but should be treated carefully.   Paper type: Research paper.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate why Linas Matkasse has greater success in terms of market share than Middagsfrid despite the similarities of their concepts. The study will also examine potential and existing customers' image of the brands and corporate brand awareness. Method: This study is based on a triangulation in which both quantitative and qualitative methods are treated in the form of personal interviews and a questionnaire survey. Theoretical perspectives: Four theories are addressed in this study and they treat the brand from different aspects. The theories process how to create value, personality dimensions, how companies should act and strategies around brand. Empiricism: The empirical material consists of five interviews, one of which was with the brand manager at Middagsfrid. Then two interviews were conducted with consumers of Linas Matkasse and two interviews with consumers of Middagsfrid. A questionnaire survey has also been conducted. In addition to this secondary data was gathered from the Internet and corporate websites to see how the companies promote themselves. Conclusion: The study shows that the brand is of more importance than the product when comparing the brands Linas Matkasse and Middagsfrid.

It is important for companies to reach their goal of marketing success and a way for them doing so is to improve their sales and differentiate themselves from their competitors. There is in fact a need for companies to focus on sustainable consumption and how customers are influenced by purchasing these products. Since several research has been studying the impact brand equity has on purchase intention, this paper intends to explain this impact further by adding the context of sustainability. In order to explain this, this paper used a quantitative approach where a survey was sent out. A total of 220 responses were collected and the answers given were calculated through the program SPSS. In SPSS a multiple regression line was conducted where the results could be found, where the developed hypotheses showed acceptance or rejection. The result showed that the variables of brand equity had different levels of impact, where three out of four hypotheses were accepted. Even though one of the variables was rejected, the overall representation of brand equity had a positive impact on purchase intention when the context of sustainability was added.

Many interactive products and services have made the move from stationary or desktop applications to dedicated mobile devices. Sonys Playstation has evolved into the PSP (playstation portable), Apples iPod is fully integrated with iTunes, Microsoft’s new media player is rumored to carry the Xbox brand and browsers like Internet Explorer and Opera can be used on pocket PCs, cell phones and Smart Phones. A very interesting example of this development is the global telephony company Skype that offers free calls over the Internet as well as instant messaging, video conferencing among many other things. Skype is making its way from the desktop to a wide array of devices, stressing the need for a unified brand experience. This thesis seeks to explore the different interactive aspects that constitute the user experience of a specific brand. Through listing the use qualities fulfilled by the services in the primary product and examining their requirements and dependencies in the user interface, this thesis proposes a method to foresee potential confinements in the brand experience when distributing an interactive product or service to a new platform. The thesis also aims at examining how the method can be used in the design process.

Consumers are nowadays presented with many choices regarding products and services. In addition, there is a wide array of brands that one is forced to choose from. In this study you will get to know the brands that Swedish consumers think of first when given a specific category, thus the brands that are Top-of-mind. The purpose of this study is to investigate possible opportunities for a new entrant to become Top-of-mind and whether the importance of being Top-of-mind differs. The study examines four product categories: Toothpaste, Soft drink, Insurance company and Sportscar. The study’s empirical data is based on a survey of 200 respondents. The results of the study show that there are greater opportunities for a new market entrant to become Top-of-mind within the product category Insurance company and Sportscar, at the same time as it indicates that the possibilities within Toothpaste and Soda are smaller. Furthermore, the study's results conclude that it is more important to be Top-of-mind in the product categories Toothpaste, Soft drink and Insurance company.

Due to the dramatical change in society coming from digitization, marketing changed from a traditional approach to a digital scene. A phenomenon that appeared as a result of this is marketing through influencers, also seen as opinion leaders in online communities. As a growing industry where both companies and influencers could earn large sums on campaigns influencers risk being exploited. New aspirants on becoming influencers with fewer followers are appearing as an alternative to the rather expensive more established influencers. This category, nanoinfluencers, appeared as a potential marketing channel for companies seeking a cost efficient alternative to influencers. Despite this, businesses choosing this way of marketing are choosing a rather new, unexplored path with no previous research made on how this might affect their Brand Equity. Thus, the aim of this study is to, from a business perspective, identify which effects collaborations with nanoinfluencers have on companies/businesses Brand Equity. Through a qualitative cross sectional study, based on a deductive approach, four semi structured interviews were conducted with marketeers from companies using Influencer Marketing as part of their marketing strategy. The results were compared using a theoretical frame of reference based on communication theories, Brand Equity and trust theories. Results indicated that using marketing through nanoinfluencers could lead to several benefits in terms of trustworthiness and engagement for companies (seeking alternatives to larger influencers). However, the results also showed that collaborations with nanoinfluencers are more difficult to control because it does not contain any monetary compensation or precise instructions as to the content creation. However, the companies in the study opine that their strong brand awareness protected their brand from this potential negative impact. / I och med digitaliseringen har samhället skådat en drastisk utveckling vilket inneburit att marknadsföringen har gått från en traditionell form till digital. Som ett resultat av digitaliseringen har marknadsföring genom influencers, även kallade opinionsledare online, blivit allt vanligare. Industrin växer lavinartat och både företag och influencers kan tjäna stora pengar på kampanjer online men med risk att överexploatera sina varumärken. Följaktligen har en ny aspirerande kategori influencers med färre antal följare vuxit fram som ett potentiellt kostnadseffektivt alternativ till de kostsamma, etablerade influencers på sociala medier. Denna kategori influencers är så kallade nanoinfluencers. Då det inte finns tidigare forskning som studerat huruvida denna form av samarbeten påverkar företags Brand Equity kan detta vara ett riskfyllt sätt att marknadsföra sig via. Därför är syftet med denna studie att, från ett företagsperspektiv, kartlägga vilka effekter samarbeten med nanoinfluencers får på företags Brand Equity. Genom en kvalitativ tvärsnittsstudie baserad på en deduktiv forskningsansats har fyra semi-strukturerade intervjuer genomförts med marknadsförare från företag som tillämpar influencers i sin marknadsföringsstrategi. Empirin jämfördes genom att utgå från en teoretisk referensram bestående av kommunikationsteori, Brand Equity och förtroendeteori. Resultatet indikerade att marknadsföring via nanoinfluencers kan leda till flera fördelar i form av ökad trovärdighet och ökat engagemang. Vidare visade resultaten dock att samarbeten med nanoinfluencers är svårare att kontrollera eftersom de ofta inte erhåller någon ekonomisk ersättning och heller inte får specifika instruktioner i sitt innehållsskapande. Slutligen påvisar studiens resultat att en stark varumärkeskännedom kan förebygga en eventuell negativ effekt på företags Brand Equity.