The aim of this thesis is to analyze the communication of a certain company, to identify its weaknesses and to suggest improvements of the current state. To analyze the communication, standardized dialogues with kingpins in the firm, questionnaire research and a study of the company documentation were used. Owing to talks to one of the employees, after familiarization with the operating and fundamental processes of the company, all employees were sent an online questionnaire, which was answered by 21 of the complete number of 24. Simultaneously, dialogues with other four persons were made. Results of the dialogues and questionnaire research were analyzed and the state of communication inside and outside the firm was described. The communication inside the firm is not on a low level, but there are significant reserves in some areas conducive to improvement. Recommendations for improving the situation are described in a separate chapter.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether Karlstad City Fiber Network visual elements in the form of a pair of speech bubbles fit into the organization's holistic external communication and branding. The study examines whether Karlstad City Fiber Network image of the organization and the speech bubbles match the stakeholders view and how the visual elements are perceived and recognized by stakeholders. The theory associated with the study is theories of corporate visual identity, image, identity and branding and visual communication. These three elements are important to be aware of when a generation of an effective external communications. Qualitative interviews with employees at Karlstad City Fiber Network and Karlstad municipality has undertaken to give an idea of ​​what the organization wants to achieve and what their opinions are. Karlstad City Fiber Network wants stakeholders to perceive the brand building marketing records as playful, with a twinkle in his eye and inviting to dialogue while the direct information shall be straight and free of jargon. The organization wishes that stakeholders see them as a safe choice as well as local and accessible for inhabitants of Karlstad. Karlstad City Fiber Network sees it as a great advantage to be taken of Karlstad Municipality, which also welcomes the urban network is municipal. Through focus group interviews with Karlstad City Fiber Network stakeholders, the inhabitants of Karlstad, it has emerged that the speech bubbles is not recognized, but it is only when the speech bubbles is put into a context, such as newspaper or newsletter that it can be linked to anything that advocates the municipality of Karlstad and dialogue. It is concluded that corporate visual identity is the link between the visual and the context of an organization's marketing. Stakeholders see Karlstad City Fiber Network as a credible organization that is simple yet eye-catching newsletters, but believe that their marketing is somewhat vague and confusing. / Studiens syfte är att undersöka huruvida Karlstads Stadsnäts visuella element i form av ett par pratbubblor passar in i organisationens helhetliga externa kommunikation och varumärke. Studien undersöker om Karlstads Stadsnäts bild av organisationen och pratbubblorna stämmer överens med intressenternas bild samt hur de visuella elementen upplevs och känns igen av intressenterna. Teorin som är kopplad till studien är teorier inom corporate visual identity, image, identitet och varumärke samt visuell kommunikation. Dessa tre delar är viktiga att vara medveten om vid ett framställande av en effektiv extern kommunikation. Kvalitativa samtalsintervjuer med medarbetare på Karlstads Stadsnät samt Karlstads kommun har genomförts för att ge en uppfattning om vad organisationerna vill uppnå och vilka deras åsikter är. Karlstads Stadsnät vill att intressenterna ska uppfatta den varumärkesbyggande marknadsföringen som skämtsam, med glimten i ögat och inbjudande till dialog samtidigt som den direkta informationen skall vara rak och utan facktermer. Organisationen önskar att intressenterna skall se dem som ett säkert val samt lokalt och lättillgängligt för Karlstadsborna. Karlstads Stadsnät ser det som en stor fördel att vara ägt av Karlstads kommun, vilka också ser positivt på att Stadsnätet är kommunalt. Genom fokusgruppintervjuer med Karlstads Stadsnäts intressenter, det vill säga Karlstadsbor, har det kommit fram att själva pratbubblan inte känns igen utan att det är först när pratbubblan sätts i en kontext, till exempel tidningsannons eller informationsbrev som den kan kopplas till något som förespråkar Karlstads kommun och dialog. Slutsatsen är att corporate visual identity är länken mellan det visuella och kontexten hos en organisations marknadsföring. Intressenterna ser Karlstads Stadsnät som en trovärdig organisation som har enkla men ändå iögonfallande informationsbrev, men anser att deras marknadsföring är något otydlig och förvirrande.

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Abstract Title: External communication and brand strategies in Swedish municipalities
 Author: Philip Hagne & Einar Svensson
 Tutor: Jessica Gustafsson
 Purpose: The aim of this thesis was to study and obtain greater understanding on how Swedish municipalities use external communication and branding strategies to gain and attract more residents. The key questions to be answered in this thesis were: What does the external communication look like in the selected municipalities? Are the selected municipalities trying to establish their own brand? What does the work on creating the brand look like?
 Method/Material: This thesis is based on material collected trough interviews with people working with external communication in eleven swedish municipalities. The selected municipalities where divided into two groups based on their negative or positive population growth between 2005 and 2012. All of the selected municipalities where in the same population range between 20,000 and 40,000 citizens. The theoretical framework used in this thesis consists of David Aaker’s theories on Brand Equity along with Graham Hankinson’s, Gregory Ashworth's and Mihalis Kavaratzis theories on Place Branding.
 Main results: The main results show that the external communication is rather similar in all of the eleven municipalities regardless their population trend. The study could not show any definite correlation between the use of external communication and branding towards gaining new inhabitants. However this thesis sugests that municipal councils have changed their attitudes in prioritizing the external communication. The attitude from municipal councils today are more positive than earlier research has shown. Furthermore this thesis has shown that the financial issues and low communication budgets still are the main reason for limited work on external communication, though this is solved with collaborations with local actors in the public sphere.
 Number of pages: 64
 Course: Media and Communication studies C
 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University
 Period: Fall 2013
 Keywords: Brand, external communication, municipalities

År 2009 införde Justitiedepartementet Klarspråk i Jönköping. Klarspråk är ett projekt med ett självkontrollstest och riktlinjer för hur myndigheter ska kommunicera till allmänheten med ett enkelt och tydligt språk.  Syftet med denna studie är att jämföra om Länsstyrelsen i Jönköpings skriftliga ex-ternkommunikation har förändrats sedan Klarspråksprojektet infördes år 2009 i Jönkö-ping. Genom en kvalitativ textanalys och ett strategiskt urval kommer sex handlingar från Länsstyrelsen i Jönköping analyseras. Tre handlingar före och tre handlingar efter år 2009. Handlingarna är reella dokument som avser beslut om djurhållning i Jönköpings län.  Texterna analyseras och jämförs med hjälp av Klarspråksprojektets självkontrollstest och riktlinjer samt genom en stilistisk analys tillsammans med den linjära kommunika-tionsmodellen. Resultatet kommer därefter förklaras med hjälp av teorin organisationskul-tur och Jacobsen och Thorsviks organisationsmodell i kapitlet resultatdiskussion.  Resultatet visar att det inte har skett någon märkbar förändring i Länsstyrelsens ex-ternkommunikation. Det som går att utläsa är att det har gjorts försök men att det ännu inte följer Klarspråksprojektets riktlinjer för ett mer mottagaranpassat språk. Ur ett stilis-tiskt perspektiv går det att se en förändring i hur mottagaren tilltalas samt hur sändaren benämner sig själv i handlingarna. Analysen bekräftar även att Länsstyrelsen i Jönköping har haft mottagaren i åtanke när de har förmedlat sitt beslut vilket är en bra utgångspunkt för en konstruktiv kommunikation. / In 2009 the Swedish Justice Department introduced project "Klarspråk", in translation “easy lan-guage”, consisting of a set of informative tools and guidelines meant to improve communication between government agencies and the public. Its core message was to use clear and simple lan-guage that all recipients comprehend.  Purpose of study is to compare if a government entity in the county of Jönköping called Länsstyrelsen, changed written external communication since Klarspråk was implemented. Through a qualitative text analysis and strategic selection, six documents originating from Länsstyrelsen in Jönköping's agricultural division, is analyzed. Three documents before the turn of the year 2009, and three after.  The documents used for this study are correspondence relating to decisions made in regards to animal treatment in the county boundaries of Jönköping. By comparison analysis the documents are evaluated against Klarspråk guidelines, and through a stylistic examination, assessed against the linear communication model. In conclusion, the result is explained through the theory of organiza-tional culture and Jacobsen and Thorsvik's (2008) pertaining model.  Results show there has not been any significant change in the format of Länsstyrelsen's external communication. Documents show attempts were made to simplify language, yet Klarspråk's pro-consumer guidelines were not consistently followed. From a stylistic aspect there was improvement to how the recipient is titled in documents and originator promotes itself. In conclusion, Länsstyrelsen in Jönköping county indeed makes effort in their attempts to improve its external communication, and even with its flaws it is the beginning of constructive communication.

The apparel industry is pointed out as an industry highly contributing with negative environmental impacts in all different stages of the production to consumption chain. Companies within the outdoor industry have been trying to combat this issue by producing apparel that are less harmful for the environment and by encouraging consumers to keep, care and repair for their apparel over time. Educative communication with customers regarding the environmental issues deriving from apparel consumption is seen where some brands go as far as to engaging in environmental activism. Regarding retailers within the outdoor industry, the use of educational communication needs to incorporate many different brands and thus communicating about environmentally preferable apparel is more complex. This study investigates the Swedish retailer Naturkompaniet’s approach to educational communication in order to identify what possibilities there are to encourage consumers to purchase environmentally preferable apparel and to care for it over time. The study find that Naturkompaniet does use educational communication to encourage consumers to purchase environmentally preferable apparel to some extent. It also identifies room for improvement and give suggestions on how the communication can be developed further.

Approximately 64% of nonprofit leaders struggle to connect with supporters through fund initiatives alone, and 59% of nonprofit leaders lack the marketing communication capability to attract new donors. Fundraising is vital to nonprofit organizations' sustainability and essential for successfully attracting new donors. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore effective external communication strategies used by 3 southern California nonprofits through the conceptual lens of the integrated marketing communications theory. Data were gathered using semistructured interviews, a review of organizational documents and online databases, and the Baldrige Excellence Framework. The data were analyzed using Yin's 5-step process. The two key themes that emerged were process strengths and process opportunities. The results of this study could contribute to positive social change by helping organizations strengthen external communications strategies to increase new donors and financial capital to achieve mission goals.

I ABSTRACT The thesis deals with analysis of the needs of intermediate management of non- governmental organization Counselling Centre for Citizenship/Civil and Human Rights, whose main activity is providing social prevention service in the Czech Republic. The main object of the thesis is to identify the needs of intermediate management and to settle mechanisms which could help the organization to improve more. The methods used for obtaining relevant data were SWOT analysis, marketing mix and cost-benefit analysis. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with basic terms related to non-governmental organizations with a focus to the Counselling Centre for Citizenship/Civil and Human Rights. The thesis furthermore identifies the needs of intermediate management, which are visible in need of better internal and especially external communication, where a PR specialist or PR agency should be of help to the organization. Keywords: analysis, management, non-governmental organization, external communication, PR

Trots att den svenska marknaden för transport av el utgörs av ett naturligt monopol är kundnöjdhet ändå av betydelse för att, genom ett gott samarbete mellan organisation och kunder, upprätthålla ett gott varumärke och facilitera hållbar utveckling. Elnätsföretag har högre kundkrav på extern kommunikation än andra sektorer vilket gör att de också behöver leverera mer kvalitativ extern kommunikation för att upprätthålla kundnöjdhet. Trots flera internationella standarder för miljökommunikation är det få som förser verksamheten med konkreta verktyg för lyckad extern miljökommunikation. Syftet med detta arbete är att identifiera vilken typ av information, kopplat till hållbarhetsfrågor, som elnätskunder tycker är relevant och intressant samt huruvida detta skiljer sig mellan målgrupper. Detta görs genom en enkätundersökning som är utformad för att identifiera vilken typ av hållbarhetsbudskap som har effekt på kundernas inställning till, och förtroende för, sitt elnätsbolag. Resultatet tyder på att olika innehåll i miljökommunikation genererar olika effekt på nöjdhet och förtroende. Det visar också att hållbarhetsbudskap som kunderna föredrar inte nödvändigtvis är de budskap som ger störst effekt på förtroende och kundnöjdhet. Resultatet kan ligga till grund för vidare studier i riktad extern kommunikation med syfte att motivera och understödja hållbar utveckling på elnätsbranschen. / Even though the Swedish market for the transport of electricity constitutes a natural monopoly, customer satisfaction is nevertheless important to, through good cooperation between the organization and customers, maintain a good brand and facilitate sustainable development. Electricity network companies have higher customer requirements for external communication than other sectors, which means that they also need to deliver more qualitative external communication to maintain customer satisfaction. Despite several international standards for environmental communication, few provide the business with concrete tools for successful external environmental communication. The purpose of this work is to identify what kind of information, linked to sustainability issues, that electricity grid customers find relevant and interesting, and whether this differs between target groups. This is done through a survey designed to identify the type of sustainability message that has effect on customers' attitudes towards, and confidence in, their electricity grid company. The results suggest that different content in environmental communication generates different effects on satisfaction and trust. It also shows that sustainability messages that customers prefer are not necessarily the messages that have the greatest effect on trust and customer satisfaction. The result can form the basis for further studies in targeted external communication with the aim of motivating and facilitating sustainable development in the electricity grid industry.

In this study, we have analyzed Warner Bros. Games communication regarding their recently published video game, Hogwarts Legacy, in relation to the controversial backlash the author of the fictional universe, J.K. Rowling, has received. We have arrived at two research questions to study the subject: What discourse can we identify that has been formed through the excerpts we’ve found from Warner Bros. Games external communication, about and in Hogwarts Legacy regarding the controversies that have circulated the game? and How does this discourse illustrate Warner Bros. Games’ external communicative management of the situation, and how can we interpret this from a critical perspective?  Our study is based mainly on Faircloughs (1989) three-dimensional model within the Critical Discourse Analysis tradition, with help from Beck (1997) and his theories on the modern society with his term sub-politics. We have used these frameworks to analyze a total of seven artifacts from Warner Bros. Games and their related organizations. Our collected material has been limited, but our results we’ve gathered from it show that the communication of Warner Bros. Games and their related organizations within the same brand has been ambiguous and tentative. This leads to a series of problems, both ethically, for those affected by the situation, and operationally, for Warner Bros. Games as an organization.  Our study contributes to the field of organizational communication by showing an example of how affected modern organizations are by their surroundings, including parts that do not directly relate to their operations. It also demonstrates the influential position individual celebrities carry over certain brands and organizations, which can result in critical issues. More research is required on the subject, to help us understand the phenomena and give us tools to work with them. Hopefully, our study is an example of such research.