Under de senaste åren har barnklädesbranschen och dess aktörer upplevt en kraftigt ökad efterfrågan och utbud på marknaden. En högkonjunktur och en trend där förstföderskorna är äldre gör att barnfamiljerna har stabilare ekonomi. Konsumtionstrender visar även ett ökat fokus på familj och personlig identitet där småbarnsföräldrar gärna spenderar pengar på barnkläder. Dessa fenomen har bidragit till att det finns stora möjligheter för små barnklädesmärken att etablera sig på marknaden. En marknad där det även råder hård konkurrens och stora modejättarna drar stora fördelar då de kan konkurrera med pris. Andra aktörer är redan etablerade varumärken som inte alltid konkurrerar med pris men har ett stort försprång då de är välkända för målgruppen. Det ökade utbudet har lett till att föräldrarna får allt svårare att välja bland mångfalden och för små barnklädesmärken är det svårt att etablera sig utan ett redan starkt varumärke eller att konkurrera med låga priser. Nyetablerade barnklädesmärken måste ta tillvara på möjligheterna och finna alternativa vägar för att kunna konkurrera utan att bli en i mängden. Denna uppsats tar därför upp vilka faktorer som är viktiga för att ett litet nystartat barnklädesmärke ska kunna överleva på en konkurrensutsatt marknad. Syftet med uppsatsen är att göra en jämförande fallstudie för att analysera och utvärdera två små och ett stort barnklädesföretags marknadsföringsstrategier. Uppsatsskrivarna utgår ifrån att titta på tre barnklädesföretag vilka överlevt mer än två år i branschen. Undersökningen består av semistrukturerade intervjuer med de tre fallföretagen som är Tuss, Plastisock och Polarn O. Pyret. Intervjuerna redogör för företagens marknadsföringsstrategier vilket ger grunden för att analysera och utvärdera dessa. Undersökningen resulterade i att differentiering för att erbjuda någonting annat än det marknadsledarna gör är grundläggande för att små barnklädesmärken ska överleva. Till grund för undersökningen ligger teorier och perspektiv som Relationsmarknadsföring, Involveringsteorin, Word of mouth, Differentieringsstrategier, Brand Equity, PR och Relationen till media samt Customer realtionship management. Nyckelord i uppsatsen är; barnklädesbranschen, konkurrentutsatt marknad, relationsmarknadsföring, mervärdesskapande, marknadsföring, involvering och varumärke

Prompted by increased competition, universities around Sweden are beginning to recognize that marketing and branding are strategic key components. This recognition is of great importance for Umeå School of Business (USBE) given that it is often perceived as both geographically and psychologically distant for many prospective students. A committed brand management initiative by the management of USBE could therefore serve to strengthen the school’s competitive ability and increase its brand equity in the long run, making it more attractive to prospective students. In order to create a foundation for this work, this study sets out to answer; what are the relevant brand equity dimensions of a business school, and what is the general perception(s) of them with regards to USBE? The study is limited to prospective and present students making it possible to interpret these relevant brand equity dimensions as determinant factors of school choice given that it is the most obvious use prospective students will make of them. In the study, existing brand equity theories are used to construct a conceptual brand equity framework applicable to a business school’s brand and organization. A quantitative survey is then performed to collect empirical data from over 450 students at nine Swedish universities including USBE. After performing a series of factor analyses on the empirical data, the study shows that the relevant brand equity dimensions for prospective business students are awareness and loyalty in addition to associations in the form of the Outcome & Prestige of the education, its Versatility, Performance, and Expertise as well as its ability to instigate Assurance. The study also indicates that there are considerable differences between the general perception(s) of these dimensions with regards to USBE between USBE’s present students and prospective students – implying that strategic actions are necessary to correct for this. Toward the end of the study, the author therefore provides the management of USBE with brief suggestions of how these actions could be undertaken.

This research addresses an urgent contemporary problem within advertising and brand management in the new era of social networks - how do companies act on social networking platforms and how is this perceived by consumers? Being successful on Facebook is, seemingly, not as straight forward as many might think, and the misuse deriving from misperceptions can create negative brand impacts. This research aims to shed light on the yet under researched topic of firm-created Social Media advertising and its effects on the consumer mindset. This has lead to three overarching research questions, which provides a strong theoretical and practical contribution to the status quo:   RQ1:          What is the influence of the gap between motivational factors to “Like” a brand’s Facebook page and the subsequent firm-created Facebook advertising on perceived advertising value?   RQ2:          What is the influence of perceived advertising value on consumer brand-related activities?   RQ3:                      What is the influence of (1) perceived advertising value and (2) consumer brand-related activities on brand equity?   A quantitative research approach was adopted using a self-administered survey among 101 European Facebook users between 18 and 35. The framework of this research comes from four elements of theory; Uses and Gratifications (U&G) theory to identify the underlying motivational factors to engage with a brand on Facebook, advertising value by Ducoffe (1995), to measure how the brand’s advertising is perceived, consumer brand-related activities (COBRA) by Muntinga, et al. (2011) to classify the level of consumer involvement with the brand on Facebook, and the brand value chain by Keller & Lehmann (2003), which is closely related to consumer-based brand equity as developed by Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993).   The main conclusions of this research include that the gap between initial motivations to start a brand-relationship on Facebook and the subsequent activities performed by the firm is smaller for those in a currently active brand-relationship while it is considerable larger for those who have decided to exit the relationship. Moreover, while not statistically confirmed a clear tendency was identified that the perceived advertising value of a brand on Facebook is attributable to the extent of this gap. In the same vein, the decision to continue or exit a brand-relationship on Facebook is attributable by the level of perceived advertising value. The type and level of interaction with a brand is influenced by the perceived advertising value, however, can be influenced by targeting specific motivations to interact. Both the perceived advertising value and the level/type of interaction with a brand were found to influence the consumer mindset. Especially the form (entertaining, enjoyable) in which advertising is dispersed on Facebook proves to be important.

Varumärkeskapital är det mervärde som ett varumärke ger en produkt i förhållande till om varumärket inte funnits på produkten. Konsumentbaserat varumärkeskapital innebär vidare att det är i konsumentens medvetande som varumärkeskapitalet existerar. Snabbrörliga konsumentvaror kännetecknas av att de köps ofta och att deras kontakt med konsumenten är begränsad, vidare är de ofta lätta att byta ut. Den här studien undersöker genom kvalitativa intervjuer hur företag bygger varumärkeskapital inom en marknad för snabbrörliga konsumentvaror. Åtta varumärkesansvariga på företag verksamma inom en marknad för snabbrörliga konsumentvaror har intervjuats för att få reda på deras syn på byggande av varumärkeskapital inom nämnda kontexten. Hela studien utgår i grunden från fem dimensioner av varumärkeskapital nämligen varumärkesassociationer, varumärkeskännedom, varumärkeslojalitet, upplevt värde samt andra varumärkestillgångar. Intervjuerna har sedan analyserats utifrån dessa dimensioner stött av andra relevanta teorier inom ämnet, analysen har också sin grund i det valda syftet. Resultaten av denna studie påvisar hur varumärkeskapital skapas för snabbrörliga konsumentvaror inom de fem dimensionerna av varumärkeskapital. Den bekräftar också att alla dimensioner är viktiga att jobba med för att bygga varumärkeskapital. Inom varumärkesassociationer så är trovärdighet och unicitet viktiga aspekter. Det är extra viktigt att jobba med varumärkeskännedom då konsumenter ofta spenderar kort tid då ett köpbeslut tas för snabbrörliga konsumentvaror. Att öka konsumenters involvering i varumärket är viktigt för att skapa varumärkeslojalitet. För upplevd kvalitet är det avgörande att arbeta med de sensoriska delarna då en produkt med dålig kvalitet inte blir långvarig, speciellt, inom en marknad för snabbrörliga konsumentvaror. Att ha fungerande distributionskanaler är viktigt för snabbrörliga konsumentvaror då dessa bidrar till exponering av varumärket. Studien visar att de fem använda dimensionerna är av högsta vikt för byggande av varumärkeskapital inom en marknad för snabbrörliga konsumentvaror. Vidare finner studien att en aspekt av andra varumärkestillgångar, nämligen distribution, istället kan tillhöra varumärkeskännedom i denna kontext. Studien visar också indikationer på att dimensionen upplevd kvalitet är den viktigaste för snabbrörliga konsumentvaror inom varumärkeskapital Dessa är tre viktiga teoretiska bidrag som studien gett. Vidare är studien av praktiskt värde då den ger rekommendationer hur företag inom denna kontext kan arbeta för att bygga varumärkeskapital utifrån de fem använda dimensionerna.

隨著產品的多樣化與複雜化，傳統的命名方式已不敷使用，廠商開始尋求不同的品牌名稱，因此產生許多異於以往的命名方式，其中數字性品牌名稱即為其中之一，Boyd於1985年發現越來越多企業採用數字性品牌名稱（alpha-numeric brand name）：「一個或多個數字，在搭配字母組合形成有意義的字或形成無意義的字」，有趣的是Pavia & Costa(1993)發現數字性品牌名稱會令消費者產生科技性的聯想，因此本研究便基於此論點深入探討消費者對於數字性品牌名稱搭配不同科技性程度產品的認知與影響。 本研究主要藉由焦點團體訪談發展假說與架構，結果發現消費者對於數字性品牌名稱不同的呈現方式有不同的認知與看法，因此本研究藉由實驗設計採集資料，研究分析結果發現以下幾點： 一、 消費者認為當產品科技性程度較高時，採用數字性品牌名稱的產品擁有較高的評價。 二、 消費者認為當產品為高科技性，數字性品牌名稱的數字部分用阿拉伯數字呈現擁有較高的評價；然而當產品為低科技性，數字性品牌名稱的數字部分則用英文單字呈現擁有較高的評價。 三、 數字性品牌名稱的位數長短以及字母與數字的前後順序並不會令消費者產生不同的認知。 四、 消費者對於數字性品牌名稱的不同呈現方式具有不同的聯想。

由實務現象可觀察到有愈來愈多的企業採取在同一個產品類別裡，推出多個品牌的模式，亦即以品牌組合的策略來和競爭對手抗衡。而進一步分析這些擁有多個品牌的企業歷史可發現有三項因素會影響到其品牌組合的內涵，即其所採行的企業成長策略、所累積的企業品牌之品牌權益，以及品牌組合所欲追求的目標。 本研究以三種企業成長策略：密集式、整合式、多角化，與五項目標追求：綜效、槓桿運用品牌資產、維持和消費者的相關性、打造強勢品牌、創造產品的明確性，分別檢視六家多品牌企業的品牌組合內涵。 研究方法採用個案研究法，選定六家個案企業：黑松、味全、王品、花王、郭元益、豐田等進行深入訪談並蒐集各類型的次級資料，整理出各個品牌的市場表現及形成背景，還有目前各企業品牌的品牌權益表現，以及從創立到現在採行過的成長策略、策略選擇的背景、所要追求的目標，以及達成的效果；此外更進一步了解個案企業如何將有限資源分配到各品牌以及各品牌如何發揮其角色與功能。 研究發現：(1)成長策略會直接影響品牌組合策略之內涵;(2)「成長策略影響品牌組合策略」之關係會受到企業品牌之品牌權益調節；(3)品牌組合目標之設定有優先順序之別；(4)企業的成長策略會直接影響品牌組合目標之達成；(5)品牌組合目標會直接影響品牌組合策略之內涵；(6)品牌組合目標之追求會直接影響企業成長策略之選擇；(7)企業品牌擔任背書品牌的前提為企業品牌擁有高品牌知名度與極佳的知覺品質認知；(8)形成「共同推動之副品牌」的前提為此副品牌擁有高品牌知名度與極佳的知覺品質認知；(9)主品牌、副品牌、品牌差異者、策略性品牌、增色品牌、品牌活化者愈多時，愈能提升企業品牌之品牌知名度；(10)一企業採行密集式之成長策略有先後關係。 / From practice can observe there is more and more companies take multi-brand strategy in a single product category. In other words, they compete with others by brand portfolio strategy. Further analyze these companies can find there are three factors will influence the content of their brand portfolio strategy: corporate growth strategy, brand equity of corporate brand, and the brand portfolio objectives. This study is trying to examine the content of brand portfolio strategy of six multi-brand companies with three kind’s corporate growth strategy: intensive, integrative, and diversification. And with five types of brand portfolio objectives: synergy, leverage, relevance, strong brand and clarity. This investigation is based on a case study research. The cases include Hey-Song, Wei-Chuan, Wang-Steak, Kao, Kuo-Yuan-Ye, and Toyota. By depth interview and gathering multi-kinds of secondary data, the study gets each company’s contents of brand portfolio, such as current performance, background, brand equity, corporate growth strategy, and brand portfolio objectives. Besides, this study also finds out each case how to allocate the limited resource and how to define each brand’s role and function. The result reveals: (1) growth strategy will directly influence the content of brand portfolio strategy; (2) the relationship between growth strategy and brand portfolio will be adjusted by equity of corporate brand; (3) the brand portfolio objectives have priority; (4) growth strategy will directly influence the effectiveness of brand portfolio objectives; (5) brand portfolio objectives will directly influence the content of brand portfolio strategy; (6) brand portfolio objectives will directly influence the choosing of growth strategy; (7)the premise of corporate brand as endorser brand is that the corporate brand owns high brand awareness and excellent quality perception; (8)the premise of being co-brands is this sub-brand owned high brand awareness and excellent quality perception; (9)the more master brand, sub-brand, brand differentiation, strategic brand, silver brand or brand energizer, the higher brand awareness of corporate brand will be; (10) there is priority when a company taking intensive corporate growth strategy.

商業競爭日益激烈，企業間不再只是以房地產、機器、廠房設備等有形資產以及股票、定存等金融資產作為衡量企業價值的基礎；品牌、商標、專利、關鍵技術等無形資產，已轉化成企業的核心資源，成為企業競爭的利器。學者Aaker更進一步認為，未來行銷的戰爭是一場品牌的戰爭。而品牌究竟值多少錢？Interbrand與Business Week自2001年開始，每年都發表全球品牌價值排行，都受到媒體以及企業的高度重視。在台灣，為了得知台灣品牌在世界舞台的相對重要性，經濟部外貿協會從2003年開始透過與國際最具公信力的品牌價值顧問公司Interbrand的合作，進行台灣品牌的評估與調查，並公佈台灣十大國際品牌品牌價值與排行。 但有鑑於外貿協會花大錢與Interbrand合作，買到了鑑價結果，卻買不到核心know-how，而在台灣品牌鑑價還是一個相當模糊的概念，不如外國研究普及，缺乏類似Interbrand如此專門且具公信力得品牌顧問公司，可定期為企業衡量其品牌價值，亦尚未有一套專門且合理的鑑價標準或方式可供參考，故建構國內的品牌鑑價制度，發展一套完整且合理的鑑價機制來評估企業、以至於文化創意產業的品牌價值，確保企業或團體的品牌價值不會任意被鑑價或錯估，在台灣是有需要及迫切的，乃引發本研究進行深入探討的動機。 歷來有許多學者將衡量品牌價值的方式分為許多不同的作法，雖然學者們嘗試以各種角度切入來衡量品牌價值，但是衡量方式不但眾多且繁雜，亦不夠具有全面性。因此，本研究歸納分析並整理各學者及各國品牌鑑價模式，設法建構發展一套結合財務、會計、行銷、管理等綜合觀點的系統化且適合台灣國情之品牌價值評價模式。本研究先從文獻調查及現今各種品牌鑑價方法中整理出重要的品牌強度評鑑指標，並採用層級分析法（The Analytic Hierarchy Process,AHP），從行銷與品牌學者、專業經理人中，作專家調查，得出評鑑指標的權重值，發展成基礎品牌強度評鑑指標表。將此品牌強度評鑑指標做成品牌強度專家意見調查問卷，以便求出台灣知名品牌品牌強度換算出乘數，再依據品牌財務及行銷資料求出年度品牌貢獻度，與品牌強度乘數相乘後加上平均品牌授權金，再利用乘數權重估算所面臨的財務風險，以反映預估現金流量的風險程度進而取得折現率，最後利用現金流量折現法，計算累加未來十年內現金流量，而計算得出整體品牌價值。並將此品牌評價模式用以評價台灣十大品牌之品牌價值，再與Interbrand做出的結果做相似性比較，以驗證本研究品牌評價模式是否準確及合理可行。 本研究亦認為文化創意產業的品牌價值評價可能性與其他一般產業並無重大差異，故在本研究最後品牌評價實例執行中，舉一在台灣具有特別代表性的文化創意產業、表演藝術團體「雲門舞集」，做為本研究品牌評價模式實例說明，以驗證文化創意產業品牌價值評價的可能性，並提出文化創意產業品牌產業化建議。 / Brand valuation is still a very vague concept in Taiwan, and researches conducted are not as popular as other countries. So far, we are still lacking in professional and credible brand consulting companies such as Interbrand, which helps enterprises to conduct regular valuation of their brands, and we also lack in a professional and reasonable valuation standard or methods for reference. Therefore, it is very essential and urgent to establish a domestic brand valuation system, and to develop a complete and reasonable valuation mechanism for brand valuation of enterprises and even the entire cultural & creativity industry, which will ensure that the brand value of enterprises or groups will not be randomly or lowly valuated. This is what motivated this research, which is aimed at exploring this issue in depth. This research starts from formulating an important brand strength valuation index using literature survey and various present brand valuation methods. By applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the weight of valuation index is formed from professional surveys conducted among marketing and brand scholars and professional managers, thus a basic brand strength valuation index is developed. A brand strength expert opinion questionnaire is created from this brand strength valuation index to find out the strength of famous brands in Taiwan, and it is then converted into a multiplier, and with brand financial and marketing data, we have the annual brand contribution. The annual brand contribution is then multiplied by the brand strength multiplier, then added by the average brand licensing fee, and along with discount rate and discounted cash flow mode (DCF), we can work out the cash flow over the next ten years, the overall brand value. This brand valuation pattern is then used to valuate the brand value of Taiwan Top 10 Global Brands, and the results compared to Interbrand for similarities to verify the accuracy and practicability of the brand valuation pattern in this research. Key words：brand value, brand equity, brand valuation, cultural & creativity industry.

The times of following a ‘one brand – one product’ strategy have long past. Nowadays, firms are increasingly recognizing the true value of their brands and are starting to use these as a source of competitive advantage. By introducing new products under an existing brand name, firms leverage the power of their brands and thus, aim at benefiting from the success of the parent brand. Brands are amongst the most valuable assets owned by a company, which encourages them to engage in brand extensions. The authors mainly distinguish between three brand extension strategy types: line extension, vertical line extension and category extension.             Previous quantitative studies have identified that particularly brand equity and brand identity stand out as significantly influencing brand extension strategies. Therefore, this qualitative case study further explores how these two branding constructs affect firms’ brand extension decisions. While most past studies investigated the potential success of fictitious brands, this study performs qualitative interviews with brand and product managers of eight real case firms operating in the FMCG industry in Germany.             The empirical data indicates that the pressure to innovate rises, as more and more new extension products are being introduced to the market in recent years. Nevertheless, the majority of firms opt for line extension strategies, while only few dare to enter a further distanced market segment. Hence, the condition of a “fit” between the parent brand and extension product is mostly accounted for. The study further suggests that a brand without strong brand equity will not be able to perform brand extensions at any level. However, even if brands do benefit from strong brand equity, firms may adopt divergent strategies, which is mainly dependent on the brand’s identity. The research results show that narrowly defined brands, predominantly distinguishable by concrete product features and physical facets, restrict the firms’ capability to extend a brand beyond its original product line. Contrarily, brands with a more abstract or value based identity provide more opportunities to stretch further from the parent brand. An emotional brand that succeeds in building a relationship to the customer, in representing a distinct personality or telling a story, is able to extend to a new product category. The study concludes that certain brands may be under-exploited, as they do not leverage their high equity and identity capabilities in terms of extending the brand to a further distanced market segment.             As a result of the findings, two Brand Extension Strategy Matrices are constructed, setting the brand identity abstraction level (product or value based identity) into relation to (1) brand equity and (2) the identity “fit” of an extension product and the parent brand. Each of these two matrices explains the strategic consequences of a given set of brand equity and brand identity.

<p>This study examines how consumers perceive the overall quality and similarity/fit of the brand extensions (Nike camera, Nike socks, and Nike golf balls) in relation to the original brand (Nike athletic shoes) and how these perceptions influence their attitudes towards the extensions. The researcher proposes that the perceived overall quality of the brand extensions will be congruent to that of the original brand and that the attitude towards the brand extensions will be favourable only when there is a perceived similarity/fit between the brand extensions and the original brand. In order to get these insights, the study surveyed 147 undergraduate and postgraduate students from the University of the Western Cape across all faculties. A non-probability convenience sampling method was used to access respondents. To collect data, qualitative and quantitative methods were employed using a questionnaire which consisted of open-ended and closed-ended questions in the form of free associations technique and 5-point Likert scales. The data gathered was analysed by means of descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation coefficient. The findings indicate two things. (1) respondents only perceived Nike socks&rsquo / overall quality to be congruent to the original brand, Nike athletic shoes. (2) respondents only perceived Nike socks to be strongly similar to the original brand, Nike athletic shoes.</p>

Graphic profiles are a part of companies’ brand expressions. The graphical values reflect the brand values the business wants to convey. They consist of different graphic elements such as logo, company sign, colour schemes, templates, rules, fonts, pictograms, formats and references to how different graphic elements should look, for example, business cards, signs and materials for websites. This thesis aims to examine why firms choose to replace their graphic profiles by studying their underlying motivations. To investigate this, four companies have been studied along with two agencies working with strategic brand issues and developing graphic profiles. The result shows that the primary aims are to; unite the company, functionality, innovation and modernization, organizational change, differentiation, and emotional factors. These aims are taken into account against the costs companies can fund and therefore generates various extensive added values. The study also shows that the companies generate positive effects regarding internal values by changing their graphic profile. The companies do not consider these values a motivation even though it is one of the biggest values that the change generates. / Grafiska profiler är en del av företags varumärkesuttryck. De grafiska värdena speglar de varumärkesvärden företag önskar förmedla. De består av olika grafiska element som exempelvis logotyp, företagsmärke, färgsättning, mallar, regler, teckensnitt, pictogram, format samt hänvisningar för hur olika grafiska produkter ska se ut exempelvis visitkort, skyltar och material till hemsidor. Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka varför företag väljer att byta ut sina grafiska profiler genom att studera deras bakomliggande drivkrafter. För att undersöka detta har fyra företag studerats samt två byråer som arbetar med strategiska varumärkesfrågor samt med att ta fram grafiska profiler. Resultatet visar att de primära drivkrafterna är att ena företaget, funktionalitet, förändring och modernisering, organisatoriska förändringar, differentiering samt emotionella faktorer. Dessa tas i beräkning mot de kostnader företagen har möjlighet att bekosta och genererar därmed olika omfattande mervärden. Studien påvisar även att ett mervärde företagen ej tar hänsyn till i de bakomliggande drivkrafterna är de positiva interna effekter bytet genererar.