Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga möjligheter att sticka ut inom racketsportbranschen Teoretiskt perspektiv: Den teoretiska referensramen är uppbyggd av differentiering, Brand Equity och varumärkesidentitet Metod: Kvalitativ tvärsnittsdesign som utgår från en deduktiv ansats Empiri: Empirin är insamlad genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med en respondent från utvalda padelcenter Slutsats: Slutsatser som studien kommit fram till är att företag inom racketsportbranschen kan använda sig av speciella event där de erbjuder padel specifikt för kvinnor, erbjuda ett område som ger utrymmer för konversationer och umgänge, erbjuda gratis lånerack, erbjuda padelbanor både utomhus och inomhus, erbjuda klimatsmarta lösningar för anläggningen och konsumenter, anlägga en padelbana vid en visuellt tilltalande plats samt använda en känd person för att öka kännedomen kring varumärket / Purpose: The aim of the study is to identify opportunities to stand out in the racket sports industry Theoretical perspective: The theoretical frame of reference is based on differentiation, Brand Equity and Brand Identity Method: Qualitative Cross-sectional design based on a deductive approach Result: The data is collected through semi-structured interviews with one respondent from selected padelcenters Conclusion: The conclusions of the study are that companies in the racket sports industry can use special events that offer padel specifically for women, offer an area that provides space for conversations and socializing, offer free loan racks, offer paddle courts both outdoors and indoors, offer climate-smart solutions for the facility and consumers, build a padel court at a visually appealing place and use a famous person to increase awareness of the brand.

Att sponsra idrottsorganisationer är ett väletablerat och vanligt förekommande fenomen bland företag. Miljontals kronor pumpas in i olika idrottsorganisationer med syfte att förbättra företags anseende om deras verksamhet samt varumärke. Trots krav på att kunna påvisa hur dessa investeringar påverkar företags verksamhet tyder många studier på en avsaknad av samt okunskap kring effektmätning. Avsikten med denna studie är att söka djupare förståelse kring om och i så fall hur företag mäter effekten av sin sponsring. För att kunna undersöka detta krävs att djupare förståelse skapas kring vilka mål företag, utan idrottskoppling, har till att investera i sponsorsamarbeten med idrottsorganisationer. Slutligen är även avsikten med studien att söka svar på vilket faktiskt utfall företags sponsring får, både gällande varumärkesimage ur konsumentens perspektiv samt om företag kan se en eventuell ekonomisk vinst genom deras sponsorsamarbeten. För att möjliggöra undersökandet av detta baseras studien i huvudsak på en kvalitativ intervjustudie med fyra passande företag, BAUHAUS och Folksam som idag, 2020, är aktiva sponsorer till idrottsorganisationer samt Epson och Ericsson som tidigare sponsrat idrottsorganisationer eller idrottsrelaterade event. Detta kompletteras med en kvantitativ enkätundersökning med de aktiva sponsorföretagens konsumenter för att analysera sponsorsamarbetenas påverkan på varumärket. Enkäten besvarades av 369 respondenter. Fenomenet undersöks med hjälp av följande teorier: Brand Equity, Brand Image Transfer, Return on Investment, Return och Objectives samt SMART-modellen. Resultatet från studien visar att företag har otydligt formulerade mål med sin idrottssponsring vilket medför att en eventuell effektmätning försvåras. Dock kan studiens resultat påvisa att idrottssponsring leder till ett något förbättrat varumärkesanseende. Däremot genererar idrottssponsring inte de positiva utfall som företag tycks förutsätta när sponsorsamarbeten inleds. / To sponsor a sports organization is a well-established and recurring phenomenon amongst corporations. Millions of Swedish kronor are invested in different sport organizations with the purpose to improve corporations business and trademarks. Despite requirements regarding proving an investments impact on corporation’s business operations many studies suggest there is a lack of, and ignorance surrounding effect measurements. The purpose with this study is to seek deeper understanding surrounding how corporations measure the effect of their sponsoring To enable this it is necessary to understand what goals corporations, without a clear connection to sport, have with their investments in sports organizations. The purpose with this study is also to seek answers surrounding which outcome the corporations sponsoring actual has, both regarding their brand image from a consumers perspective as well as weather they can identify an economic benefit with their sponsorship.  The study is mainly based on a qualitative interview study with four appropriate corporations, BAUHAUS and Folksam that today, 2020, are active sponsors to sports organizations and Epson and Ericsson that earlier have sponsored sports organizations or sport-related events. This is then supplemented with a quantitative survey with the consumers of the corporations that actively sponsor sports organizations to enable an analysis of the sponsorships impact on their trademark. The survey was completed by a total of 369 respondents. The phenomenon is studied with the help of the following theories: Brand Equity, Brand Image Transfer, Return on Investment, Return on Objectives and the SMART-model.  The results of this study show that corporations have vaguely formulated goals regarding their sport sponsorships which entails that potential effect measurements are hampered. However, the result of the study can prove that sport sponsorships do lead to a somewhat improved trademark reputation. On the contrary sport sponsorships do not seem to entail the positive effect corporations seem to presume when initiating a sport sponsorship.

Den internationella marknaden inom sport har de senaste åren vuxit kraftigt. Det har bidragit till att supportrar finns i olika delar av världen med en personlig bakgrund som skiljer sig från person till person, vilket påverkar deras uppfattning. Varumärken har därför mer och mer börjat se intresset i att använda sponsring i sin kommunikationsstrategi för att uppnå brand equity. Däremot har de ett hinder i att försöka nå ut och förstå alla de sportkonsumenter som befinner sig inom det nya och stora segmentet med blandade kulturer, ålder, kön och uppfattningar om varumärken som sponsrar inom sport och fans som är dedikerade till sporten. Syftet var därför att skapa mer kunskap om sport konsumenters uppfattning av sport och försöka hjälpa varumärken på den internationella marknaden. Studien undersökte hur konsumenter uppfattar sponsring och om det finns några kopplingar till deras bakgrund. Med en referensram av sponsring inom sport och konsumentbeteende, gjordes det en kvantitativ undersökning där över 300 sportkonsumenter fick svara på en enkät och uppvisa sin personliga uppfattning. Det visade sig att undersökningen gav både varierande svar, men även lika, om hur de uppfattar sponsring gentemot deras demografiska bakgrund. Olika delar av världen, kulturer, kön och åldrar påvisade ett resultat i att det med stor sannolikhet finns en koppling mellan deras personligabakgrund och deras uppfattning. Slutligen, visade studien att konsumenter av sport har olika reaktioner som påverkas av allt som har hänt och händer i deras liv, vilket är viktigt att beakta för varumärken som tar sig in på den internationella marknaden för sport och vill skapa stark brand equity. / The international market for sports has seen increased growth for the past few years. This has contributed to more fans who come from different parts of the world and have a personal background that differs from person to person, which affects their perception. Brands have therefore, more and more, started to see the appeal in using sponsorship as their communications strategy to achieve brand equity. However, there are obstacles in trying to reach all these new sports consumers that exist within new and larger segmented markets. That is because there are variations in culture, age, gender and perception of brands using sponsorship in sports and fans who are dedicated to their sport. For that reason, the aim was to create more knowledge about sports consumers’ perception of sports sponsorship and try to help brands on the global market. The study researched how consumers perceive sponsorship and if there are any connections to their background. With a frame of reference within sponsorship in sports and consumer behavior, a quantitative study was created with over 300 sports consumers who got to answer a survey and exhibit their personal perception. The study showed both varied and similar answers about how they perceive sponsorship in regards to their demographic background. Different parts of the world, cultures, gender and ages, demonstrated a result that it is with great probability that there are connections between their personalbackground and their perception. Finally, the study proved that consumers of sport have various reactions and they pull these reactions from what has happened during their life, which is important for brands who enter the global market for sports and want to create a stronger brand equity.

Date: 3 June Level: Master Thesis in Business Administration, 15 credits Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors: Paul Kato (95/03/11) and Henrik Aronsson (95/10/29) Title: Brand Activism, does it work? Tutor: Edward Gillmore Keywords: Brand activism, brand equity, social activism, attitudes, woke washing Research questions: a. How is the consumer-based brand equity affected by a company’s use of social activism in its marketing? b. How does this in turn affect consumer purchasing engagement? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how consumers respond tosocial activism advertisements and how it influences their purchaseengagement. Method: The method used in this thesis is a quantitative research with anabductive research approach. The data has been collected through anonline survey and received 504 responses. Conclusion: Advertising that contains social activism has an overly positive impact onconsumer attitudes, purchasing engagement, and corporate consumerbasedbrand equity.

The brand equity concept is one of the most significant concepts for branding and marketing and its model and measurement have interested many academics and practitioners. Most of the research on brand equity has focused on physical goods, with a dearth of studies on the service sector in general and particularly in the banking sector. The dearth of research in this area appears paradox as branding could be argued to play a distinctive role particularly in the service sector. This is because strong brands increase consumers' trust of the imperceptible purchase and reduce their perceived monetary, social, or safety risk in buying services, which are difficult to evaluate prior to purchase and for which it sometimes takes a long time after purchase to confirm the brand promise. Consequently, many scholars have called for an investigation of brand equity in the service sector. In addition, most of the research on brand equity has focused on developed countries which would suggest a regional focus on developing countries. To sum up, despite the importance of brand equity in the service sector, there is lack of empirical evidence in the service sector in general and specifically in the banking sector, particularly for developing economies. Furthermore, there is lack of studies that examined and compared service brand equity across bank type (local public, local private and foreign banks) to provide a benchmark especially for foreign banks. Contributing to scholarly attempts to fill the gaps in the brand equity literature. this thesis examines consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) in the Egyptian banking sector in general and based on each bank type: public, private and foreign. In addition, the study aims to find out the similarities and differences on brand equity based on bank type. The regional context of the study is Egypt As the largest Arab country and the entry point for the Middle East and Africa Egypt appeared to be of high practical relevance and be a suitable regional research context. Unlike previous researches, a mixed method approach was employed to achieve the research aims. Qualitative data was used to triangulate the quantitative data and gaining a richer understanding of the quantitative findings. Four hundred and sixty-eight self-administered questionnaires were collected by offline and online modes, and 14 semi-structured face-to-face interviews provided details about how consumers perceived consumer-based brand equity in Egyptian banking. Data was analysed using SPSS19. Different types of statistical applications were used, such as descriptive analysis, factor analysis and multiple regressions. Content analysis using NVivo10 software was used to analyse the interview data. The main findings reveal that CBBE is applicable in the Egyptian banking sector. The results show that brand awareness, reliable staff, brand association and brand loyalty are the most effective variables on overall value of brand equity in the Egyptian banking sector, while within public banks, reliable staff, brand association and brand loyalty have the most influence on the overall value of brand equity. However, private and foreign banks share the same variables which affect the overall value of brand equity; these variables are brand awareness, brand loyalty and brand personality. The findings reveal that there is a significant difference between public banks and private and foreign banks; however, there is no significant difference between private and foreign banks. The qualitative findings support and add meaning to the quantitative results. The current research contributes to knowledge in the field of service brand equity research and extend our understanding in developing economics and adding to the debate on the area of brand equity. Furthermore, it contributes methodologically by using mixed methods and mixed modes (offline and online). In addition, the study overcomes the limitations of previous studies in three ways. Firstly, different types of brand association were incorporated and real consumers were approached rather than relying on students’ samples. Secondly, perceived quality was measured using the SERVPERF scale, providing a more comprehensive quality measure than many studies. Thirdly, the data were collected from Egypt, which as a developing country establishes an underresearched regional context. Therefore, as is the case in many developing countries, there were many challenges involved in the data collection process. Based on the results, the study provides a number of pratical contributions: It offers a manageable scale ‘‘tool kit'' for managers in the banking sector, regardless of type of bank, to create, maintain and improve their brand equity. It also provides guidelines that public, private and foreign banks could use to compare their performance with competitors. The study emphasizes the importance of building and developing brand awearness for private and foreign banks. As the service encounter is the “moment of truth” and is one of the most important determinants of brand equity, public banks should place more emphasis on their internal branding as well as on external consumers. Top management should invest in cultivating their brand values to their employees, particularly front-line employees, as they will deliver them to consumers through the service encounter. Another interesting finding with practical relevance was that although the majority of banks in Egypt has online banking services, most of the study respondents did not use them, therefore they might be well advised to collaborate with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to organise a campaign to cultivate trust in the country’s online banking infrastructure and promote the advantages of using it. Online banking could be one of the solutions to overcrowding and long queues in public banks and improve the quality of the service provided which will lead to consumers’ satisfaction and increase the level of brand equity. Most consumers of public banks perceived their banks as the only secure banks guaranteed by the Egyptian government. Similarly to promoting the use of online banking, there is a need to develop a better public awareness of the role of the CBE in supervising all banks in Egypt regardless of their type. This will ensure fair and equal opportunities for all banks, which will foster real competition and hence is argued to affect the quality of the service provided. Despite the research achieved its planned objectives, as any social research, it has certain constraints and limitations. These limitations could offer opportunities for future research to address. Firstly, due the lack of detailed information about the study population, this research used a convenience sample of induvadul commercial bank consumers in the Greater Cairo. Future research could employ probability sampling if possible. Moreover, future studies could cover more cities in Egypt, not only the Greater Cairo area (even though the focus on this area has been discussed and justified in the thesis). Secondly, although the importance of CBBE has been analysed mainly from a consumer perspective it might be useful to examine service brand equity from the points of view of employees (managers and front-line) in banks in order to gain a better and comprehensive understanding from both perspectives. Thirdly, while this study examined and compared CBBE in diffrent bank types (public, private and foreign) in Egypt. It is suggested that a comparison could be made based on the top bank in each types, as this could give more specific recommendations for these banks. Fourthly, due to limitations of time and funds, future reseach could examine and compare CBBE in different services sectors and in different countries. Fifthly, this study focused on commercial banks in Egypt in general without distinguish between Islamic and conventional banks. Therefore, future research could carefully distinguish between Islamic and conventional banks and compare CBBE across them to gain a better understanding of the differences and similarities. Sixthly, it could be worth comparing the CBBE of foreign banks when they operate overseas (e.g., Barclays Bank and HSBC).

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychological Sciences / Gary Brase / Brand Equity is a common phrase in consumer research, but there is still a lot of ambiguity surrounding the measurement of this concept (Keller, 2008). Several methods of measurement have been proposed over the years, but no one method has been adopted as the ideal way to predict purchase intent and measure brand equity. The current research tested three theories—Social Exchange Theory (SET), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and the Yoo and Donthu model—to see which is the best predictor of purchase intent and brand equity. SET assumes consumers weigh the costs and rewards of purchasing the product. TPB uses consumers’ attitudes over purchasing the product, subjective norms of what others would do, and the perceived behavioral control consumers have in actually purchasing the product. The Yoo and Donthu model has been used most often of the three theories in measuring brand equity and includes measures of brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand awareness/associations, and overall brand equity. Study 1 assessed consumer durable products (TV and athletic shoes) and Study 2 assessed consumer non-durable products (soap and toothpaste). Consumers evaluated these products online based on a picture of the product, the brand name, price, customer reviews, quality ratings, and an advertisement and then indicated their likelihood to purchase the product. Theory of Planned Behavior was the best predictor of purchase intent across all four products assessed indicating that consumers look at external factors such as what others would do as well as how much control they have over purchasing the product as much as they consider their own attitudes.

Modern technology has provided for greater company transparency and media coverage, which among other has led to customers being able to increasingly demand corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives from companies. Companies should however not consider CSR as a constraint, but rather as a way to create competitive advantage, generating positive outcomes. One of which could be consumer-based brand equity (CBBE), however, the implementation of efficient CSR strategies is a difficult task, where research has somewhat disregarded the customer aspect of CSR, which can drive CBBE. Hence, this research has focused on the customer attitudes towards CSR and how this impacts CBBE, as well as brand trust. The data for the survey was gathered through a convenience sample, which after data cleanup consisted of 106 respondents. The results of the data analysis suggested the impact which customer attitudes towards CSR can have on both CBBE and brand trust, within the context of the insurance industry, used for this paper, due its linkage to CSR, as described later on. Keywords Customer Attitudes, Brand Affection, Brand Trust, Brand Equity, Consumer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Insurance Industry.

Notre recherche s’inscrivant dans le domaine des Sciences de Gestion et plus précisément dans le champ disciplinaire du Marketing, nous avons choisi de transposer et d’adapter plusieurs concepts - notamment les concepts de marque et de capital-marque - issus de la littérature marketing à la sphère politique. Notre recherche vise d’abord et avant tout à contribuer à la conceptualisation du capital-marque de Keller (1993), à valider une méthode de mesure et à l’appliquer dans un autre domaine. L’objectif in fine est de tester notre conceptualisation d’un modèle de la relation à la marque politique fondée sur la mesure de son capital-marque. Portant sur le 1er tour de l’élection présidentielle de 2012 en France, cette recherche prouve la pertinence de la conceptualisation du capital-marque de Keller (1993) appliquée au domaine politique : de façon directe ou indirecte, le capital-marque politique représente bien l’effet différentiel de la connaissance de la marque politique sur la réponse de l’électeur au marketing de la marque politique. En outre, ce sont bien les associations fortes, positives et uniques qui sont source de valeur. Les études menées permettent également de valider une conceptualisation duale de la marque politique (Phipps, Brace-Govan et Jevons, 2010) tout en montrant l’effet modérateur de la congruence entre la marque personnelle du candidat et la marque « corporate » du parti. Le test du modèle permet enfin de mieux comprendre la relation entre la marque politique et l’électeur. Le concept de marque politique peut selon nous aider les hommes politiques et les partis à développer leur notoriété, construire, gérer, mesurer et contrôler leur capital-marque. Le développement d’une mesure du capital-marque politique offre ainsi la possibilité d’une réelle gestion de la marque politique. / We have chosen in this research to transpose and adapt several concepts used in the field of Management Sciences and more specifically Marketing – notably the concepts of brand and brand equity – to the political sphere. The main objectives of our research are to contribute to Keller’s conceptualization of brand equity (1993), to validate a measure method and to apply it to another field. The ultimate goal is to test our conceptualization of a model of the relationship to the political brand based on the measure of its brand equity. Based on the first ballot of the 2012 French presidential election, this research proves the relevance of Keller’s conceptualization of brand equity (1993) applied to the political field: directly or indirectly, political brand equity does stand for the differential effect of political brand knowledge on voter response to the marketing of the political brand. Furthermore, strong, favorable and unique associations are those which create value. Our studies also allow to validate a dual conceptualization of the political brand (Phipps, Brace-Govan and Jevons, 2010) while proving the moderating effect of the congruence between the candidate’s personal brand and the party’s corporate brand. At last, testing the model allows to better understand the relationship between the political brand and the voter. According to us, the concept of political brand can help politicians as well as parties to develop their awareness of, build, manage, measure and control their brand equity. Developing a measure of political brand equity thus allows the possibility of a real management of the political brand.

The purpose of the thesis was to investigate how generation Z values ​​the customer-based brand equity of a consumer product. Generation Z is an interesting generation to study since they have shown to differ in a variety of aspects from previous generations. To answer the purpose, a model has been constructed, which is based on previous research. The model consists of the components; brand awareness, brand associations/image, perceived quality and brand loyalty. Together the components form the cornerstones of the customer-based brand equity. Eight hypotheses were tested with the purpose of measuring the interrelationship between the components, and the relationship between the various components and the customer-based brand equity. Six of these eight hypotheses could be accepted. The result showed that the components brand association/image and brand loyalty have a positive impact on the customer-based brand equity, while brand awareness and perceived quality showed a non-significant result. The non-significant results were then further examined through t-test, with the purpose of trying to find possible reasons for the outcome. Moreover, the results showed that brand awareness has a positive correlation with both brand associations/image and perceived quality. Finally, the result showed that brand loyalty was positively correlated to both brand associations/image and perceived quality. For further research, it is proposed that a more comprehensive study consisting of more respondents from generation Z should be conducted. In addition, further research could be based on other consumer products and also examine whether there could be more or other components that should be considered when measuring customer-based brand equity. / Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur generation Z värderar det kundbaserade varumärkeskapitalet hos en konsumentprodukt. Det är intressant att undersöka generation Z då de på många sätt visat skilja sig från tidigare generationer. För att besvara syftet har en modell utformats som är baserad på tidigare forskning. Modellen består av komponenterna; varumärkeskännedom, varumärkesassociationer/image uppfattad kvalitet, och varumärkeslojalitet. Komponenterna utgör tillsammans grundstenarna för det kundbaserade varumärkeskapitalet. Åtta hypoteser utformades för samband inbördes mellan komponenterna samt även de olika komponenternas påverkan på det kundbaserade varumärkeskapitalet. Av dessa åtta hypoteser kunde sex av dem accepteras. Resultatet visade att komponenterna varumärkesassociation/image och varumärkeslojalitet har positiv påverkan på det kundbaserade varumärkeskapitalet, medan komponenterna varumärkeskännedom och uppfattad kvalitet visade ett icke signifikant resultat. De icke signifikanta resultaten som erhölls undersöktes vidare genom t-tester i ett försök att hitta en förklaring till resultaten. Inbördes bland komponenterna visade resultatet att varumärkeskännedom har ett positivt samband till både varumärkesassociationer/image och uppfattad kvalitet. Slutligen visade studien på att varumärkeslojalitet har ett positivt samband till både varumärkesassociationer/image och uppfattad kvalitet. För fortsatt forskning föreslås bland annat att en mer omfattande studie bestående av fler respondenter från generation Z genomförs. Utöver det hade det för fortsatt forskning varit intressant att basera studier på andra konsumentprodukter, och även undersöka om det finns fler eller andra komponenter som bör tas hänsyn till vid mätningen av det kundbaserade varumärkeskapitalet.

El propósito de esta investigación es encontrar la relación entre el Brand Equity e la intención de compra en los Homecenter con la categoría de pinturas látex, en hombres de 36 a 45 años, del nivel socioeconómico C en Lima Metropolitana. La metodología de investigación fue de carácter mixta ya que se aplicó herramientas cualitativas y cuantitativas. En la investigación la cualitativa se realizó 4 entrevistas a expertos, 3 grupos focales y 4 observaciones presenciales en Homecenter. Por otro lado, para contrastar la información de los expertos, se utilizó la investigación cuantitativa para darle una representatividad a los datos. Se utilizó una muestra de 190 personas escogidas por muestro no probabilístico por cuota, las cuales fueron encuestadas con un cuestionario elaborado de 24 preguntas el cual fue aplicado de manera presencial en papel. Posteriormente, se aplicó un análisis de correlación, cuyos resultados arrogaron que la relación entre el Brand Equity y la intención de compra en los Homecenter fue positiva. Dentro las dimensiones establecidas, se utilizó: calidad percibida, Brand Loyalty y Brand Trust. El resultado más destacable fue con la dimensión “Calidad percibida” que obtuvo la mayor fuerza de relación hacia la intención de compra con una correlación de: 0,423. Por último, cabe destacar que estos resultados son de utilidad para todo el sector de mejoramiento del hogar o pinturas, para demostrar que las estrategias de Brand Equity forman parte de los factores que fomentan las ventas en la categoría y le agregan valor a la empresa. / The purpose of this research is to find the relationship between Brand Equity strategies and the purchase intention for Homecenter. The research was conducted for the category of decorative paints, in men aged 36 to 45 years old, with a socioeconomic level of C at Metropolitan Lima. The research methodology had a mixed nature, qualitative and quantitative tools were applied. The qualitative research had: four interviews with experts, three focus groups to the target and four direct observations at Homecenter. On the other hand, to compare the information of the experts, a quantitative investigation was applied. The sample was conformed of 190 people that were chosen for non-probabilistic sampling by quota method, which were surveyed with a paper questionnaire made of 24 questions which was applied in person. Subsequently, a correlation analysis was applied, that showed up that the relationship between the Brand Equity and the purchase intention in Homecenter were positive. To measure the relationship a three-dimension model was created for the Brand Equity model which included: perceived quality, Brand Loyalty, and Brand Trust. The most notable result was the dimension of “perceived quality” that obtained the greatest relation with the purchase intention with a correlation of: 0.423. Finally, it should be noted that these results are useful for the entire Homecenter or painting sector, to demonstrate that Brand Equity strategies are part of the factors that promote sales in the category and add value to the retailer. / Trabajo de investigación