There have been a lot of studies dedicated to investigating nation branding as a set of political discourses and practices deploying analysis of objects of symbolic nature: logotypes, brand books, slogans and commercials. The present thesis aims to study nation branding as a form of communicative labour through investigating volunteering as a form of media work that is used as a tool of the nation branding campaign in Ukraine during the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017. By using the theoretical concepts of nation branding, values and motivations of free labour in media industries, the thesis analyses the role of volunteers in the nation branding campaign during ESC 2017, volunteering as a specific form of media work and the motivation tools employed by the organisers and volunteers themselves to make sense of their involvement in the event. The analysis suggests that the roles assigned to volunteers as bearers of the nation brand are of great importance but the volunteers’ understanding of this process is rather confused and blurred. Another point highlighted in the thesis is how is volunteering was organised in terms of training and motivation on the side of organisers and what kind of motivations were of the crucial significance to volunteers themselves.

There are several studies observing the phenomenon of nation branding as political pursuits and as texts. However, the media are generally treated as neutral platforms in branding literature. Also, relatively little has been done to explore how the context of branding affects the level of text production, not least in relation to media events. Deploying a cultural approach, the present study suggests that the production of branding may be examined in terms of cultural codes (Hall, 1982) and dominant or preferred meanings (Hall, 1973/1992). The aim of this study is to explore processes of nation branding, as part of media events, from a media production perspective. This is done through observations of the encoding/decoding of the branding narrative of the Europeanness of Eurovision, as formula for a revised Ukrainian identity, in production and backstage processes of the event 2017. The material consists of qualitative interviews with five agents involved in the branding of Ukraine during Eurovision The analysis is based on the theoretical concepts of, firstly, Hall’s (1973/1992) model of encoding/decoding and, secondly, Ytreberg’s (1999) model for the analysis of text production. Hall emphasises the discursive aspects of audiences’ interpretations, but, with reference to Ytreberg’s idea of text production as a result of negotiated interpretations, it is argued that discursive aspects are just as significant for agents in the production process. Three cases are used to illuminate the tensions in the media production of the branding narrative: The encoding/decoding of a branding concept, of the relationship to Russia, and of a Ukrainian Europeanness. The tensions mainly occur between the agents in the professional position in relation to oppositional readings of the dominant code (Hall, 1973/1992). They can be understood as struggles over the preferred meaning (Hall, 1973/1992) of Ukraine’s Europeanness in the branding narrative, which are enacted in the media production. The two main strategies for negotiating the tensions regard the representation of the categories of time and space. However, I propose that the agents in the media production also perform a third strategy in relation to the tensions that arise, the detached strategy of professionalism, based in the frameworks of knowledge (Hall, 1973/1992) that the agents possess.

This is a study of how the image of Sweden is constructed in international media. Using the country as a swinging bat in debates on socialism and progressiveness is nothing new but has had an upswing during recent years as a result of the global rise of right-wing forces. With the help of Critical Discourse Analysis, four articles from the United States and the United Kingdom are analysed. These are then presented according to Fairclough’s three-layered model. With the help of previous research on Sweden in international media, fake news and nation branding, these findings are then explained and put into context.The study finds that the image of Sweden presented in media tends to follow the narrative of Good Sweden and Bad Sweden. On the one hand is the classic welfare state in the north, which takes care of its people and with high levels of trust between the actors. On the other hand is a country in ruins as a result of letting in too many immigrants. Both narratives rely heavily on stereotypes. The discussion tends to use Sweden as an example, when it is really about ideologies and values. Another result shown by the study is that fake news is a common trace in news about Sweden, not only in alternative media but also in the established elite media. This can be seen as a result of the hardening situation in the media business as well as the rise of right-wing forces.

Title: IKEA, Volvo and Sweden – Brands in interaction Authors: Viggo Lundbergh Akbari & Marcus Engström Aim: The purpose of this bachelor’s thesis is to examine commercial actors’ use of state- formulated ideas about national attributes. This, by investigating IKEA’s and Volvo’s self- describing websites to see how they contribute to the national marketing of Sweden. These companies have a huge impact on how Sweden is portrayed internationally and the Swedish state wants them to market Sweden. Thus, it is of relevance to investigate how they portray Sweden to see if it corresponds with the ideas formulated by the state for the official branding of Sweden. To do this, two research questions have been formulated: How does Visit Sweden's brand platform come to be expressed on IKEA's and Volvo's self-describing websites?  Does IKEA’s and Volvo's self-describing websites constitute nation branding? Method & Material: Qualitative text analysis and five self-describing websites each from IKEA and Volvo. Main Results: Visit Sweden’s brand platform is expressed on IKEA’s and Volvo’s self- describing websites. All parts of the brand platform can be found and moreover, the results are showing that it constitutes nation branding in the form of commercial nationalism according to the bachelor thesis’ theoretical framework. Number of pages: 56 Course: Media and Communication Studies C Department: Department of Informatics and Media University: Uppsala University Period: Autumn 2017 Tutor: Göran Svensson Keywords: Nation Branding, Commercial Nationalism, Visit Sweden, IKEA, Volvo.

The phenomenon of nation branding has increased its popularity within scholars from different disciplines within the past decade. Moreover, the practice of nation branding has gained a significant role in countries’ foreign politics. However, the number of studies within the field of communication and media is lacking. The phenomenon of nation branding is usually researched from economic or political point of views. This thesis connects communication, media, marketing, and politics by examining nation branding as a tool of soft power. It aims to point out how desired meanings are constructed by using visual communication tools to create a favorable image for a country. The visual approach was chosen to be examined as it is more challenging to transfer messages through visual means than using spoken language. Two countries, Finland, and South Korea, were chosen as case studies due to their different nation branding strategies and international rankings. Their promotional videos were analyzed by using qualitative empirical descriptive method by utilizing tools provided by multimodal critical discourse analysis. The descriptive analytical method was chosen as the videos are meant as promotional materials which use over simplified narrative methods so that viewer could understand them easily. The concepts of nation, nation branding, discourse, ideology, soft power, public diplomacy, media, visual communication, and power were used as a theoretical framework. The study shows how discourse is constructed using visual representations as well as what kind of values can be transferred by using visual communication tools to influence on the foreign audience’s perceptions of the country.

The Master's Thesis introduces the definition and scope of term public diplomacy and deals with its dimensions, types and implications. The second chapter describes the system of public diplomacy in the Czech Republic. In particular emphasis is put on actors that participate in public diplomacy, the instruments they dispose of and the strategy they follow. The evaluation of the functionality of Czech public diplomacy system is made based on results of questionnaire which was distributed among foreigners.

Recently, Spain has been paying particular attention to its presentation abroad and national image, taking into consideration the conceptual as well as financial and personnel point of view. The thesis analyses three different components that form the national image - cultural diplomacy, public diplomacy and nation branding - and puts them into the Spanish context. Furthermore, it identifies the main actors in these areas of Spain's foreign policy and examines their working methods. The thesis also presents the national project Marca Espana (Brand Spain) with both its benefits and weak points. In addition, it evaluates the overall Spanish approach to the formation of its national reputation and suggests possible future improvements.

The diploma thesis deals with nation branding in the context of economic diplomacy and puts a special emphasis on Spain. The main purpose is to provide an answer to the following question: "Is the Spanish reputation-building project Marca Espaňa launched in 2013 beneficial for country's performance in economic diplomacy area and is it possible to observe any results despite a relatively short time period?" Chapter one concentrates on theoretical issues and apart from defining relevant basic terms it provides a theoretical relationship between the concepts of economic diplomacy and nation branding. Chapter two examines the Spanish system of economic diplomacy and nation branding and underlines their interconnection on the practical level. Chapter three analyses the contribution of the Marca Espaňa project to Spain's economic diplomacy and examines Spain's performance in nation branding, overall economic competitiveness and exports through a detailed analysis of various international ranking and official statistical data.

The objective of the Master Thesis is to outline the possibilities of improvement and extension of public diplomacy activities of Mexico. In order to achieve the objective the thesis is divided into 3 parts. The first one summarizes existing theoretical knowledge in the course of study, thus characterizes the terms of public diplomacy and briefly cultural diplomacy and nation branding as well. The following chapter determines particular actors of Mexican public diplomacy and their activities, determines the country's initial conditions in public diplomacy, focuses on the public diplomacy activities in the foreign policy program and analyzes how the country fulfils the basic requirements of public diplomacy strategy. The last chapter depicts Mexican public diplomacy in the United States of America, where a significant decline in positive perception has been seen in recent years, and outlines the possibilities of improvement and extension of public diplomacy activities to reverse the trend.

This research investigates the interaction between corporate branding and nation branding using the case of Swedish nation branding on Volvo’s international Instagram channel. It aims to find out which topics of the Swedish nation brand are addressed by Volvo and where and how frequently the references are placed. Furthermore, the goal is to understand how the Swedish nation brand is communicated multimodally and how it is perceived. This research draws upon the concept of nation branding in general and the Swedish nation brand particularly. Upon the following examination of the interaction between companies and nation branding, the advantages become clear. However, it is also apparent that there is currently a lack of research on the usage of the Swedish nation brand by companies. Based on Mayring (1994), a content analysis of 164 posts from a one-year period was conducted to examine with which topics, where and how frequently the Swedish nation brand is communicated by Volvo. Multimodal critical discourse analysis based on Machin (2016) of three different posts gives examples of how the communication is implemented multimodally and how users react on it with comments. The findings show a clear focus on safety, sustainability, countryside and design with interesting results for the usage of niche categories in the automobile industry. The Swedish nation brand is often indirectly communicated, not pointing out the country itself but instead representing its values, culture and geography. The examples of the multimodal critical discourse analysis show that the Swedish national culture and the nation’s values are presented as more important than Volvo’s brand, while Swedish geography serves to highlight the car’s qualities and its heritage. The analysis of the comments show that the categories of the Swedish nation brand are recognized, but the posts are not associated with Sweden unless it is very obviously represented.