Background and problem: As Internet usage has become increasingly common and important in our society it is crucial for companies to acknowledge the impact of online branding. As differences between products are decreasing it is no longer sufficient to compete solely on price or quality. Thus the importance of brands and branding is increasing. Even though branding is a heavily research topic, almost all research has been performed with consumer markets in mind, more or less ignoring industrial markets. This is done in spite of most markets being predominated by industrial firms. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how printer manufac-turers’ online brand messages can be perceived regarding functional benefits and representational satisfaction, and how this may affect the examined brands. Method: To fulfil our purpose we chose to conduct a qualitative method, since this would provide us with in-depth answers. To structure our study we created a questionnaire to use as an analysical tool for our examination of the selected companies. Conclusions: The conclusions drawn from this study are that printer manufacturers mainly emphasise the functional factors of their products to a large extent. Further, almost all brands of our sample can be perceived to be augmented ones. Of the few companies with highly developed brands, those with separate web sites for business and consumer buyers were in majority. Finally, since most printer manufacturers stress functionality the added-value of their brands is not as sustainable as it could be.

<p>Background and problem: As Internet usage has become increasingly common and important in our society it is crucial for companies to acknowledge the impact of online branding. As differences between products are decreasing it is no longer sufficient to compete solely on price or quality. Thus the importance of brands and branding is increasing. Even though branding is a heavily research topic, almost all research has been performed with consumer markets in mind, more or less ignoring industrial markets. This is done in spite of most markets being predominated by industrial firms.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how printer manufac-turers’ online brand messages can be perceived regarding functional benefits and representational satisfaction, and how this may affect the examined brands.</p><p>Method: To fulfil our purpose we chose to conduct a qualitative method, since this would provide us with in-depth answers. To structure our study we created a questionnaire to use as an analysical tool for our examination of the selected companies.</p><p>Conclusions: The conclusions drawn from this study are that printer manufacturers mainly emphasise the functional factors of their products to a large extent. Further, almost all brands of our sample can be perceived to be augmented ones. Of the few companies with highly developed brands, those with separate web sites for business and consumer buyers were in majority. Finally, since most printer manufacturers stress functionality the added-value of their brands is not as sustainable as it could be.</p>

This dissertation explores the political potential of dance and dance performances in public protests whereby dancing bodies are capable of performing politics through actions and movements within the boundaries established by existing power structures. Building upon the insights of political theorist Jacques Rancière, dance theorist André Lepecki, and affect theorist Brian Massumi, this study reveals the micro-political value of dancing in the form of dissensus and as an affective and aesthetic practice in politics. Dissensus, as articulated by Rancière, refers to the collision between the prevailing order and opposing viewpoints that disrupts "the distribution of the sensible" (or common sensual perception) in society. In this sense, this study suggests that the subversive affective intensities of dancing in the form of dissensus not only transgress politics as what is articulated in words, but also, transindividually, spread to other bodies and thus potentially compel them to act and think differently. Within this theoretical framework, this study argues that dissensual dancing not only expresses via the body political messages and alternative ways of living and becoming in motion, but also enables bodies to disrupt the predominant, normative, representational, and choreographic structures of power that control them in certain ways. Following the insights of critical theorists Gilles Deleuze, Brian Massumi, Judith Butler, François Debrix, and Nigel Thrift, this dissertation methodologically problematizes the idea of a singular mode of knowledge and the operation of normative frames that limit our apprehension of different worlds and lives. Thus, it adopts a more-than-representational mode of thinking, coupled with affect theory to work towards a pluralistic methodological perspective that avoids simplistic dichotomies stemming from established linguistic constructs and structures of meaning. In doing so, this study offers an alternative mode of intelligibility about precarious and resistant dancing bodies in the context of dissensual flamenco performances. Within the context of flo6x8's protests in Spain (between 2010 and 2019), this study explores how these dance performances affectively destabilized the ways people perceived and understood flamenco as an art form and challenged the physical embodiments and social norms associated with it. By putting the flamenco body at the center of this exploration, the dissertation argues that flo6x8's dissensual dance performances are not only dialectical or antagonistic, in other words, designed to be positioned against relations of economic oppression. Rather, choreographically and affectively, they also unsettle the very categories of historical, social, cultural, and normative understanding and representation of flamenco as an art and of flamenco bodies. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation explores the political potential of dance and dance performances in public protests whereby dancing bodies are capable of performing politics through actions and movements within the boundaries established by existing power structures. Building upon the insights of political theorist Jacques Rancière, dance theorist André Lepecki, and affect theorist Brian Massumi, it reveals the micropolitical value of and subversive intensities in dance performances that are deployed as forms of political protest. This study further suggests that these subversive intensities extend beyond politics as articulated in words to affect non-linguistic modes of perception for the performers and the viewers. It argues that the protest dance performances not only enable dancing bodies to convey their political messages in motion or through movement, but that they also allow bodies to articulate their agency beyond dominant structures of power and authority that seek to represent and control them in certain ways. Drawing on the thought of critical theorists Gilles Deleuze, Brian Massumi, Judith Butler, François Debrix, and Nigel Thrift, this dissertation methodologically challenges the notion of a single, fixed way of understanding the social and political world. By adopting a pluralist methodological perspective, this study moves beyond oversimplified categories and binaries, which often result from established discourses and representations. In doing so, it offers an alternative mode of understanding about precarious and resistant dancing bodies in the context of politically resistant flamenco performances. Specifically, by looking at the protest performances of the flo6x8 flamenco protest collective in Spain (between 2010-2019), this study examines how this group's protest dance performances disrupt conventional perceptions of flamenco as an art form and challenge the social and normative expectations associated with flamenco and flamenco dancing bodies. By putting the body in flamenco at the center of this exploration, this dissertation suggests that flo6x8's performances not only protest current forms of economic oppression, but also affectively confront historical, cultural, and normative representations of flamenco and bodies, thus offering alternative expressions that can transcend the representational boundaries of the flamenco tradition.

Dans un contexte de mondialisation, la concurrence accrue entre les territoires, dont l’objectif premier est de capter des habitants, des touristes et des entreprises, exacerbe les enjeux liés à leur attractivité. Afin de se différencier les collectivités territoriales et leurs agences de développement adoptent des approches de marketing territorial et commencent à mettre en place des techniques de marquage (dites place branding). Le place branding reprend plusieurs outils issus du domaine de la marque commerciale. Toutefois, le territoire est un « produit particulier » qui regroupe diverses parties prenantes dont les visions et les attentes peuvent diverger. Le succès d’une marque territoire reposera alors en partie sur la gestion de ces parties prenantes. Dès lors, ce travail doctoral entreprend d’adapter au contexte du place branding des concepts de marketing, en considérant les perceptions de trois groupes de parties prenantes, en vue d’améliorer l’efficacité de la marque territoire. Cette problématique de recherche est abordée selon trois questions de recherche: (1) Quelle est la légitimité publicitaire d’une marque territoire, telle que perçue par ses habitants ? Influence-t-elle l’efficacité des actions de place branding ? (2) Dans quelle mesure les gestionnaires de marques territoires ont recours à des stratégies de marketing communautaire afin d’implémenter une communication marketing intégrée (CMI) ? (3) Dans quelle mesure l’image de la marque région constitue-t-elle un vecteur pertinent de la promotion d’une destination, complémentaire à celle de la marque pays, auprès des touristes internationaux ? D’un point de vue théorique, cette recherche doctorale souligne l’importance d’adopter une approche parties prenantes à la compréhension de la marque territoire. Ce faisant, ce travail contribue à développer des preuves empiriques dans le domaine, notamment à l’échelle de la région qui est sous-représentée dans la littérature. Cette thèse met en évidence les similitudes entre la marque territoire et la marque commerciale, et renforce ainsi la validité externe de trois concepts issus du marketing classique. Différentes approches méthodologiques ont été développées et mobilisées. Ces éléments renforcent par ailleurs la validité interne de la présente recherche et contribuent à exclure l’existence d’un biais déclaratif. Les contributions managériales de cette thèse sont liées à ses implications méthodologiques dans la mesure où diverses grilles d’analyse sont proposées aux gestionnaires de marques territoires. Ces outils prennent en compte les spécificités et les enjeux associés aux principales parties prenantes de la marque, et visent à les impliquer dans les initiatives de place branding. Enfin, la mise en place d’une approche de communication marketing intégrée est conseillée. Premièrement, il est proposé que cette approche soit appliquée entre les différents acteurs du territoire. Les résultats montrent ainsi que l’intégration des habitants dans la démarche de place branding est un véritable enjeu qui nécessite une approche distincte de celle préconisée traditionnellement en marketing. Deuxièmement, l’approche de communication marketing intégrée devrait s’appliquer entre les différents niveaux de territoires de façon à tirer parti de l’image du territoire d’ordre supérieur. / In the globalized world, Nowhere, Place, is directly competing against Powerful, World, to attract residents, tourists and talent, as well as firms and investments, whether the place is a meta-region, a country, a region, a city or other locations. Whilst places and destinations around the world have been proclaiming their qualities for a long time, mainly to create awareness or maintain preference, those marketing communications campaigns are short-term and don’t contribute to unifying the place. To compete in such cutthroat environments, public authorities and place agencies have started to recognize the value of adopting branding techniques by way of practising place branding. Place branding adapts several tools developed in the field of commercial branding to contribute to place development and establish image-building strategies that render places more attractive to identified markets. As such, this doctoral work endeavours to adapt mainstream marketing concepts to the context of place branding, taking into account the views of three groups of stakeholders to enhance place brand efficiency. I address these research questions in a French region-branding context, according to three sub-questions that summarise the chapters of this thesis. First, what is the advertising legitimacy of a place brand as perceived by the residents? Does it influence place-branding efficiency? Second, to what extent do place brand managers use community marketing strategies to operationalize the integrated marketing communications (IMC) role of the place brand? Third, to what extent does the region brand image constitute a relevant vehicle for promoting a destination integral to the nation brand image, as perceived by international tourists? Results show that the representational and functional dimensions of a destination brand impact differently implicit attractiveness and intentions to visit. International tourists also perceive the region and the nation brand images as congruent overall, which contributes positively to their intentions to visit the region. From a theoretical point of view, this research highlights the importance of adopting a multi-stakeholder approach to understanding place branding. Doing so contributes to the development of empirical evidence in the domain, by studying the understudied region branding form. This dissertation also highlights similarities with commercial branding and reinforces the external validity of three classic marketing concepts. The methodological implications of this work come from the different methodological approaches (i.e. measurement tools and methods), developed to meet the specificities and stakes associated with the main stakeholders of a place brand. In addition, this approach reinforces the internal validity of the present research and contributes to ruling out the existence of a declarative bias. The managerial contributions of this thesis are connected with the methodological implications, inasmuch as it provides place brand managers with diverse analysis grids that will enable them to take into account the specificities and stakes associated with the main stakeholders of the place brand, and also involve stakeholders in the place-branding process. Finally, I demonstrate the need for an IMC approach that is per se—for example, through the use of an overall brand positioning that covers shared elements between stakeholders so that they all relate to the place brand, or through the adoption of a bottom-up rather than top-down approach to place branding. This approach also should be able to extend to other place scales, by leveraging the image of a higher-order place.