När en individ identifierar sig med ett varumärke har det visat sig att hen är mer benägen att utföra positiva gärningar gentemot varumärket. Det kan innefatta positive word of mouth, att försvara varumärket vid smutskastning eller intention att köpa produkter från varumärket. För att en identifikation ska uppstå krävs det att en individ kan se delar av sig själv i varumärket eller se en vinning i att identifiera sig med det. En viktig del för varumärket är att visa detta i sin marknadsföring. Till hjälp finns det fem centrala katalysatorer som hjälper till med denna process på olika nivåer. Jag har i denna undersökning isolerat och analyserat dessa i hjälporganisationers marknadsföring för att kunna se hur de används. Vidare används nästan alltid någon form av gestaltning i marknadsföring för att få konsumenten att i större utsträckning förstå budskapet och se det ur berättarens ögon. På det sättet så kan konsumenten lättare ta till sig vad varumärket vill säga och, om kommunikationen är utförd rätt, ges större chans till identifikation. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om 1) hjälporganisationer använder sig av gestaltning i sin marknadsföring, 2)om de använder sig olika katalysatorer för Consumer Brand Identification och 3) om dessa varumärken är lätta att identifiera sig med enligt dessa teorier. Till hjälp för att ta reda på detta så har studien använt sig utav teorierna kring Consumer Brand Identification, gestaltningsteorin och delar av The prospect theory. Studien har analyserat reklamfilmer från två olika hjälporganisationer: Rädda barnen och Unicef. I studien användes en kvalitativ retorisk analys för att tolka reklamfilmernas manifesta och latenta budskap samt två sammanställningar av strategisk gestaltning och olika katalysatorer för Consumer Brand Identification. Resultatet visade att reklamfilmerna tillsammans innehöll alla de olika katalysatorerna och strategiska gestaltningarna. Det intressanta och anmärkningsvärda var att reklamfilmerna ibland inte använde den strategiska gestaltningen på det sätt som forskningen visat skulle vara det bästa sättet att använda dem på. Vad detta kan bero på kan man bara spekulera om och det gör jag också i slutdelen av denna uppsats. / When an individual identifies with a brand, it has been proved that he or she does to some extent perform positive actions toward the brand. It can include positive word of mouth, defending the brand in mudslinging, or intent to purchase products from the brand. For an identification to occur, the individual has to see parts of her or his soul in the brand. An important part of the marketing strategy is to show the brands values in their marketing. To facilitate this there are five key drivers that help with this process at different levels. I have in this study isolated and analyzed them in humanitarian organizations marketing. Furthermore, there is almost always some kind of strategic framing in marketing, to get consumers to increasingly understand the message and see it from the narrator's eyes. In this way, the consumer can more easily absorb what the brand is trying to say, and if the communication is performed properly, greater the chance of identification. The aim of this study is to investigate whether humanitarian organizations 1) make use of strategic framing in their marketing, 2) make use of driver for Consumer Brand Identification and 3) if those brands are easy to identify with according to these theories. To help determine this, the study used the theories of Consumer Brand Identification, strategic framing theory and parts of The prospect theory. The study has analyzed commercials from two different aid organizations: Save the Children and UNICEF. The study used a qualitative rhetorical analysis to interpret the advertisings manifest and latent messages and two compilations of strategic design and various driver for Consumer Brand Identification. The result showed that the commercials together contained all the various drivers and strategic framing elements. The interesting and noteworthy part was that the commercials did not, in some cases, use the strategic portrayal in the way that research has shown would be the best way to use them. Why this is we can only speculate about, and so I do in the final section of this paper.

While past research has revealed diverse forms of relationships between consumers and brands similar to those of interpersonal relationships, this research focuses on the perspective of the brand role in its relationship with consumer in an advertising context. Therefore, the present research examines the interactive effect of brand role (partner vs. servant) and regulatory focus message (promotion vs. prevention) on advertising effectiveness. The results show that interaction between brand role and regulatory focus message significantly influences advertising persuasiveness and consumers' attitudes toward the advertisement, but not consumer's advertising believability, attitudes toward the brand and purchase intention. To be specific, individuals are more persuaded and show more positive attitudes toward advertising when a partner brand is advertised with a promotion-focused message. In contrast, when a servant brand is advertised with a prevention-focused message, individuals are more persuaded and show more positive attitudes toward advertising. / text

With the continuing growth of consumer participation in brand activities in social media, social media marketers and researchers have sought to tap into consumer engagement and relationship building by creating interpersonal social media environments that can facilitate consumers’ sense of belonging or social relatedness. Although consumer engagement and relationship building have become mainstream research topics in social media, little is known about which marketing efforts brands should undertake in order to engage various consumers who have different motivations to engage with brands. The purpose of this research was to explore the mechanism by which consumer motivations and perceptions of social relatedness influence consumer engagement and relationship building in the context of social media. Three studies were conducted to examine whether the extent to which consumers’ experience of social relatedness in social media moderates the effects of self-determination on consumer engagement (i.e., intrinsic motivation and future intention) and relational outcomes (i.e., satisfaction, affective commitment, control mutuality, competence trust, and benevolence/integrity trust). The findings consistently showed that consumers’ perceptions of the social relatedness they experienced within social media moderated the effect of self-determination on intrinsic motivation and affective commitment. Specifically, the positive influence of social relatedness on consumers’ intrinsic motivation and affective commitment to brand activities was greater for consumers with a low level of self-determination than for those who were motivated by a high level of self-determination. Consumers with low levels of self-determination yielded greater intrinsic motivation and affective commitment when they experienced high perceived social relatedness than when they perceived low perceived relatedness. However, among brand followers in social media, the consumer self-determination × social relatedness interaction effects on the relational outcomes were greater for those who were high in self-determination than for those who were low in self-determination. Overall, this research highlights the importance of fulfilling consumers’ need for social relatedness in the context of social media, especially for those who are motivated to engage in brand activities via external factors. Further, findings of this research yield insights into segmenting consumers based on the level of consumer self-determination and consumer type. / text

Guilt appeals are used to try to influence consumer behavior, with literature defining three kinds – existential, anticipatory, and reactive guilt. Anticipatory and reactive guilt appeals have never been individually studied. The purpose of this study is hence to explain the relationship between anticipatory guilt and reactive guilt, respectively, inferences of manipulative intent, and consumers’ attitude toward a brand. To test this, an online questionnaire was used, followed by linear regression and moderation analyses. The results show a positive relationship between both anticipatory guilt and attitude and between reactive guilt and attitude. Inferences of manipulative intent do not moderate either relationship. Keywords Guilt appeal, anticipatory guilt, reactive guilt, inferences of manipulative intent, consumer brand attitudes

Imagine how you would react if you learned that your favorite singer was recording new music in a style far from that which you have come to love. Perhaps you would disapprove. Then you might react like many Porsche consumers did when they learned that “their” brand would start producing sports utility vehicles. They are not without peers. In fact, how would you respond if a favored brand would launch, say, a chain of coffee shops? Some people would resist such an idea. These scenarios illustrate how strong consumer-brand bonds may complicate attempts to extend brands into new businesses. The research presented in the thesis explores this connection, towards a better understanding of the stakes facing both companies and consumers. It is an inquiry into tensions of extensions. The thesis comprises four published studies. Three explore how consumers with close ties to a brand react to brand extension. They acknowledge that consumers who come close to a brand potentially become stakeholders with opinions on efforts to change the products and marketing of that brand. They suggest that the implications of combining brand extension and strong consumer bonds can be substantial. The fourth study considers how the financial implications in particular can be analyzed and communicated within organizations. The findings show how brand extension can be an important event in a longer relationship with core consumers. This perspective is easily obscured when concentrating only on the perceptions of “the average consumer”. The thesis highlights symbolic and experiential aspects. It offers a closer look at such things as consumer identity, emotional reactions, and expression of criticism, and the findings should inform communication strategies and decision-making related to brand extensions. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2008. Sammanfattning jämte 4 uppsatser</p>

This diploma thesis describes consumer behavior in the market, it deals with the brand as such and then deals with individual regional brands. It focuses on the CHUTNÁ HEZKY. JIHOČESKY and the contribution of this competition for selected regional producers. In the practical part are processed and presented graphically. The results of the questionnaire survey, which were attended by South Bohemian regional food producers, The aim was to find out the meaning of thes competation and possibly to propose changes that would make this competition more attractive in the future. The conclusion and discussion is a summary of the results.

Brand-lurking Phenomenon on Social Media Abstract The key measures to assess consumer-brand engagement on social media have mainly been visible interactions with media content, including 'likes', comments and shares. However, as research into consumers' online behaviour demonstrates, only a minority of users in fact participate 'visibly'. On social media, the vast majority of users are passive participants, so called 'lurkers'. This thesis explores consumers' publicly invisible behaviours on social media and introduces an original methodological approach to exploring the otherwise invisible behavioural patterns on social media, which builds on ethnographic principles and combines digital methods with qualitative methods. Drawing on a data set of 134 hours of screen recordings obtained through ad hoc tracking devices installed on PCs and smartphones of 15 young adults from seven European countries recruited from the "Generation Z" and 15 in- depth interviews conducted with the same participants, the study proposes the following contributions. First, the thesis illustrates a research protocol to explore consumers' lurking behaviours in relation to branded content as they occur within the young people's natural social media settings. Second, it introduces the concept of invisible engagement, defined as an...

Increased consumer awareness together with the importance of sustainable consumption is currently a highly debated topic. Frequently, the media reports scandals from strong international brands, revealing information regarding deficiencies linked to the brands social sustainability efforts. As a consequence, some consumers are starting to put higher demands on social sustainability by spreading condemnations. This is to prevent injustices such as child labour and modern slavery. The condemnation can be in the form of negative word-of- mouth or by boycotting the brand. This is something that can affect the brand strongly by damaging the consumers perception of the brand, which can be fatal to the consumer-brand relationship. However, this is something that seems to affect some brands to a greater extent than other brands This study explores the strength of Keller’s brand resonance level as a possible explanation to the above mentioned anomality. It shows that brands resonance operates as a countermeasure against negative information in relation to the brands indiscretions regarding social sustainability. Brand resonance can contradict the consumers ethical values and self-imagery, leaving the consumers perception of the brand unscathed. The results showed that brand resonance can become so strong that it can make the consumer abandon their ethical values, even for consumers whom consider themselves as highly ethical. This study has been conducted by a hypothetically deductive methodology. To determine the significance of the result it has been verified with a Z-test that applied a 5% significance level.

Background: Social media changed the way of communication between brands and consumers and further enables people to become famous and create their own celebrity brand. Hence, celebrity brands are a new phenomenon, rarely studied by past research but becoming more important in the context of consumer-brand-relationships. Those relationships are similar to interpersonal ones, which are also highly affected by emotions. Negative emotions are perceived to have a higher impact on the relationship and are reflected in consumer behavior, for example, in avoiding the brand. Purpose: Besides the behavioral outcomes of negative emotions toward celebrity brands, the study strives to examine the reasons for negative emotions. Additionally, the purpose of the study is to investigate possible neutralization actions that celebrity brands can undertake to alleviate the negative emotions of consumers. Method: The study followed an exploratory research design. The qualitative data collection was done by conducting semi-structured interviews. Participants were selected based on the criterion of having negative emotions toward a celebrity brand and using social media. In total, 16 interviews were conducted. Conclusion: Negative emotions were either elicited by characteristics or behaviors of the celebrity. Whereas characteristics, e.g. attractiveness, are difficult to influence for celebrities, unfavorable behaviors, e.g. greed and violence, that trigger negative consumer emotions are preventable by the celebrities. The consumers start avoiding, unfollowing, and spreading negative word-of-mouth about the celebrity if they feel negatively toward the brand. To neutralize negative emotions, the celebrity brands are recommended to engage in building authenticity, trust, acceptance, attachment, and adding value to society. However, due to the consumers unfollowing the celebrity, the biggest challenge for celebrity brands is to address neutralization actions in a noticeable way for consumers.

Background: Sustainability within the skincare industry is an important theme in marketing research. Sustainability sells, but it is necessary to understand how brands can drive consumer engagement on Instagram by using certain appeals. As social media has revolutionized the way consumers interact with brands, engaging online today represents a fundamental factor for a company’s success. Consequently, this study explored in particular CBE of green skincare brands with regards to female European millennials. As we were the first to research the context of three highly relevant fields in today’s time, which are sustainability, Instagram and skincare in the European setting, we contribute with new significant findings. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand which appeals drive millennial’s CBE of green skincare brands on Instagram. Thus, particularly green company-created content was examined. Method: The method chosen to answer our study purpose was semi-structured interviews. Therefore, 18 female European millennials have been interviewed to understand their thoughts and opinions concerning our purpose. Hence our study was based on an interpretivist philosophy while an inductive approach was followed. In addition, deductive elements loosely framed this qualitative study, given existing literature in respective fields of this research. Finally, we concluded this study with a conceptual framework, created upon our empirical findings. Conclusion: The results show that in specific three different types of appeals could be identified to drive CBE of green skincare brands on Instagram. These are Affective, Identification, Spokesperson &amp; Trust as well as Factual. With regards to our CBE conceptualization, these three themes all drive CBE to a different extent in terms of cognitive processing, affectionand activation. All in all, this study could identify Affective to be the most relevant appeal in terms of driving CBE as well as affection being the only CBE dimension, which can be driven by all three themes. Green skincare brands can use these findings to understand which appeals drive engagement while also raising awareness around sustainability-related topics.