Aim: The aim of this study is to identify how a professional ice hockey club with fans nationwide can position its brand successfully and to discover if this is in line with what the consumers think is important in the branding of the club. Method: A mixed method has been used for this case study, in the forms of interviews and a questionnaire. The interviews have been written out in essay form for presentation and analysis of the qualitative data. The quantitative data has been collected and processed with a questionnaire using APSIS and analysed with Microsoft Excel. Results / conclusions: This research has identified a framework containing all factors that influence the perception of the brand by consumers. Evidence was found for all these factors in this research. Furthermore, the most important factors of the branding of a professional ice hockey club with fans nationwide have been highlighted. Consequently, this research shows that the marketers of such an ice hockey club can position their brand by developing clear points-of-difference that stand out from the competition. Suggestions future research: Research into the perception of the sports branding by the younger target group is suggested, as well from people outside Gävle. Furthermore, the research could be conducted in other (ice hockey) clubs. Finally, the research could be conducted again in a few years. Contribution of thesis: This research fills the gap in the literature about the development of a successful brand of a professional ice hockey club with fans nationwide. The main contribution for managers is that brands can only be used to maintain fans, not to attract them.

The most dominating type of company in Sweden is the small-sized business and it usually lacks its own marketing department. The purpose of this paper was to analyze several small Swedish businesses which are specialized in different sectors of the Mechanic/Technology industry but they are similar in terms of having niched products and they are leading companies in the world. The objective was to do research about how small businesses work with marketing despite its lack of resources and capital. This survey has shown that customer contacts, customer relationships and especially for those investigated companies, it was very important to focus on globalization and product development in order to build a Point of Difference.