Problemformulering: Den här uppsatsen är en fallstudie som tar avstamp i konsumentkultur, brand culture och som med hjälp av narrativ söker förklara om och i så fall hur kulturella processer skapar mening för konsumenter av Spotify. Trots uppsatsens fokus på konsumentens kulturella processer och erfarenheter säger undersökningen något om hur Spotify som varumärke kommuniceras till sina konsumenter. Den externa bilden av företaget, dess image, skapas i relation mellan företaget och konsumenten, vilket förutsätter att företaget kommunicerar ut ett budskap. Hur budskapet tas emot och tolkas av konsumenten ligger till grund för den här uppsatsens syfte. Den här uppsatsen kan därför sägas undersöka konsumentens roll i skapandet av Spotifys image. Syfte: Den här fallstudien ämnar att utifrån konsumentkultur, brand culture och narrativ undersöka om och i så fall hur kulturella processer skapar mening för konsumenter av varumärket Spotify. Metod & Material: För att kunna undersöka konsumentens uppfattningar om varumärket Spotify och sina sociala och kulturella miljöer tillämpas i den här studien kvalitativa undersökningsmetoder. Intervjuer med tre olika fokusgrupper med fyra respondenter i varje grupp har gjorts, där varje respondent lyssnar på musik via Spotify minst 5 timmar om dagen per dag. Huvudresultat: Utefter respondenternas svar från de tre olika fokusgrupperna så står det klart att en av grupperna, fokusgrupp 1 (och respondenterna där), använder Spotify på det sätt där kulturella processer skapar mening genom konsumtion. De kulturella processerna skapar mening för konsumenterna på det sätt att konsumtionen av Spotify uppmanar till social interaktion med andra likasinnade individer.Genom en upplevd gemenskap med andra likasinnade individer genom konsumtionen av Spotify uppvisar konsumenten ett beteende där kulturella processer som sker i sociala och kulturella miljöer (eller med andra ord; vardagen) skapar mening för konsumenten.

A consequence of the 2005 Government White Paper on Education was the apparent continuation of the marketisation of education in England. As a result, it would appear that the need for schools to be able to market themselves within this culture was becoming more and more important. One of the key elements of an effective marketing strategy is the notion of ‘brand’. Consequently, this study explores the concept of brand within the environment of Primary education in the UK. In particular, it investigates the importance of an effective vision for generating a notion of brand within the school and the effects that this manifests. The research is conducted by using an Action Research methodology in which the researcher also assumed the role of consultant. This presented many potentially conflicting situations particularly with a view to maintaining validity and reliability. It was done by carrying out a sixteen month investigation into brand development within a primary school in the south-east of England. The results were obtained by a combination of ongoing data collection, questionnaire responses from school staff and interviews with a representative group of school staff. The focus of the research was potentially vast but was narrowed to an investigation of the relationship between vision and brand, the main component aspects of embedding a brand and an investigation into the effects of this on school staff. As a result, a model was developed to summarise the findings and present a potential methodology for subsequent research and development. The main findings were that a focus on brand development within the school, through the promotion and development of an effective vision, led to a greater sense of unity within the school staff, greater levels of staff engagement and motivation and a more positive atmosphere within the school.

Title: IKEA's brand culture in today's Chinese market: Focus on Shanghai Level: Final assignment for Master of Business Administration Author: Hongming Yang, Chen Hu  Supervisor: Maria Fregidou-Malama Date: 2012-June Aim: The aim of this study is to analyze the collected information to study the IKEA's brand culture and consumer psychology and behavior in Shanghai market nowadays. By using Hofstede´s cultural dimensions to assess the IKEA's brand culture in Shanghai we give suggestions to IKEA about how to adapt to the regional market.  Method: Use of primary data which were collected through interviews, with a  questionnaire provided to managers. Secondary data in form of articles, books and published literature has been collected through databases such as DIVA, Emerald and the library at Gävle University. We use qualitative analysis to study the issue. Result & Conclusions: IKEA's brand culture to provide good quality products to improve people's life in Shanghai in cheap price is not so clearly understood. IKEA has to adjust its marketing strategy, such as improving the quality of its products, or reducing the price, to remove the Shanghai consumers' confusion and misunderstanding of IKEA, in order to suit the Shanghai regional culture. Contribution of the thesis: We suggest that multinational enterprises should pay attention on the regional culture of the market they want to enter in. It is  important that the enterprises know the Shanghai consumers' culture requirements, which can lead enterprises to promote their brand culture.

The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate how individual consumers negotiate in the collective community in order to co-create value. By making use of the concepts of ‘resources’ from the Service Dominant Logic of Marketing and ‘cultural lens’ from Consumer Culture Theory, this dissertation considers both individual and collective interaction in order to demonstrate the roles of individual consumers in the value creation process and how the value creation process works. A comprehensive and up to date review of literature provides a guide to the theory and a path for research. This dissertation employed netnography to understand social and cultural aspects of consumption from an online football fan community. The data collection also included participant and non-participant observations, and local fans interviewings. Hermeneutical framework of interpretation was used to analyse data. The findings show that consumers can co-create value among themselves through the roles of ‘provider’ and ‘beneficiary’. It shows the dynamic movement of individual consumers within the continuous learning process of value creation. This dissertation demonstrates that brand community plays a role as a platform of value creation. Consumers can co-create value among themselves through the process of engaging, educating and enriching. The finding demonstrates active roles of consumers in value creation process. This dissertation also discusses how inequalities between resources of consumers in brand community can cause conflicts among them and how these conflicts stimulate consumers to co-create the collective resources. Within this process, consumers have collectively balanced the power through the social interaction in order to eliminate the domination and conflicts. This dissertation extends the previous researches in value creation within brand community by demonstrating how individual consumers engage and negotiated in value creation process. It contributes to respond working consumers and double exploitation through ‘sacrifice’.

Background: Companies nowadays cannot differentiate efficiently enough through their products, therefore require strong brand identities. Especially start-up companies without fully developed products rely on the brand identity to communicate efficiently with its potential customers. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the brand identity of a start-up by applying commonly used models of brand identity and to see the extent of applicability of these models in the case of a start-up. Design/Methodology/Approach: Qualitative research that includes semi-structured interviews with seven participants, where five interviewees work within the company and two interviewees who have a close working connection to it. Findings: The models used are to a small extent applicable in terms of brand personality and brand culture. A brand identity has been described from the same perspectives. Theoretical and Managerial Implication: Adjustment of existing models according to changes in business related settings is argued. Further establishment of the components of brand culture is recommended.

In prevalent concept of marketing, brand culture is a static identification, treated as corporate prerogative which removed from culture and consumers. Generally marketers regard it as an emotional part of branding or a result of a constant branding. Hence, the conventional marketing provides the tools or principles for managers or marketers to conduct branding such as 4P, 7P, Brand Equity Model, etc., to reach high and rapid market share. With growth of diverse business environment and consumer behavior, brands only have long and deep relationships with consumers are more possible to be iconic and sustainable. It attracts people to actively access and to interplay with brand rather than just receive message from brand. In this study, the brand culture is specifically pointed out and seen as marketing approach especially in those brands which consumers will access for purpose of self-expression through consuming. The five dimensions help readers to look upon the important aspects in brand culture and how it works actively in marketing approach. From three multiple-case study: Harley-Davidson, Coca Cola and IKEA, the result shows the strong brand culture can be generated by cultural marketing in which the co-creation is developed and kept in cultural discourses. At the end, brand culture as marketing approach is helpful to review whole marketing strategy in consumer¡¦s perspective and improve the possibilities of increasing value in whole value chain.

<p><strong>Purpose</strong></p><p>The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the current challenges facedby Husqvarna Motorcycles in their brand building process, and todescribe ways in which applying the brand equity principles will enablean increase of the value of their brand.</p><p><strong>Background</strong></p><p>In the complex world of organizations and companies where thecompetitive position plays an important role in successful achievementsof the company, managers seek after building a sustainablecompetitive advantage. Building brand equity is an important focusfor a large company' improvement, since it raises interest of existingand new customers. The process of building brand equity takestime but through this process a company will have a stronger marketposition which creates brand value.</p><p><strong>Method</strong></p><p>In order to answer the purpose, the qualitative method with implementation of semi-structured interviews for collecting data wasused. The data was interpreted and then structured and analyzedusing theoretical framework.</p><p><strong>Conclusions</strong></p><p>During the research performed it was found out that the managersare facing several challenges in respect to building brand equity.Therefore, five components of building brand equity were implementedto draw the conclusions of how the managers could strengthentheir brand.</p>

Purpose The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the current challenges facedby Husqvarna Motorcycles in their brand building process, and todescribe ways in which applying the brand equity principles will enablean increase of the value of their brand. Background In the complex world of organizations and companies where thecompetitive position plays an important role in successful achievementsof the company, managers seek after building a sustainablecompetitive advantage. Building brand equity is an important focusfor a large company' improvement, since it raises interest of existingand new customers. The process of building brand equity takestime but through this process a company will have a stronger marketposition which creates brand value. Method In order to answer the purpose, the qualitative method with implementation of semi-structured interviews for collecting data wasused. The data was interpreted and then structured and analyzedusing theoretical framework. Conclusions During the research performed it was found out that the managersare facing several challenges in respect to building brand equity.Therefore, five components of building brand equity were implementedto draw the conclusions of how the managers could strengthentheir brand.

This dissertation is a study of the possibilities and processes of constructing strong Chinese brands in the global marketplace. It investigates conceptual and strategic relationships between brands and cultures, focusing specifically on the issue of the unprivileged position of Chinese brands vis-à-vis that of other famous global counterparts. Accordingly, it deploys three illustrative cases from the Chinese context – Jay Chou (a successful Chinese music artist), the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, and Shanghai Tang (a global Chinese fashion brand). In so doing, it moves away from the general trend to study the managerial aspects of Western brand building in Chinese contexts, and instead examines how Chinese brands express cultural aspects of their own well-known brand development models in the global marketplace. In short, this study uses a Chinese vantage to examine the emergence of cultural branding (using historical culture and global fashion systems to develop global brands), and its capacity to function as a useful complement to existing models of brand globalisation and global brand culture. The function of the three cases is illustrative and analytic. Collectively, they serve as a lens through which to study Chinese brand development in the global marketplace and examine global brand culture. Each case was fleshed out through various multi-sited ethnographic studies, which consisted of interviewing and observing consumers and managerial workers, the results of which shed light on several important but under-studied aspects of global brand culture. These include Chinese cultural branding in the global context, the cultural approach to branding among various brand actors, and relationships between brands and cultures across branding cultures. Drawing on these examinations, this study not only demonstrates ways in which brands and cultures circulate and construct each other in global brand culture. It also uses these insights to argue for the development of Chinese culture or Chinese-ness into a global brand resource by Chinese brand builders.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:11:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luciane Adario Biscolla Robic.pdf: 3354196 bytes, checksum: 261dda093f70f8d5741347b22d5fe11f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-10-31 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Stimulus for the consumption of products takes place mainly through the experiences they promote. Today, flowing is more important than owning, thus the power of differentiation to become an exclusive and unique brand in a competitive market depends increasingly on its immaterial constitution, since access to the brand's intangible assets leads its audience to an emotional connection. Brands that consistently plan and communicate the elements of their intangible assets are more likely to get more exclusive and lasting affective bonds with their audiences, as the construction of emotional benefits occurs when the brand is perceived beyond its functional aspects and their products' physical characteristics, in a process called personification. This point is the beginning of the construction of a brand's imagery, which is called brand intangible assets. Although identifying several studies on brands and intangible assets, this research has not found any works unifying those two fields in an organized, synergic way. The aim of this work was to organize and analyze the elements that constitute the communication of brand intangible assets. To this end, we focused on media and image theories interfacing with brand theories. From this theoretical review, the intangible assets subject (André Gorz, Jeremy Rifkin) was organized making connections with image composition (Dietmar Kamper, Norval Baitello Jr., Hans Belting, Vilém Flusser) and with different brand approaches (David Aaker, Bernd Schmitt, Andrea Semprini and Marc Gobé). The end result was a script to perform the analysis of the brands' intangible elements,which was tested in the analysis of the communication of a fashion brand. Fashion was chosen because it is an industry in which consumption has a strong symbolic representation, and Osklen was sellected for being internationally recognized as a major Brazilian fashion brand. Among the various forms of communication utilized by the brand, collection catalogues were chosen for the analysis because they reflect more directly the subjects and themes of their creators. The representations and symbolic meanings of the Osklen intangible assets were analyzed, and as a result, we obtained an almost complete adhesion to the studied theories. It was concluded that the brand develops an imagery creation process with a high level of emotional skills, presenting it consistently in its communication processes in accordance to what is professed by the theories on intangible assets, image composition and brands. It is hoped with this work to increase the knowledge about brand communication and to contribute to the development of studies in the areas of Communication, Semiotics and Brand Management, integrating and demonstrating the synergy between them / O estímulo para o consumo de produtos dá-se principalmente pelas experiências que eles promovem. Hoje, fluir é mais importante do que possuir, e, dessa forma, o poder de diferenciação para se tornar uma marca exclusiva e única num mercado competitivo passa cada vez mais pela sua composição imaterial, pois o acesso à imaterialidade da marca conduz seu público a uma conexão emocional. Marcas que planejam e comunicam com consistência os elementos de sua imaterialidade têm maior probabilidade de conseguir vínculos afetivos exclusivos e duradouros com seus públicos, pois a construção dos benefícios emocionais ocorre quando a marca passa a ser percebida além dos seus aspectos funcionais e das características físicas dos seus produtos, num processo denominado personificação. Nesse ponto começa a construção de seu imaginário, o qual é nominado de imaterial da marca. Apesar de identificados diversos estudos sobre o imaterial e sobre marcas, não se registraram trabalhos que unissem essas duas áreas de forma sinérgica e organizada. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi organizar e analisar os elementos que compõem a comunicação do imaterial da marca e, para tanto, o foco centrou-se nas teorias da mídia e da imagem em interação com as teorias das marcas. A partir da revisão teórica, organizou-se o tema imaterial (André Gorz, Jeremy Rifkin) relacionando-o com a composição da imagem (Dietmar Kamper, Norval Baitello Júnior, Hans Belting, Vilém Flusser) e com as diferentes abordagens da marca (David Aaker, Bernd Schmitt, Andrea Semprini e Marc Gobé). O resultado foi um roteiro para analisar o elemento imaterial nas marcas, que foi testado na comunicação de uma marca de moda. Escolheu-se a moda por ser um setor em que o consumo apresenta forte representação simbólica, e a Osklen por ser reconhecida internacionalmente como uma das principais marcas brasileiras de moda. Dentre as diversas formas de comunicação que a marca realiza, foram escolhidos para análise os catálogos de suas coleções, por refletirem de forma mais direta os temas e os imaginários do seu criador. Foram analisadas as representações e significados simbólicos do conteúdo imaterial da Osklen, e, como resultado, obteve-se uma aderência praticamente completa às teorias estudadas. Concluiu-se que a marca desenvolve um processo de criação de seu imaginário com alto nível de qualificação emocional, apresentando-o de maneira consistente em seus processos comunicativos, de acordo com o que preconizam as teorias sobre o imaterial, a composição da imagem e as marcas. Espera-se com este trabalho ampliar o conhecimento acerca da comunicação de marcas e contribuir para o desenvolvimento dos estudos nas áreas de Comunicação, Semiótica e Gestão de Marcas, assim, integrando e demonstrando a sinergia entre elas