This thesis aims to address the issues of corporate re-branding in the context of marketing strategy and general strategic management. The research for the thesis was conducted in Pietermaritzburg and the surrounding areas where the Amalgamated Beverage Industries (ABI) depot distributes the Coca-Cola brands and other alternative beverages. ABI distributes non-alcoholic beverages that are produced under the trademark of Coca-Cola to the wholesalers and retailers in the Pietermaritzburg Central Business District (CBD) and the surrounding townships and settlements. ABI embarked on a re-branding campaign that resulted in the redesigning of the company logo. From a strategic management point of view, new business strategies that are formulated aim at finding ways that will keep a company trading profitably for a long time. The re-branding process of ABI has resulted in a change of attitudes of both employees and management towards its customers. The overall aim of the thesis was to investigate the impact of re-branding on the profitability of the company ABI. The results of the thesis reveal that other variables play a role in promoting the profitability of a company. The investigation, through a comprehensive field and secondary survey, used both qualitative and qantitative methods in its data collection. Finally, the thesis has examined the implications of re-branding on the purchasing trends of ABI' s customers after having been exposed to the new ABI image and new culture of conducting business. It has been established after analysing both the primary and secondary data that it is not demonstrably obvious that when a company re-brands its logo or image, that customers will purchase more products, hence increasing the financial value of the company. It is the final conclusion and recommendation of this thesis that before engaging in a costly re-branding exercise, senior management should conduct proper market research as to whether the exercise will add financial value to the company. / Thesis (DBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

Today, many museums both around the world and in Britain are in the process of renewing, rejuvenating, refurbishing and/or rebranding themselves. These museums are actually doing this in order to be able to respond better to the evolving needs and wants of consumers, which change continuously as a result of the transformations that take place in the consumer culture. The central aim of this thesis is to investigate the paradigm shifts happening in contemporary British museums, which evolve parallel to the evolving British consumer culture. These paradigm shifts actually seem to be a reflection of the paradigm shifts that are happening in 21st century museums all around the world, in general. Museums of today are highly interested in branding and they invest in it to a great extent. This is in part due to the effects of postmodernism on museums. This fondness for branding seems to turn museums into objects of consumption, makes them like other products in the market. Another aim of this thesis is to investigate how contemporary museums are defined as objects of consumption and managed as brands. For this purpose, Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM), a British museum situated in Exeter, which has been going through an inclusive refurbishment process for the last four years, has been selected for carrying out an extended case study on. Diverse data collection tools have been used such as participant and non-participant observations were made; in-depth interviews with especially staff members and also some other stakeholders like volunteers and visitors were carried out, photographs were taken; website of the museum was analysed; a lot of field notes were taken and then these data have been analysed. The RAMM example and also the literature review made on world museums in general have shown that the museums of the last century have got into the direction of uniting and co-creating value with their visitors, in their museums. This is a thorough democratization process in the museum. In order for this to take place, museums have taken the interaction and participation levels with their visitors much higher. Detailed accounts on these and other phenomena about new museums can be found in the thesis.

This study provides information on the transformation from flea market to fashion retail business that the second hand business Myrorna has undergone. The scope of this study has been rebranding, marketing and communication as well as two trends: sustainability and second hand. Previous literature has pointed towards rebranding being an expensive process, whereas Myrorna being a nonprofit business that gives all their excess profit to charity has a non-existing or a tight budget for business aspects. The intriguing question of how Myrorna could go through such an immense transformation with that business structure was a point of departure for this research. The aim for this study was to look into the Swedish second hand business Myronas non- conventional leap from flea market to fashion powerhouse. The research explored this from an internal viewpoint, hence participants that have worked for or at Myrorna during the time when the transformation took place were chosen in order to see if and how: rebranding, marketing and communication and the trends correlated with their change. In order for this study to look into the second hand business Myrornas transformation, this study has conducted a single case study with a basis on conducting semi structured interviews with participants related to the case company and the phenomenon of the brand transformation. This research has taken on a qualitative research approach in order to get a deeper perspective of the underlying factors that have been part of transforming Myrorna. Additionally, in order to get the full perspective of this process a visual analysis on Myrornas campaigns during the transformation in the years 1998-2008 have been conducted to strengthen and show differences in regard to the empirical data. The results showed how both the rebranding process and a change in Myrornas marketing and communication strategy were the factors that transformed Myrorna into a fashion powerhouse. Furthermore, Myrornas brand awareness was enhanced through sustainability and second hand trends as they created an upswing in regard to popularity. The visual campaigns conducted by Myrorna from 1998 to 2008, clearly shows their transformation in steps; from initially communicating unique and personal clothing, to moving forward to portraying the high fashion clothes that can be found in their stores. Whereas they lastly focused on communicating one of their core values: sustainability.

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Bakgrund: Företagsförvärv har idag blivit allt vanligare för att nå en globaliserad marknad. Företagsförvärv kan leda till förändringar såsom varumärkesbyte där försäljarna i serviceföretag har visat sig vara av stor betydelse för att förmedla det nya varumärket ut till slutkund. Syfte: Denna studies syfte är att undersöka hur anställda på ett serviceföretag som byter varumärke uppfattar det nya varumärket, hur det förmedlas i företagets olika led samt hur försäljarna slutligen förmedlar varumärket ut till slutkund. Metod: För att ta reda på hur en varumärkesförändring uppfattas på ett företag och hur det kommuniceras internt på företaget har en kvalitativ metod använts. Totalt har åtta personer deltagit i studien där fem stycken anställda med ledarpositioner samt tre försäljare har intervjuats. Slutsats: Den interna kommunikationen är enligt denna studie viktig för att försäljarna ska kunna kommunicera ut rätt information om det nya varumärket ut till slutkunden. Försäljarna har visat sig vara av stor vikt, men att det krävs ett bra och engagerat ledarskap för att varumärket ska kommuniceras ut rätt för att minska osäkerheten hos kunderna inför varumärkesförändringen. Avgränsningar: Studien är avgränsad till att undersöka intern kommunikation och ledarskap i ett service företag (Statoil) i Sverige som genomgår en varumärkesförändring. / Background: Acquisitions have today become increasingly common in order to reach a globalized market. Acquisitions may lead to changes such as re-branding, where the salesmen in service companies have proven to be of great importance to communicate the new brand to the end customer. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the employee's perceptions of a new brand in a service company which is re-branding, how it is communicated on different levels of the company and how the salesmen finally communicate the brand to the final costumer. Method: To find out how a new brand due to re-branding is perceived in a company and how it is communicated internally at the company a qualitative method has been used. A total of eight people participated in the study in which five employees with leadership positions and three salesmen were interviewed. Findings: Internal communication is according to this study important in order for the salesmen to communicate correct information about the new brand to the final customer. The salesmen have proven to be of great importance, but it requires a good and committed leadership in order to communicate the brand properly to reduce the customer's uncertainty for the new brand. Limitations: The study is limited to examine the internal communication and leadership in a service company (Statoil) in Sweden during an undergoing re-branding.

The aim of this dissertation is two-fold. First, the discussion seeks to understand the concepts of nationalism and patriotism and how they relate to one another. In respect to the more critical literature concerning nationalism, it asks whether these two concepts are as different as is sometimes assumed. Furthermore, by problematizing nation-branding as an “updated” form of nationalism, it seeks to understand whether we are facing the possible emergence of a new type of nationalism. Second, the study endeavors to discursively analyze the ”bottom-up” processes of national reproduction and re-definition in an online, post-socialist context through an empirical examination of the online debate and polemic about the new Polish patriotism. The dissertation argues that approaching nationalism as a broad phenomenon and ideology which operates discursively is helpful for understanding patriotism as an element of the nationalist rhetoric that can be employed to study national unity, sameness, and difference. Emphasizing patriotism within the Central European context as neither an alternative to nor as a type of nationalism may make it possible to explain the popularity and continuous endurance of nationalism and of practices of national identification in different and changing contexts. Instead of facing a new type of nationalism, we can then speak of new forms of engagement which take place in cyberspace that contribute to the process of reproduction of nationalism. The growing field of nation-branding, with both its practical and political implications, is presented as one of the ways in which nationalism is reproduced and maintained as a form of “soft” rather than “hard” power within the global context. The concept of nation re-branding is introduced in order to account for the role that citizens play in the process of nation branding, which has often been neglected in the literature. This concept is utilized to critically examine, understand, and explain the dynamics of nation brand construction and re-definition, with a particular focus on the discursive practices of citizens in cyberspace. It is argued that citizens in the post-socialist countries, including Poland, can engage in the process of nation re-branding online. It is also argued that this process of online nation re-branding may legitimately be regarded as a type of civic practice through which citizens connect with each other and reproduce a form of cultural national intimacy. The results of the analysis of the online empirical material illustrate that nation re-branding is a complex, dynamic, and ambivalent phenomenon. It involves a process of discursive negotiation of nation and of national identity, but also challenges, dismantles, and transforms the national image as it is communicated both internally and externally. This reveals nation re-branding as an element in the post-socialist transformation from a ”nation” to a ”Western,” ”modern,” and ”normal” country in which dealing with an ”old” nation brand is as equally important as the introduction of the new brand. Nationalism does not disappear in the digital age, but rather becomes part of the new way of doing politics online, whereby citizens are potentially granted a form of agency in the democratic process.