Datum:                          2022-06-01    Nivå:                               Kandidatuppsats i Företagsekonomi, 15 hp  Akademi:                      Akademin för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalens Universitet  Författare:                   Nermin Gibbo        Emma Korpela         Micheline Touma                                                     99/01/19                  99/03/15                     00/06/25  Titel:                                 Marknadskommunikation på digitala plattformar  Handledare:                 Rana Mostaghel  Nyckelord:                   Artificiell Intelligens, Cookies, Beslutsfattande, Etik och Integritet  Forskningsfrågor:   1. Hur används AI–verktyg för att hjälpa organisationer i sitt                                                   beslutsfattande om marknadskommunikation baserat på konsumentens                                            preferenser?                                          2. Vilken påverkan har datainsamlingen med hjälp av cookies på                                                    konsumentens integritet?  Syfte:                               Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka organisationers användning av                                                                             AI-teknik och hur det påverkar organisationers beslutsfattande inom             marknadskommunikation i syfte till att lära känna konsumentpreferenser och                krav samt hur det kan påverka individen inom etik och integritet.    Metod:                          Kvalitativ metod  Slutsats:                       Undersökningen resulterade i att organisationer använder AI-system,                                            cookies och datainsamling för att på ett enklare vis fatta beslut om sin                                           marknadskommunikationsmetod i syfte till att bemöta konsumentens                                            preferenser och behov. Studien visade utefter respondenterna från                                          individperspektivets bidragande information, hur respektive respondent                                           uttryckte hur deras integritet indirekt kränks dagligen genom de digitala                                           plattformarna och datainsamlingen. / Date:                                2022-06-01   Level:                               Bachelor thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr  Institution:                    School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University  Authors:                          Nermin Gibbo        Emma Korpela         Micheline Touma                                               99/01/19                  99/03/15                     00/06/25  Title:                                   Marketing communication on digital platforms  Supervisor:                     Rana Mostaghel  Keywords:                      Artificial Intelligence, Cookies, Decision-Making, Ethics and Integrity  Research Questions:   1. How are digital tools used to help organizations in their                                               decision-making regarding marketing communication based                                              on the customers preferences?                                              2. What impact does data collection using cookies have on customers                                               integrity? Purpose:                         The purpose of this study is to investigate organizations’ use of AI                                               technology and how it affects organization’s decision-making                                               within marketing communication and in order to get to know the                                              consumers preferences and requirements and how it can affect                                               ethics and integrity of the individual.  Method:                          Qualitative method Conclusion:                   In conclusion, organizations use AI-systems, cookies and data                                               collection, in order to make a simpler decision about their marketing                                               communication method in order to meet the consumer’s preferences and                                               and needs. The study showed according to the respondents from the                                                 individual perspective contributing information, how each respondent                                              expressed how their privacy is indirectly violated daily by the digital                                               platforms and data collection.

The increased use of tailored marketing has contributed to companies being able to reach customers to a greater extent in a more individualized way. To be able to tailor their marketing, companies need to collect large amounts of personal information from their consumers, which has been criticized. The criticism regarding companies collecting consumer’s personal information has led to questions as to whether this is something that may violate an individual's integrity. The purpose of this thesis has been to study different generations' knowledge regarding the collection of data through cookies and whether this is something that affects consumer behavior. Hopefully this study will contribute with useful knowledge for professional marketers in order to optimize marketing strategies towards the different generations and thus ensuring they do not violate the integrity of the different generations. The study was conducted using semi-structured interviews, where five people from four different generations were interviewed. The results show differences between the generations both in terms of the perceived intrusion of their privacy as well as influenced buying behavior related to tailored marketing.

La siguiente tesis explica la viabilidad del negocio sobre galletas nutritivas a base de quinua, cañihua y kiwicha. Con un ingrediente principal llamado espirulina, un alga rica en más de 11 vitaminas, minerales, proteínas, grasas y carbohidratos complejos. Los segmentos usados en este proyecto son A, B y C, de la zona 7 de Lima Metropolitana. Los rangos de edad de nuestro target son entre 18 y 55 años. Nuestra idea de negocio consiste en la venta de un snack saludable de fácil acceso para los usuarios como tiendas, minimarkets y ferias. Además, en dos presentaciones de 70 y 150 gramos, con precios económicos de S./3 y S./4.9, respectivamente. El siguiente trabajo explicará el modelo de negocio, el desarrollo del plan de negocio, el concierge, el plan operacional, el plan de recursos humanos, el plan de marketing, el plan de responsabilidad social empresarial, el plan financiero y finalmente el aprendizaje que obtuvimos de todo el proyecto. / The following thesis explains the viability of the business on quinoa, cañihua and kiwicha nutritious cookies. With a main ingredient called spirulina, an algae rich in more than 11 vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats and complex carbohydrates. The segments used in this project are A, B and C, of ​​zone 7 of Metropolitan Lima. The age ranges of our target are between 18 and 55 years. Our business idea is the sale of a healthy snack with easy access for users such as stores, minimarkets and fairs. In addition, in two presentations of 70 and 150 grams, with economic prices of S/. 3 and S/. 4.90, respectively. The following work will explain the business model, the development of the business plan, the concierge, the operational plan, the human resources plan, the marketing plan, the corporate social responsibility plan, the financial plan and finally the learning we obtained of the whole project. / Trabajo de investigación

Alla konsumenter som någon gång besökt en hemsida har också mötts av encookienotis. För de allra flesta är cookienotiser en del av den digitala vardagen. I ochmed att GDPR ändrat lagstiftningen om hur webbplatser ska informera om cookiesmåste alla hemsidor inom EU presentera en cookienotis idag. Detta blir därav också detförsta som konsumenterna ser när de påbörjar sin digitala kundresa. Trots befintligkunskap om vikten av konsumentens första intryck, att varje kundupplevelse har storbetydelse samt att långsiktiga kundrelationer är av stor betydelse är forskningen kringcookienotisers påverkan på konsumentbeteendet bristfällig. Därav avser denna studie attbidra till mer kunskap inom området genom att besvara frågeställningen:Hur påverkar presentationen av cookies konsumentbeteendet hos unga vuxna?Studien redovisar tidigare forskning i den teoretiska referensramen. Förutom ett fåtalnischade studier som har gjorts gällande konsumentbeteende och cookies, avhandlasäven vikten av att företagen behandlar kundresan och alla dess delar varsamt. Även enkortare förklaring av cookies och GDPR presenteras. Tidigare forskning fastslår blandannat vikten av att skapa lojalitet och positiva relationer till konsumenter i allakundinteraktioner på olika sätt. Det visas även bevis på hur upplevd makt och risk påinternet kan påverka konsumentens inställning till en hemsida. Till sist förklaras det hurföretag idag arbetar med att individanpassa sina hemsidor gentemot konsumenter. Denteoretiska referensramen sammanfattas med en modell som illustrerar hurpresentationen av cookies bidrar till ett konsumentbeteende som i högsta grad går attpåverka av företagen. Hur detta hanteras kan sen leda till en viss relation mellankonsument och företag.Studiens resultat visar att företag måste värdera presentationen cookienotisen minst likahögt som resterande delar av hemsidan. Empirin visar att konsumenterna har starkaåsikter om att cookienotisen ska innehålla minst två olika valmöjligheter för att de skaha större kontroll över sin egna data. De ska även innehålla en kort text med länkar förvidare läsning. Utöver specifika egenskaper och design på notisen går det att konstateraatt konsumenterna har tydliga åsikter kring cookies av anledningar såsom att de vill hakontroll över sin data eller att notiserna blir ett störningsmoment. Samtidigt konstaterartidigare forskning att första intrycket en konsument får av en hemsida har en väsentligbetydelse. Då cookienotisen måste vara en del av alla hemsidors första intryckrekommenderar författarna att företag ska lägga resurser på att konstruera egnacookienotiser som uppskattas av deras konsumenter. Samtidigt konstaterar studien attdet som finns att vinna i ett bättre första intryck för konsumenterna troligtvis förloras iinsamlad data av företagen då konsumenter som presenteras med valmöjligheter är merbenägna att avböja cookies. Studien diskuterar även etiska och samhälleliga perspektivoch kommer fram till att tydligare lagar bör stiftas om hur cookies ska presenteras samtatt konsumenternas generella kunskap om cookies är otillräcklig.

Genom dagens digitalisering har den traditionella marknadsföringen utvecklats till en mer individanpassad marknadsföring, där företag i större utsträckning riktar sig till konsumenter på individnivå. Detta för att kunna nå konsumenten på ett personligt plan och därmed skapa annonser anpassade utefter den enskilda individen. Detta sker genom att data kring konsumentens beteenden och preferenser samlas in via cookies och röstassistenter. Med dessa möjligheter till informationsinsamling medförs även risker och utmaningar i säkerheten, i form av integritetsintrång. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur denna marknadsföringsmetod påverkar två generationsgrupper, generation X och generation Z. Studien utgick från en abduktiv ansats och har genomförts med en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. Det empiriska materialet samlades in via tre fokusgrupper med totalt 16 medverkande individer. Resultatet som framkom av undersökningen var att attityderna till individanpassad marknadsföring skiljer sig åt beroende på generationstillhörighet. Generation X visade sig ha en skeptisk attityd kring individanpassade annonser, medan generation Z som är infödda i den digitala världen ser det mer fördelaktigt. Vad gäller generationernas personliga integritet visade resultatet att mängden kunskap kring ämnet är av betydelse för att kunna avgöra huruvida den personliga integriteten påverkas eller inte. Studiens resultat påverkades till viss del av konformitet då somliga respondenter ändrade åsikt utefter vad majoriteten i gruppen ansåg. Avslutningsvis visade resultatet att samtliga respondenter var överens om att avlyssning via röstassistenter frambringar en obehagskänsla, därmed anses rösten mer integritetskänslig.

Since 2018, privacy notices are required by websites to inform users of their use of cookies where the users can choose whether or not they want to accept the cookies. While the use of privacy notices theoretically provides the ability for users to be in charge of their own privacy online, there are issues regarding privacy notices that lead to that they hardly ever work in practice. The reasons for this are many but center around that privacy notices are designed to manipulate users to accept cookies rather than to inform and encourage users to make deliberate choices. In light of this, the purpose of this study is to evaluate whether or not the two principles from choice architecture, defaults and mappings, are an appropriate approach to improve users' understanding and affect their decision-making process regarding privacy notices. The study used a combination of qualitative methods and contained a screening survey, prototype testing and interviews. The screening survey was used to select appropriate participants who later conducted the prototype testing and interviews. Four prototypes displaying four different privacy notices were designed and presented to the participants. Each participant was randomly assigned one of the prototypes and later asked questions regarding their interaction with and understanding of the privacy notice. The data collected was analyzed using a thematic analysis. The results derived from the analysis revealed that a majority of the participants did not read the privacy notice. Further, the factors that influenced participants’ interactions with the privacy notice were mainly habitual rather than affected by the specific prototype they were presented with. Based on the results, it can be concluded that defaults may impact the user’s decision due to visual cues. However, neither defaults nor mappings worked as an encouragement for the user to make a well-informed and deliberate choice.

The Domain Name System (DNS) has been frequently abused for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and cache poisoning because it relies on the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Since UDP is connection-less, it is trivial for an attacker to spoof the source of a DNS query or response. DNS Cookies, a protocol standardized in 2016, add pseudo-random values to DNS packets to provide identity management and prevent spoofing attacks. This work finds that 30% of popular authoritative servers and open recursive resolvers fully support cookies and that 10% of recursive clients send cookies. Despite this, DNS cookie use is rarely enforced as it is non-trivial to ascertain whether a given client intends to fully support cookies. We also show that 80% of clients and 99% of servers do not change their behavior when encountering a missing or illegitimate cookie. This paper presents a new protocol to allow cookie enforcement: DNS Protocol Advertisement Records (DPAR). Advertisement records allow DNS clients intending to use cookies to post a public record in the reverse DNS zone stating their intent. DNS servers may then lookup this record and require a client to use cookies as directed, in turn preventing an attacker from sending spoofed messages without a cookie. In this paper, we define the specification for DNS Protocol Advertisement Records, considerations that were made, and comparisons to alternative approaches. We additionally estimate the effectiveness of advertisements in preventing DDoS attacks and the expected burden to DNS servers. Advertisement records are designed as the next step to strengthen the existing support of DNS Cookies by enabling strict enforcement of client cookies.

Dark patterns is a term used to describe the way companies deceive users by design to give away as much personal data as possible, in order to benefit themselves. Previous studies have shown that the presence of dark patterns is very common on websites as well as in mobile applications. As the web and broadband companies collect a lot of data from web users, virtual private network (VPN) software has become commonly used to protect online users’ privacy. No previous studies have examined VPN services in this context. This report therefore examines VPN providers’ software and websites through content analysis, to determine if dark patterns are present in their user interfaces and information presented to the users and if so, in what way dark patterns are present. The result of this study shows that dark patterns were present on all VPN providers’ websites that were examined and one of the websites made it particularly difficult to delete user accounts and their related data. It is questionable whether all personal data gets removed after an account deletion request has been made by the user, since users have to give away more personal data in exchange to submit the deletion request, thus making personal data a tradeoff.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate and understand the consumer perspective and intentions toward the prospect of a future without third-party cookies.Design/Methodology/Approach: This thesis utilized a combination of exploratory and confirmatory research design. A mixed-method approach was used for the data collection. The qualitative stage included focus groups. This was followed by a quantitative stage, conducted by means of an online survey.Findings: The finding from the focus groups indicated that Internet users have a negative opinion of the prospect of a world without third-party cookies, with positive expectations like improved user experience. Furthermore, results from both the survey and focus groups reveal a glaring lack of information when it comes to the subject of the gradual elimination of third-party cookies. The survey findings show the existence of a connection between user intention and distrust as well as user intention and privacy concerns.Theoretical Implications: Novel contributions have been made in several fields of business administration, specifically, the domains of digital marketing, consumer behavior, and consumer psychology. Contributions have also been provided by blending the theories from the above domains. Furthermore, this study established the addition of the Technology Acceptance Model, and Communication Privacy Management Theory to research the cookieless future, offering new useful insights on the underresearched topic of the cookieless future.Practical/Societal Implications: In the absence of cookies, organizations must improve their communication with online users. Furthermore, organizations and institutions are both responsible for educating everyday online users on topics such as online policies, data collection procedures, and data protection regulations. Moreover, organizations will have to focus on improving the online user experience in the absence of third-party cookies.Limitations/Future Research: Having a larger sample size would have allowed for better generalizability. Furthermore, participants were mostly Millennials (i.e., born between 1981 and 1996) and Gen Z (i.e., born between 1997 and 2012) in the case of both the qualitative and quantitative parts of the study. An even wider distribution in age within the sample could have resulted in a different statistical analysis. Additionally, the survey and the focus groups were conducted exclusively in English, limiting the study to English speakers. Future research could investigate the users’ perceptions and behavior after Google has fully removed third-party cookies. Future research can also take an in-depth look into how the removal of cookies will affect personalized advertisements. Moreover, further studies could also investigate bigger populations. Different populations could be investigated as well: different generations, or different countries. Lastly, a longitudinal study of this thesis after the completed removal of third-party cookies could be a fruitful research direction.Originality: This is the first study that examines consumer perceptions and intentions in the context of the cookieless future, to the authors' knowledge. It is also the first to academically examine the cookieless future using a mixed-method approach, to the authors' knowledge.

In order to improve the user experience and increase sales on the web, companies use so-called cookies to collect user data. However, cookies can be a major risk to users' privacy. Since GDPR and LEK were instituted, informed consent is now required to download cookies on users' computers. This is done through so-called cookie banners. These banners have no specific design requirements and the companies can then fill these banners with nudging and dark patterns. This may influence the user to consent to cookies without their intention. Many studies have highlighted the impact of the interface on the user, but several studies have also touched on other factors that can influence the user's choice in a cookie banner, for example the user's knowledge of cookies and situational factors when the user encounters a cookie banner. This study aims to investigate in a qualitative way how the factors knowledge, situational factors and interface, both individually and in interaction, affect the users' privacy choice in a cookie banner. Through nine semi-structured interviews with users from different age groups and backgrounds, the empirical evidence showed how the various factors affect the participants. The way in which the various factors influenced and interacted for the participants' privacy choices was very individual. However, we could determine that all the factors; knowledge, situational factors and interfaces often influence the selection process in various combinations. However, this can be both an awareness of the user, but also a more autonomous process.