Consumer brand preference is an essential step to understand consumer choice behaviour, and has therefore always received great attention from marketers. Brand preferences reveal the type of attributes a brand possesses, to strengthen its position and increase its market share. Moreover, it forms a critical input in developing a company’s successful brand strategy, and gives insight for product development. However, the shift to experiential marketing broadens the role of the brand from a bundle of attributes to experiences. Experiential marketing also considers both, the rational and irrational assumptions of consumer behaviour. The technological advancement helped increasing the similarities between the brands attributes and product commoditisation. Consequently, consumers cannot shape their preferences among brands using rational attributes only. They seek the brand that creates experience; intrigue them in a sensorial, emotional, and creative way. Companies’ competitiveness in such market has, therefore become increasingly difficult. Their survival requires building their competitive advantage by delivering memorable experiences, which would influence consumers’ brand preferences, and consequently stimulate consumers’ purchase decisions. In the marketing literature, the traditional models are uni-dimensional, and addressing the brand preferences by consumers’ cognitive judgement of brand attributes on a rational basis. The role of experience is limited to the impact of its type on shifting preference level. Most of prior studies are partial and focusing on one or two antecedents of brand preferences. In addition to these drawbacks, the studies also ignore consequences determining the consumer purchase decisions. Based on these limitations in the literature, a lack of understanding of how consumers develop their brand preferences was identified. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to develop a model that provides an understanding of how brand knowledge and brand experiences determine brand preferences and to investigate its impact on brand repurchase intentions. In this model, the brand knowledge is defined by attribute-based beliefs, referring to consumers’ salient beliefs about the brand intrinsic cues, and non-attribute beliefs, reflected in the price, appearance, brand personality, and self-congruity. Therefore, the relative importance of brand knowledge factors contributing to brand preference is determined. Furthermore, the model addresses the interactions between the brand knowledge and brand experience in shaping brand preference. Thus, addressing how the experiences reflect embedded value in the brand offerings influencing consumer preferences. To achieve the aim of this study, a sequential mixed-method methodology combining both qualitative and quantitative research was adopted. The aim of the first qualitative phase is exploratory, using focus groups, to refine the proposed model and generate items for questionnaire development. The second phase, quantitative research, is the survey conducted using self-administrated questionnaires. The structural equation modelling (AMOS) software is used to analyse the data. The findings confirm that brand knowledge and brand experience are key sources of brand preferences. In addition, all the factors of brand knowledge have a direct positive impact on brand preferences. However, the role of brand personality on brand preference is realised through brand experience. The findings also support that the impacts of the general brand attributes and appearance on brand preference are partially mediated by brand experience. Furthermore, brand preference positively impacts repurchase intentions. The ultimate contribution of this study stems from revealing that both cognitive information processing and experiential responses form the bases of developing brand preferences, which form the link to future psychological reactions. Methodologically, the study measures the multi-dimensional constructs, brand experience and brand personality, at the aggregate level. In addition, it validates the “big-five personality” as a measure of brand personality. Pragmatically, the study suggests three levels for building brands of technological products to win consumer preferences. At the first level lies the brand functional attributes, at the second level, are the brand symbolic attributes reflected in the imagery associations and aesthetic appearance while at the third level is the brand experience. Noteworthy, these experiences are private in nature and cannot be commoditised. This model extends the notion of brand experience on preference development and can be extended in future research to build long-term consumer-brand relationship.

Aim: The aim of this study is to identify how a professional ice hockey club with fans nationwide can position its brand successfully and to discover if this is in line with what the consumers think is important in the branding of the club. Method: A mixed method has been used for this case study, in the forms of interviews and a questionnaire. The interviews have been written out in essay form for presentation and analysis of the qualitative data. The quantitative data has been collected and processed with a questionnaire using APSIS and analysed with Microsoft Excel. Results / conclusions: This research has identified a framework containing all factors that influence the perception of the brand by consumers. Evidence was found for all these factors in this research. Furthermore, the most important factors of the branding of a professional ice hockey club with fans nationwide have been highlighted. Consequently, this research shows that the marketers of such an ice hockey club can position their brand by developing clear points-of-difference that stand out from the competition. Suggestions future research: Research into the perception of the sports branding by the younger target group is suggested, as well from people outside Gävle. Furthermore, the research could be conducted in other (ice hockey) clubs. Finally, the research could be conducted again in a few years. Contribution of thesis: This research fills the gap in the literature about the development of a successful brand of a professional ice hockey club with fans nationwide. The main contribution for managers is that brands can only be used to maintain fans, not to attract them.

No description available.

Globalization is here to stay, and with an increasing number of brands deciding to test their fortune abroad, the importance of branding increases alike. The choice of globalizing a brand comes with potential financial benefits but it is not done without considerable effort. According to Kotler and Keller, the choice regarding differentiation to competitors is one of the main factors a brand must consider when expanding abroad (2009). One key factor that determines the level of success of international companies is the amount of brand knowledge (Guedes & da Costa Soares, 2005). Consumer brand knowledge and its importance for financial success has been extensively studied by researchers (Fill & Turnbull, 2016) and it has been found that solid brands continuously outperform their markets (Pirrie, 2006). The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether demographic factors such as age, gender and nationality significantly affect consumer brand knowledge. The chosen brand for the study was Razer that practices a standardized global targeting strategy. Razer is a company that produces gaming equipment for gamers. Gamers constituted the desired sample of the study due to their belonging within the brands target segment. A survey based on and constructed using the “Dimensions of Brand Knowledge” by Keller (1993) was issued online in Sweden and Lithuania on social media within groups that share the common interest of gaming. 540 responses were collected, and 8 hypotheses were tested using SPSS linear regression tests. Findings showed that brand recognition differed in regard to demographic factors of the respondents, supporting H2.  However, the remaining aspects of brand knowledge did not differ regarding the combined demographic factors, therefore, the remaining hypotheses were rejected. These results may aid marketers and scholars in the comprehension of factors that may affect their global marketing efforts within the gaming industry and contribute to the current research done within the field of gaming equipment, which is quite understudied given its economic potential.

<p>The market of today consist of products/services who resemble each other, the differences are small. Their for it’s necessary for the companies to provide added values to the product so it will stand out from the rest of the products and lead to purchase. A well used strategy in the fashion industry is marketing with celebrities, this is considered successful because it brings attention and strengthening to the brand. Because of this, the strategy also branch out to other industries, but the question is if it’s as successful there? There’s also a serious down-side with the strategy and that is that there’s a great risk with using celebrities. These could, of different reasons, be dangerous for the companies and cause large amount of costs. This is something that the companies must respect.</p><p>This thesis aims to describe and compare why companies use celebrities in their commercials to strengthening their brand. It will also examine the procedure of the companies choice of celebrity and contingent risks that may emerge of the strategy. The writers have chosen a corporate management perspective and their for the customer perspective will not be brought up.</p><p>The study has been realized with a qualitative study, totaly eight marketing managers at different companies, within different industries where interviewed. With a helping hand from the theories, the authors have succeeded to answer the study’s question. The main theory were brand identity.</p><p>After that the empirical data has been analyzed with help from the theories, the authors have reached following conclusions. The ultimate reason why companies co-operate with celebrities are to create attention and to increase the knowledge of the brand. The celebrity can be useful by many different reasons, no matter what goals or effects the companies want to achieve, the strategy is considered successful. Companies first choice of celebrity is someone who can represent the identity that the company wants to be associated with, for example different values. In general, companies don’t reflect much about the risks that may appear.</p> / <p>Dagens marknad består till stor del av produkter/tjänster som liknar varandra, skillnaderna är ofta små. Därför krävs det att företagen tillför ett mervärde till produkten som gör att den sticker ut från mängden, vilket i sin tur ska leda till köp. En välanvänd strategi inom klädbranschen är marknadsföring med kändisar, denna anses vara framgångsrik eftersom den ger stor uppmärksamhet och stärker varumärket. Av denna anledning har även strategin spritt sig till andra branscher, men frågan är om den är lika lyckosam även där? Det finns dock en allvarlig baksida med strategin och det är att det finns stora risker med att använda sig av kändisar. Dessa kan av olika anledningar vara till skada för företaget och orsaka stora kostnader. Detta är något företagen måste ha i beaktning.</p><p>Syftet är att beskriva och jämföra varför företag använder sig av kända personer för att stärka sitt varumärke. Dessutom kommer det att undersökas hur företag går tillväga i sitt val av kändis samt vilka eventuella risker som kan uppstå med denna marknadsföringsstrategi. Författarna har valt att utgå från ett ledningsperspektiv och därför kommer inte kundperspektivet att belysas.</p><p>Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ ansats, totalt intervjuades åtta stycken marknadschefer på olika företag inom olika branscher. Med hjälp av teorier inom området så har författarna lyckats besvara forskningsfrågan. Huvudteorin var brand identity.</p><p>Efter att den empiriska data analyserats med hjälp av teorierna så har författarna kommit fram till följande slutsatser. Den främsta anledningen till att företag använder sig av kändisar är för att skapa uppmärksamhet och öka kännedomen om varumärket. Kändisen kan användas i marknadsföring av många olika anledningar, oavsett vilka mål företaget har och vilka effekter man vill uppnå, strategin anses vara lyckosam oavsett mål. Företag väljer i första hand en kändis som kan representera det som företaget vill förknippas med, till exempel olika värden eller ledord. Generellt sett så tar företag lätt på de risker som kan uppstå när de använder sig av en kändis i sin reklam.</p>

<p>Marketing is an important tool for companies to use in today’s consumptions society, to reach out with products and services. The message that has been sent out is also important, because the message can be distort or reach wrong customer group. Above all this the competition and the struggle round the customer’s increases and it has become more common that the customers tend to be less loyal towards the company. To keep and to develop customer relations it has been more common that the companies consider their trademark has become a very important strategic competition means. A strong trademark gives competitor advantages and more loyal customers, and this has led to more efficient ways for companies to find methods to create value around their trademark.</p><p>Many new trademarks and products are presented every year. In the same time market salesmen are working hard to reach out with these and old trademarks and products and old commercial methods are loosing its effect. The company can use different marketing strategies to strength their trademark to reach out to their customers. One way that has been used by many companies is presenting different TV-series.</p><p>The purpose with this paper is to study how companies are using TV-series in their marketing, what image the company wants to mediate and what they want to achieve by marketing through TV-series.</p><p>An abductive way has been used in this study and the authors have chosen to use a qualitative method, because the method agrees with the problem and purpose of the study. Interviews will be used in this study.</p><p>The study shows that the reason why companies choose to present TV-series is to be seen and remind consumers about the company and its products. They also want the consumers to be aware of their trademarks and new products. The companies furthermore want to reach out to as many as possible and create knowledge and an association to their trademark thru the TV-series. The companies choose their TV-series in relation to their target group so that the right target group is reached and can identify with the TV-series and the companies.</p> / <p>Marknadsföring är ett viktigt redskap för företag att använda i dagens konsumtionssamhälle för att nå ut med sina produkter och tjänster. Det budskap som sänds ut av företagen är också av stor vikt, då budskapet kan förvrängas på vägen eller nå ut till fel kundgrupp. Dessutom ökar konkurrensen och kampen om kunderna och det har blivit vanligare att kunderna i större utsträckning tenderar att vara mindre lojala gentemot företagen. För att bibehålla och utveckla sina kundrelationer har det därmed blivit vanligare att företagen betraktar sitt varumärke som ett strategiskt mycket viktigt konkurrensmedel. Ett starkt varumärke ger konkurrensfördelar och lojalare kunder, och har följaktligen lett till att företag försöker hitta effektivare metoder i att skapa värde kring sitt varumärke.</p><p>Varje år introduceras mängder av nya varumärken och produkter. Samtidigt som marknadsförare arbetar för att nå ut med både dessa och befintliga varumärken och produkter avtar den effekt som dagens reklam har. För att stärka sitt varumärke kan företagen använda sig av olika marknadsföringsstrategier för att nå ut till sina kunder. Ett sätt som många företag använder sig av är att presentera olika tv-serier.</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera hur företag använder sig av tv-serier i sin marknadsföring, vilken bild företagen vill förmedla av sig själva och vad de vill uppnå genom att marknadsföra sig genom tv-serier.</p><p>I denna studie har ett abduktivt angreppssätt använts och författarna har valt att använda sig av en kvalitativ metod, då metoden bäst överrensstämmer med problemformuleringen och syftet. I denna studie ska intervjuer användas.</p><p>Studien visar att anledningen till att företag presenterar tv-serier är för att de vill synas och påminna konsumenterna om företaget och dess produkter. Dessutom vill de ge konsumenterna en medvetenhet om deras varumärke och nya produkter. Vidare vill företagen nå ut till så många som möjligt och skapa kännedom och association till deras varumärke genom tv-serien. Valet av tv-serie påverkas av företagets målgrupp där rätt målgrupp ska nås så att målgruppen kan identifiera sig med tv-serien och företaget.</p>

The market of today consist of products/services who resemble each other, the differences are small. Their for it’s necessary for the companies to provide added values to the product so it will stand out from the rest of the products and lead to purchase. A well used strategy in the fashion industry is marketing with celebrities, this is considered successful because it brings attention and strengthening to the brand. Because of this, the strategy also branch out to other industries, but the question is if it’s as successful there? There’s also a serious down-side with the strategy and that is that there’s a great risk with using celebrities. These could, of different reasons, be dangerous for the companies and cause large amount of costs. This is something that the companies must respect. This thesis aims to describe and compare why companies use celebrities in their commercials to strengthening their brand. It will also examine the procedure of the companies choice of celebrity and contingent risks that may emerge of the strategy. The writers have chosen a corporate management perspective and their for the customer perspective will not be brought up. The study has been realized with a qualitative study, totaly eight marketing managers at different companies, within different industries where interviewed. With a helping hand from the theories, the authors have succeeded to answer the study’s question. The main theory were brand identity. After that the empirical data has been analyzed with help from the theories, the authors have reached following conclusions. The ultimate reason why companies co-operate with celebrities are to create attention and to increase the knowledge of the brand. The celebrity can be useful by many different reasons, no matter what goals or effects the companies want to achieve, the strategy is considered successful. Companies first choice of celebrity is someone who can represent the identity that the company wants to be associated with, for example different values. In general, companies don’t reflect much about the risks that may appear. / Dagens marknad består till stor del av produkter/tjänster som liknar varandra, skillnaderna är ofta små. Därför krävs det att företagen tillför ett mervärde till produkten som gör att den sticker ut från mängden, vilket i sin tur ska leda till köp. En välanvänd strategi inom klädbranschen är marknadsföring med kändisar, denna anses vara framgångsrik eftersom den ger stor uppmärksamhet och stärker varumärket. Av denna anledning har även strategin spritt sig till andra branscher, men frågan är om den är lika lyckosam även där? Det finns dock en allvarlig baksida med strategin och det är att det finns stora risker med att använda sig av kändisar. Dessa kan av olika anledningar vara till skada för företaget och orsaka stora kostnader. Detta är något företagen måste ha i beaktning. Syftet är att beskriva och jämföra varför företag använder sig av kända personer för att stärka sitt varumärke. Dessutom kommer det att undersökas hur företag går tillväga i sitt val av kändis samt vilka eventuella risker som kan uppstå med denna marknadsföringsstrategi. Författarna har valt att utgå från ett ledningsperspektiv och därför kommer inte kundperspektivet att belysas. Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ ansats, totalt intervjuades åtta stycken marknadschefer på olika företag inom olika branscher. Med hjälp av teorier inom området så har författarna lyckats besvara forskningsfrågan. Huvudteorin var brand identity. Efter att den empiriska data analyserats med hjälp av teorierna så har författarna kommit fram till följande slutsatser. Den främsta anledningen till att företag använder sig av kändisar är för att skapa uppmärksamhet och öka kännedomen om varumärket. Kändisen kan användas i marknadsföring av många olika anledningar, oavsett vilka mål företaget har och vilka effekter man vill uppnå, strategin anses vara lyckosam oavsett mål. Företag väljer i första hand en kändis som kan representera det som företaget vill förknippas med, till exempel olika värden eller ledord. Generellt sett så tar företag lätt på de risker som kan uppstå när de använder sig av en kändis i sin reklam.

Marketing is an important tool for companies to use in today’s consumptions society, to reach out with products and services. The message that has been sent out is also important, because the message can be distort or reach wrong customer group. Above all this the competition and the struggle round the customer’s increases and it has become more common that the customers tend to be less loyal towards the company. To keep and to develop customer relations it has been more common that the companies consider their trademark has become a very important strategic competition means. A strong trademark gives competitor advantages and more loyal customers, and this has led to more efficient ways for companies to find methods to create value around their trademark. Many new trademarks and products are presented every year. In the same time market salesmen are working hard to reach out with these and old trademarks and products and old commercial methods are loosing its effect. The company can use different marketing strategies to strength their trademark to reach out to their customers. One way that has been used by many companies is presenting different TV-series. The purpose with this paper is to study how companies are using TV-series in their marketing, what image the company wants to mediate and what they want to achieve by marketing through TV-series. An abductive way has been used in this study and the authors have chosen to use a qualitative method, because the method agrees with the problem and purpose of the study. Interviews will be used in this study. The study shows that the reason why companies choose to present TV-series is to be seen and remind consumers about the company and its products. They also want the consumers to be aware of their trademarks and new products. The companies furthermore want to reach out to as many as possible and create knowledge and an association to their trademark thru the TV-series. The companies choose their TV-series in relation to their target group so that the right target group is reached and can identify with the TV-series and the companies. / Marknadsföring är ett viktigt redskap för företag att använda i dagens konsumtionssamhälle för att nå ut med sina produkter och tjänster. Det budskap som sänds ut av företagen är också av stor vikt, då budskapet kan förvrängas på vägen eller nå ut till fel kundgrupp. Dessutom ökar konkurrensen och kampen om kunderna och det har blivit vanligare att kunderna i större utsträckning tenderar att vara mindre lojala gentemot företagen. För att bibehålla och utveckla sina kundrelationer har det därmed blivit vanligare att företagen betraktar sitt varumärke som ett strategiskt mycket viktigt konkurrensmedel. Ett starkt varumärke ger konkurrensfördelar och lojalare kunder, och har följaktligen lett till att företag försöker hitta effektivare metoder i att skapa värde kring sitt varumärke. Varje år introduceras mängder av nya varumärken och produkter. Samtidigt som marknadsförare arbetar för att nå ut med både dessa och befintliga varumärken och produkter avtar den effekt som dagens reklam har. För att stärka sitt varumärke kan företagen använda sig av olika marknadsföringsstrategier för att nå ut till sina kunder. Ett sätt som många företag använder sig av är att presentera olika tv-serier. Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera hur företag använder sig av tv-serier i sin marknadsföring, vilken bild företagen vill förmedla av sig själva och vad de vill uppnå genom att marknadsföra sig genom tv-serier. I denna studie har ett abduktivt angreppssätt använts och författarna har valt att använda sig av en kvalitativ metod, då metoden bäst överrensstämmer med problemformuleringen och syftet. I denna studie ska intervjuer användas. Studien visar att anledningen till att företag presenterar tv-serier är för att de vill synas och påminna konsumenterna om företaget och dess produkter. Dessutom vill de ge konsumenterna en medvetenhet om deras varumärke och nya produkter. Vidare vill företagen nå ut till så många som möjligt och skapa kännedom och association till deras varumärke genom tv-serien. Valet av tv-serie påverkas av företagets målgrupp där rätt målgrupp ska nås så att målgruppen kan identifiera sig med tv-serien och företaget.

A trend of environmental consciousness is developing for some years in every market and sometimes gave birth to a sub-market such as the organic-cosmetic market. This market represents an important part of cosmetics in general and major companies can be identified. Marketers have noticed this trend and sometimes use it into their communication strategy but it still has to be studied properly in order to determine its impact on the purchasing behavior of consumers and their perception of the brand. Indeed, we think that this environmental consciousness can challenge the balance between Brand Image and Brand Awareness in this market.   This paper is aiming to explore the impact of this specific trend on the organic-cosmetic market and studies its influence over the Brand Knowledge management, more precisely the relationship between Brand Image and Brand Awareness. In that goal, we chose to make interviews in front of the shops of two companies interacting on this market: The Body Shop and L’Occitane en Provence. Combined with data collected from previous research into a deductive approach, it led us to some general conclusion concerning the level of Brand Image and Awareness of those companies, their relationship and the impact of environmental consciousness on this relationship.   We concluded from those results that the brand L’Occitane en Provence had a slightly lower Brand Awareness than its competitor but its customers had a more important environmental consciousness that led them to this company due to its values and specific type of product. We can then conclude that on such markets impacted with this type of external factor, if the company implements it in its communication strategy or its core values, then its need for Brand Awareness is lower. One can now wonder if this trend in particular or any other external factor can be used in other markets on the same way.

The underlying motivation of this paper is the investigation of the impact sport sponsorship has on a brand. As sport sponsorship is scholarly considered to be a powerful brand equity building method, this communication tool gains globally in importance by contributing essentially to business success. While the popularity increases, simultaneously the investments, necessary for an efficient realization, rise. Nonetheless even though sponsorship is frequently applied, the evaluation is mainly based on quantitative terms (e.g. media tracking), neglecting the qualitative impacts. In order to gain meaningful data, which allows generalization, the study is based on the sport sponsorship involvement of Löfbergs Lila AB at the hockey club Färjestad BK. A quantitative research strategy is applied by the conduction of a survey within the pre-defined target audience of hockey affine people. Three propositions from different perspectives are used to investigate the main research question and provide a broader picture of the topic. Therefore in order to answer the research question, Does sport sponsorship especially in terms of brand image and brand awareness in a particular target group affect the sponsor’s brand?, brand awareness, brand image and sponsor-fit are examined separately. The study has shown that brand knowledge (brand awareness, brand image) is directly influenced by sport sponsorship efforts. The findings state a positive impact and associations, whereby no direct effect in terms of customers’ brand loyalty can be observed. Nevertheless according to the in the paper developed conceptual model, an influence on brand loyalty building variables is not dependent on sponsorship efforts, rather on the brand’s underlying product attributes, satisfying customer needs and requirements. In general sport sponsorship is a meaningful tool, but requires integration in a diversified marketing communication-mix in order to tap the full potential.