With the gradual rise of Web-2.0 based platforms, Internet users were given the possibility to interact with each other in virtual communities. Originating from this development was the concept of user-generated content (UGC), which implies that people were able to enrich each other’s user-experiences by sharing creative efforts and communicating openly (O’Reilly, 2007).   As Web 2.0 features continued to grow, marketers became aware of the opportunities this new development online created and how they could use it to their advantage (De Chernatony & Christodoulides, 2004). The development online however also faces companies with challenges, as consumers now are able to create and share opinions and thoughts about brands, which to an extent is uncontrollable by companies (Christodoulides et al., 2012). Just as marketer-controlled communication can create new brand associations in the minds of consumers, for better or worse - so can also externally-generated communication, such as brand-related UGC, do.   Knowing that consumers generally trust what other consumers say about products more than marketing communication (Cheong & Morrison, 2008; Song & Yoo, 2016), and that there does not exist much research on how consumers perceive brand-related UGC, this is a considerably important topic to study. A classic way of studying communication effectiveness is through credibility, which is argued to be a major determinant of whether consumers accept and adopt what is communicated (e.g. Hovland et al., 1953). Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to gain an understanding of how consumers assess credibility of brand-related UGC and furthermore, what their consequent responses are.   A qualitative approach was taken as the purpose is to gain insight rather than proving a point. The interviews were semi-structured and formed around three Instagram posts relating to a specific brand, which were deliberately chosen based on the content of the theoretical framework developed. Through using these example cases, interviewees’ first reactions could be captured and their reasoning around credibility could be followed and discussed.   The results from this study indicate that there exists a certain level of irritation as well as a scepticism towards brand-related UGC. This seem to stem from a suspicion that most content that promotes products and brands is part of sponsored collaborations, into which consumers put noticeably much distrust. Beyond questioning sponsorship, it was also found that the source played a particularly important role when assessing credibility. When a source is familiar, it is easier to determine credibility of brand-related UGC, and credibility furthermore increases with perceived expertise, attractiveness and trustworthiness. The channel through which a message is communicated also matters, as it is more difficult to be ingenuine through a video than an image or a text, which implicated that consumers may find videos more credible than other media formats. The message itself was also deemed to influence the credibility assessment, as the message was questioned both based upon common sense but also on knowledge and previous experience.   As for practical implications, this study indicates that encouraging or generating positive brand-related UGC through paid collaborations, is a balancing act, into which much consideration needs to be put. With the evident irritation that consumers feel when it comes to brand-related UGC, marketers should be careful to push too much positive brand communication onto the consumer, or it will turn negative. To come across as genuine, the “who”, ”what” and ”how” of communication should be carefully considered.

Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka synen på varumärkesbyggande hos fyra ideella organisationer; Plan Sverige, RFSU, Svensk Friidrott och Barncancerfonden. För att utreda detta så har kvalitativa intervjuer med representanter med stor insyn i kommunikationsarbetet på de ideella organisationerna genomförts.  Med en grund i generella varumärkesteorier har författarna analyserat om dessa teorier är relevanta och i sådana fall applicerbara på ideella organisationer. I studien undersöks även om ideella organisationers syfte påverkar deras varumärkesarbete. Genom den undersökning som gjorts  kan man urskilja att valda ideella organisationers varumärkesarbete skiljer sig markant från teorier för kommersiella företag. Detta gör det svårt att applicera generella teorier på ideella organisationer eftersom de ideella organisationerna styrs av yttre faktorer som i stor utsträckning inte går att påverka. De intervjuade organisationernas syfte påverkar i stor grad deras positionering, vilket styr varumärkesarbetet. Studien finner även att resursförpliktelse och bieffekt av image är stora problem för de ideella organisationerna och medför att varumärkesbyggandet bör ha en central roll i kommunikationsarbetet. / his bachelor thesis investigates four different non-profit organizations’ view on brand management. The chosen organizations are as follows; Plan Sverige, RFSU, Svensk Friidrott and Barncancerfonden. Qualitative interviews has been made with a respondent from each organization, the respondent has been well informed within the subject. The authors of this thesis has analyzed  if general brand theories are relevant, and in that case applicable on non-profit organizations. The study is also investigating if the purpose of each organization affects the organization’s brand management.  Through this research it is possible to distinguish differences in the chosen organizations’ brand management. Differences between the organizations and the general theories are also found. This generate difficulties to apply general theories on non-profit organizations, mostly because the organizations are affected by circumstances that they cannot prevent. The purpose of the chosen organizations does in large extent affect their positioning, which controls their brand management. This study also finds that resource commitment  and image spillover are highly recognized as problems for the organization’s brand building and therefore those threats needs to have a more central role in the organization’s brand management.

Character brands have become a trend in business. Firms create character brands to draw consumer’s attention. For successful character brands, a strong attachment will be created to the consumers, so the brand-customer relationship will be loyal and powerful. The purpose of this research is to examine and discuss the marketing strategies and brand management of firms adopted to build their character brands, and theoretical and managerial implications will be addressed. This research adopts the method of case study research. Four character brands with various natures will be discussed separately, and a comparison will be made accordingly. The four character brands examined in this research are Saniro’s Hello Kitty, Fujio’s Doraemon, Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Charles Schultz’s Snoopy. Hello Kitty and Doraemon are Japanese character brands; Mickey Mouse and Snoopy are American character brands. These four character brands are very popular among consumers. The focus of this research is to address the similarities and differences of character development and brand management of these four character brands. The findings of this research are: First, characters with different nature (type) will have different brand concept management strategies. For comic character brands, firms will be focus on the development of character personalities. For pure character brand, firms will concentrate on the design and appearance of such characters. Second, the brand-customer relationship between character brands and consumers is very unique. Consumers gain emotional and self-expressive benefit from character brands. As a result, it is essential to reinforce the brand/character image consistently, so the attachment will be stronger. Third, similar brand management strategies, such as licensing, brand extensions, sponsorships and reinforce character image, are adopted by firms; however, the focus on character brand building for each firm is somewhat different. These four character brands are successful examples on character brand management. In order to manage good character brands, character development is necessary, and it is also crucial to create a strong brand identity. Most importantly, the brand building/management strategies have to be consistent with the nature/types of the characters. Key Word: Character, Character brand, brand management, brand-customer relationship / Character brands have become a trend in business. Firms create character brands to draw consumer’s attention. For successful character brands, a strong attachment will be created to the consumers, so the brand-customer relationship will be loyal and powerful. The purpose of this research is to examine and discuss the marketing strategies and brand management of firms adopted to build their character brands, and theoretical and managerial implications will be addressed. This research adopts the method of case study research. Four character brands with various natures will be discussed separately, and a comparison will be made accordingly. The four character brands examined in this research are Saniro’s Hello Kitty, Fujio’s Doraemon, Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Charles Schultz’s Snoopy. Hello Kitty and Doraemon are Japanese character brands; Mickey Mouse and Snoopy are American character brands. These four character brands are very popular among consumers. The focus of this research is to address the similarities and differences of character development and brand management of these four character brands. The findings of this research are: First, characters with different nature (type) will have different brand concept management strategies. For comic character brands, firms will be focus on the development of character personalities. For pure character brand, firms will concentrate on the design and appearance of such characters. Second, the brand-customer relationship between character brands and consumers is very unique. Consumers gain emotional and self-expressive benefit from character brands. As a result, it is essential to reinforce the brand/character image consistently, so the attachment will be stronger. Third, similar brand management strategies, such as licensing, brand extensions, sponsorships and reinforce character image, are adopted by firms; however, the focus on character brand building for each firm is somewhat different. These four character brands are successful examples on character brand management. In order to manage good character brands, character development is necessary, and it is also crucial to create a strong brand identity. Most importantly, the brand building/management strategies have to be consistent with the nature/types of the characters. Key Word: Character, Character brand, brand management, brand-customer relationship

臺灣農業有優良的傳統，曾經以優越的生產技術，良好的品質，在外銷市場上，屢創佳績。本文首先探討當前農業發展的困境，源自於過度注重生產導向思維，忽略產業鏈上下游息息相關的產業結構，忽略行銷通路的發展，忽略知識經濟中，創新服務的附加價值。 近年來，蝴蝶蘭產業揚名國際，博得蝴蝶蘭王國美譽。分析蝴蝶蘭產業的價值傳遞過程，發現台灣蝴蝶蘭產業，正逐漸步入早期傳統農業的後塵，策略發展以生產能力為核心。這個營運策略為擴張規模，增加產能，以期降低成本，在市場上以價格競爭為手段。對於一個產業而言，這是一個危險的訊號。 今以蝴蝶蘭產業為例，深究台灣農業是否可以從企業經營觀點，健全產業結構，發掘更多附加價值。這個問題的答案存在於以無形資產創價的觀念，以現有良好的生產技術為後盾，結合農業科技智慧財產、聯合行銷與品牌經營，是未來台灣農業應該努力發展的三大策略主軸。 在此一策略思維主軸下，許多創新事業模式可以發展，包括農業生物科技公司，品質認證公司，拍賣公司，行銷公司，溫室營建公司等，或為周邊產業，或為上下游，唇齒相依。農產業一如其他產業，應思考佔據產業關鍵地位，方能提升議價能力，擁有競爭優勢。這些創新事業的特色為科技運用，服務事業，重視品質，最終以品牌經營為依歸。活絡創新事業，將現代化科技與服務精神引入農產事業，這是一場無產經營的變革，成功關鍵在發揮合作精神與善用優質人力。創造的無形資產價值，有一天可以超越農產品本身的價格。 / Agriculture had helped Taiwan earn economic advance in the early time, but went in vain and into history without sustained development. What constrains agriculture itself is the production-centered mind setting. Recently, moth orchid export has become a rising star among other horticulture products. Through analysis of Taiwan orchid value chain, it is found that orchid industry is stepping into the same path of traditional agriculture practice. Individual orchid farmers focus on enlarging greenhouse coverage in order to reduce cost and to win a price-based war. Discussion is made to ask if business management can be integrated into Taiwan agricultural practice. With good field practice technique supporting, intellectual property protection of biotechnology, brand operation and cooperative marketing should be three main strategies for future development of Taiwan agriculture. Agriculture, just like other business operation, should develop strategy to gain advantage in key position to win competition advantages. The characters of these innovative operational models are applications of current technology, service oriented, emphasis on quality, and ends in good brand management. Taiwan orchid farmers should also realize only through cooperative efforts, they can prevail. In the future, agriculture should recruit quality human resource in all aspects including business management, technology, engineering and service. Value generation by new business models producing intangible assets are proposed and discussed.

Diploma thesis describes the possibility of further development of tourism in the region Sedlčany. The basis for processing the information obtained from local budgetary organizations and the Association of Municipalities Sedlčany interviews focused on the municipalities that cooperate with this organization. The goal is to analyze the current situation in managing the development of the region Sedlčany and suggest possible further steps towards achieving the objectives using the tools of marketing management destination.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ricardo Cavalcanti Alves.pdf: 1472492 bytes, checksum: 191a6c7b13b5d0386ac7e4edda2748c7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-26 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / In the last decades the world has seen great dissemination of powerful brands, local and world-known, not infrequently assessed in billions of dollars, leading to massive sales of products and services associated with them. And in that context it is clear the impact of the intrinsic value of the intangible assets brand of companies in mergers and acquisitions.Nowadays, it has been clear that a Company valuation has a relevant amount related to intangible assets and, among these, brands have significant importance. This study aimed to investigate what is the general perception, the control method and the valuation of brands on companies operating in Brazil, by gathering information about the companies where students and recent graduates of post-graduate in business administration related courses used to work.Thus, from the sample group of 134 companies operating in Brazil, were extracted details of five dimensions of brand: awareness about its importance, financial valuation of the brand,accounting recognition of brand value, management of this intangible asset and its use as a tactical and strategic performance ratio. The methodology used was a survey that, from statistical tests Chi-square Pearson test led to the conclusion that there is no significant relationship between the fact that companies sell products and services and aspects relating to each of the five dimensions studied. Other variables statistically compared by using the chisquare test meant for the sample companies, among other findings, the significant correlation between large companies and the fact that companies evaluate brands or negotiate them. Also, the study took into account the criteria of attitude scores of respondents based on the Likert scale. The resulting data reveal that the brands are still in need of greater attention from companies. It is a minority in the sample studied the incidence of financial valuation of the brand, as well as the proper focus on accounting and management reports. Internal control over brand management and variable compensation system based on ratios of the brand,though present, such items were observed in low intensity in the sample companies. / Nas últimas décadas o mundo tem assistido à grande proliferação de marcas poderosas, local e mundialmente conhecidas, avaliadas não raramente em bilhões de dólares, levando a vendas em massa de produtos e serviços a elas associadas. E nesse contexto é notório o impacto do valor intrínseco do ativo intangível marca no valor das empresas em movimentos de fusões e aquisições. Hoje sabe-se que um valuation conta com parte relevante de seu montante relacionado a ativos intangíveis e, entre tais, as marcas possuem significativo destaque. Este trabalho objetivou investigar qual é a percepção geral, o método de controle e a avaliação das marcas em companhias em operação no Brasil, a partir de levantamento de informações sobre as empresas em que trabalhavam estudantes e recém egressos de cursos de pós-graduação profissional em áreas ligadas à administração de negócios. Assim, da amostra pesquisada de 134 companhias atuantes no país, foram extraídos detalhes de cinco dimensões da marca:percepção sobre sua importância, avaliação financeira, reconhecimento contábil de seu valor,gestão desse ativo intangível e de seu uso como indicador de performance tática e estratégica. A metodologia utilizada foi um levantamento (ou survey) que, a partir de testes estatísticos qui-quadrado de Pearson , permitiu a constatação de que não há relacionamento significativo entre o fato das empresas comercializarem produtos e serviços e aspectos ligados a cada uma das cinco dimensões estudadas. Outras variáveis comparadas estatisticamente pelo teste de qui-quadrado resultaram para as companhias da amostra, entre outras constatações, a significativa correlação entre as empresas de grande porte e o fato das empresas avaliarem marcas ou as negociarem. O estudo também levou em conta o critério de escores de atitudes dos respondentes baseado na escala Likert. Os dados resultantes revelam que as marcas carecem ainda de maior atenção por parte das empresas. É minoritária na amostra estudada a incidência de avaliação financeira da marca, assim como o devido enfoque em relatórios contábeis e gerenciais. Os controles internos de gestão da marca e o sistema de remuneração variável baseado em indicadores da marca, embora existam, mostraram-se itens pouco observados nas companhias da amostra.

This paper aims to highlight how the recent developments in international relations has created a environment with increased competition between countries for attention and assets and how these changes has promoted the increased use of public diplomacy  to reach out to new actors. The study will focus on the public diplomacy sub-discipline of nation branding.  The paper will analyze reputation management in international relations through the lens of corporate branding. This approach will help bridge the gap between marketing and international relations and expand the analytical toolkit for public diplomacy. While many studies have focused on branding campaigns this study will focus on the brand management to see whether it is capable of creating distinction and relevance for a nation brand or national reputation.     The paper aims to give an descriptive analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats the Swedish reputation management faces in order to assess how the management can improve but also provide an analytical framework for researchers interested in studying reputation management. The paper will employ a qualitative method consisting of text analysis and interviews to connect the theoretical models with business practice to then present the results using a SWOT-analysis. The data gathered from the Swedish Institute serves to provide empirical data on the business conduct in relation to brand management and several indexes will be used to assess the Swedish brand. Results show that the Swedish nation brand management have adopted a wide range of methods to strengthen the distinctiveness and relevance for the Swedish brand and that the weaknesses are mostly connected to communication failures. The brand management has also good opportunities to further project a strong image of Sweden and the threats towards it are only marginal. The brand management should continue its current work while developing new methods and solutions to overcome the communication problems towards certain target groups. While the study have made contributions to understand how reputation management could be analyzed through corporate brand management, further research should look into whether a nation brand or reputation has been used as a power asset that is capable of actually acquiring global assets.

Master thesis ExxonMobil International Marketing Strategy deals mainly with brand management and communication strategy of ExxonMobil Corporation and its selected competitors (Royal Dutch Shell plc, BP p.l.c.). Elements of these strategies are compared and based on the SWOT analysis strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of ExxonMobil strategy are identified. In conclusion, the thesis introduces recommendations for possible changes in ExxonMobil marketing strategy. The work itself is divided into 4 chapters. The first chapter introduces the corporation, its structure and strategy. Second part describes ExxonMobil's brand management and communication strategy. The following part is focused on the description of the selected aspects of marketing strategy within the competitors - Royal Dutch Shell plc and BP p.l.c. The final chapter presents comparison of the competitors' strategies, SWOT analysis for ExxonMobil marketing strategy and offers recommendations for possible changes in the corporation strategy.

La industria gamer ha llevado a la posibilidad de subsistir económicamente del streaming. Dado que los streamers generan ingresos en relación con su audiencia, mientras mayor sea esta y esté más conectada con ella mayor probabilidad habrá de que genere mayores ingresos. Por ende, surge un nuevo modelo de negocio que requiere de una gestión reputacional para construir esta audiencia. Para ello, se necesita un primer análisis del contexto peruano desde la percepción que mantienen los jugadores de Dota 2 peruanos frente a los streamers peruanos de Dota 2. Por ello, este trabajo utiliza el paradigma naturalista/interpretativo que estudia al público en su contexto natural, es decir los gamers y el Dota 2. El diseño para este sería fenomenológico pues se busca entender la percepción (reputación) del streamer peruano desde el punto de vista de los jugadores de Dota 2 en general. Finalmente, se usa un enfoque cualitativo para obtener las opiniones de los usuarios que juegan Dota 2 sobre los streamers peruanos, con el uso de entrevistas semiestructuradas para alinearlas en los 3 aspectos para medir reputación: sólida dimensión axiológica, comportamiento comprometido y calidad de servicio. / The gaming industry has led to the possibility of economically subsisting on streaming. Since streamers generate income in relation to their audience, the larger their audience and the more connected they are, the greater probability of generating more income will exist. Therefore, a new business model emerges that requires reputational management to build this audience. To do this, a first analysis of the Peruvian context is needed from the perception that Peruvian Dota 2 players maintain compared to Peruvian Dota 2 streamers. That’s why, this work uses the naturalistic paradigm /interpretive that studies the public in its natural context, that is, the gamers in their gameplay and the design for this would be phenomenological because it seeks to understand the perception (reputation) of the Peruvian streamer from the point of view of Dota 2 players in general. Finally, a qualitative approach is used to obtain the opinions of the users who play Dota 2 on the Peruvian streamers, with the use of semi-structured interviews to align them in the 3 aspects to measure reputation: solid axiological dimension, committed behavior and quality of service. / Trabajo de investigación

Bedingt durch Digitalisierung und Globalisierung, Inter- als auch Intra-Wettbewerb sind verstärkt Managemententscheidungen im Messewesen hin zur Internationalisierung zu beobachten. Wirtschaftlich sehr bedeutend, ist China auch für die Internationalisierungsstrategien von Messeveranstaltern essentiell. Dabei erfolgt beim Transfer der Heimatmesse vom Standort Deutschland nach Asien entweder eine Anpassung oder eine Differenzierung der Messemarke. Die Forschungsarbeit fußt auf dem Verständnis der holistischen Markengestaltung des Leistungsbündels „Messeveranstaltung“ mittels Marken-Design. Ausgehend von der Markenarchitektur der messespezifischen Dachmarkenstrategie und deren kommunikationspolitischen Markenführungselementen werden Implikationen auf die physisch-kommunikative Gestaltung internationalisierter Transfermarken getroffen. Die Untersuchung konzentriert sich auf die wahrnehmungsbezogene Evaluation visueller Stimuli bzw. Schemata und deren identitätsorientierten Wirkung in der Outside-In Perspektive des asiatischen Marktes. Kulturspezifische Merkmale des Auslandsmarktes sind dabei erstmalig in der Gestaltung von Messemarken berücksichtigt. Per dato nicht betrachtet, weist die Arbeit mittels Marken-Fit-Analyse Imagetransfereffekte empirisch nach. Somit ist eine Ableitung von Handlungsempfehlungen für das Markenmanagement von Messeveranstaltern möglich und der Transfer von Theorie zur Praxis wird hergestellt.