The purpose of this thesis is to clarify the connection between word-of-mouth and viral marketing, to identify properties of and strategic ways to implement viral marketing and to examine how a company can influence the customers’ perception of the brand in social media. This purpose served to answer our research question:  How can companies deliberately create viral marketing? To answer this question we based our study on a qualitative method where we conducted eight interviews with different people, all with experience in our research field. We focused on our respondents’ own opinions and were more interested in their personal experiences rather than the market in general. In our last chapter our analysis clearly demonstrates that companies can deliberately create viral marketing. This is possible if companies create material that appeal to and that triggers the costumer to share. Furthermore, the company must then respect the customer's power regarding the material and dare to let the customer take control. More specifically, we have also been able to identify aspects of viral marketing and examine how companies can manage viral marketing in a strategic manner. / Syfte: Uppsatsen har tre delsyften som tillsammans bidragit till att finna ett svar på forskningsfrågan som lyder: Hur kan ett företag medvetet skapa viral marknadsföring? För att kunna besvara vår forskningsfråga så har vi först besvarat tre delsyften. Vi har klargjort kopplingen mellan word-of-mouth och viral marknadsföring, vidare har vi identifierat egenskaper hos viral marknadsföring samt ett strategiskt tillvägagångssätt för viral marknadsföring. Slutligen har vi även utrett hur ett företag kan influera kundens varumärkesimage genom att kontrollera sin varumärkesidentitet via sociala medier. Metod: Vi har i och med den här uppsatsen valt att arbeta med en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. Vår ansats har varit induktiv med deduktiva inslag, det vill säga abduktiv. Den empiriska materialinsamlingen har bestått av åtta kvalitativa intervjuer som genom deras personliga natur gett oss en djupare förståelse för ämnet som studerats. Slutsats: Vi har genom vår analys kunnat påvisa att företag medvetet kan skapa viral marknadsföring. Detta genom att skapa material som tilltalar och triggar kunden att dela. Vidare måste företaget sedan respektera kundens omnipotenta makt över materialet och våga lämna över kontrollen. Mer specifikt har vi också kunnat identifiera aspekter hos viral marknadsföring samt utrett hur företag kan hantera viral marknadsföring på ett strategiskt sätt.

Diploma thesis "Sex on a plate: Food porn on Czech food blogs" explores the link between food and sex. It argues that this connection is deeply rooted in our culture and nowadays it is reflected in food porn circulating on social media. The aim of this thesis is not only pointig out the connection between food and sex but also demonstrate that "porn" in food porn is well justified and not at all coincidental. The phenomenon of food porn is also set in the context of a contemporary trend of online sharing. The theoretical part explores the relationship between people and food with emphasis on the differences between eating habits of men and women. Furthermore, the thesis draws attention to the similarities between food porn and sexual pornography. In the theoretical part of this thesis, I also comment on the trend of online sharing and digital narcisism. The second half of the thesis presents the chosen methodology, its design and my analysis using grounded theory, a method of qualitative research.

Submitted by Maria Santos (mariajoaosantos26@gmail.com) on 2018-07-20T11:46:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2018_DISSERATION_MARIAJOAO_FINAL (1).pdf: 985094 bytes, checksum: ae65eaf60f5eb75bcd74e76b10b71d79 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2018-07-27T18:45:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2018_DISSERATION_MARIAJOAO_FINAL (1).pdf: 985094 bytes, checksum: ae65eaf60f5eb75bcd74e76b10b71d79 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T13:19:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2018_DISSERATION_MARIAJOAO_FINAL (1).pdf: 985094 bytes, checksum: ae65eaf60f5eb75bcd74e76b10b71d79 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-06-20 / Objetivo – O objetivo desta tese é examinar a influencia que gênero e diferentes estímulos emocionais exercem sobre as intenções de partilha online das pessoas: (1) se os indivíduos partilham mais conteúdos positivos ou negativos; (2) quem, de entre homens ou mulheres, reage mais fortemente a estímulos emocionais; e (3) se a valência emocional e o género têm algum tipo de correlação. Metodologia - Esta dissertação utiliza um estudo experimental: 2 (valência emocional: positiva vs. negativa) x 2 (género: masculino vs. feminino) entre sujeitos. Resultados – Os resultados mostram que a valência emocional afeta, de facto, as intenções de partilha de conteúdo online e, mais importante, que as emoções negativas levam a uma maior predisposição para partilhar. Além disso, os resultados demonstram que as mulheres partilham mais conteúdos online quando comparadas com os homens, contudo, não foram observados efeitos heterogêneos de valência emocional. Limitações- A principal limitação desta pesquisa é o fato de ser baseada em respostas próprias a cenários hipotéticos, uma vez que pretendemos medir uma intenção de partilha. Isso significa que, embora a intenção de um indivíduo de se comprometer com um determinado comportamento seja o indicador mais adequado para o comportamento do próprio, isso ultrapassa o âmbito deste estudo. Aplicabilidade do trabalho - Esta pesquisa fornece informações relevantes sobre como criar conteúdo com grande probabilidade de ser partilhado online, ao contrário do conteúdo regular que a maioria das agências e profissionais de marketing utilizam para promover os seus produtos / Purpose – The purpose of this work is to examine the influence that gender and different emotional stimuli exert on people’s online sharing intentions. Precisely, we take a closer look at whether (1) people share more positive or negative content; (2) men or women react more strongly to these emotional stimuli; and (3) emotional valence has a heterogeneous effect across genders. Design/Methodology - This dissertation employs an experimental study: 2 (emotional valence: positive vs. negative) x 2 (gender: male vs. female) between-subjects design. Findings – Results show that emotional valence does indeed influence sharing intentions, and more importantly, that negative emotions lead to a higher willingness to share. Further, results demonstrated that women share more content online when compared to men but no heterogeneous effects of emotional valence were observed. Research limitations - The main limitation of this research is that it is based on self-reported answers to hypothetical scenarios, since we intend to measure potential behavior of sharing. Meaning that, although an individual’s intention to commit to a certain behavior is the most adequate predictor of one’s behavior, it is beyond the scope of this study to measure actual sharing behavior. Practical implications - This research produced valuable insights by providing relevant information on how to create content that will probably be highly shared, on the opposite to the regular content that most agencies and marketer use to promote their products.