Title: A new battle, the same bottle: A case study of the visual communication of Absolut Vodka and how it’s positioned towards different market segments. Author: Anna von Friedrichs Grängsjö & Niklas Svanlindh Tutor: Jessica Gustafsson Purpose: To overview the visual communication of Absolut Vodka and how it’s positioned towards different market segments. Absolut Vodka is a brand that reaches a vast range of consumers through a single consistent marketing strategy. The hypothesis was that one can reach many different market segments with the marketing of a product by constantly keeping some components of the communication the same while constantly changing others. Key questions to be answered are: How do Absolut Vodka address their target audiences in their visual communication? Which market segments does the visual communication of Absolut Vodka seem to address? Method/Material: The research was conducted through a qualitative research study in which four Youtube videos by Absolut Vodka were analyzed. Only videos where the original product was presented in collaboration with a third party were used. The analysis was made through semiotic and rhetorical analysis and the results were then compared to the market segments of SRI VALS to conclude which market segments the different videos appeared to address. Main results: The videos were mainly directed towards two market segments of the SRI VALS-model: Innovators and experiencers. These two have a lot in common with the official target audience of Absolut Vodka; Urban Creative Millennials. This audience also works as opinion leaders influencing others to follow their lead. The hypothesis mainly proved true. However one of the constant components, the theme of creativity, appeared to be far more important than anticipated. Since the theme of creativity is tightly connected with the main target audience it also limits the possibility to address other audiences directly. Number of pages: 69 Course: Media and Communication studies C University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University Period: Fall 2013 Keywords: Absolut Vodka, Visual communication, marketing, SRI VALS, The STP process, ESP.

Small businesses are the largest employers in Sweden and employ most people on the labour market. Therefore they are considered one of the most important components for an economic growth in a country. However small businesses have problems regarding profitability and survival on the market. It is also considered hard to conduct business for smaller companies, where the lack of restricted resources is a crucial factor. The purpose of this study is to, through a producer perspective and with a qualitative approach, review whether and in what way small businesses uses marketing strategies in their planning. This will be done by answering the following research question: “In what sense do small businesses implement marketing strategies in their work with marketing?” The following conclusions were drawn from the study: • Small businesses implement marketing strategies in their everyday work in the sense that almost all of the small businesses that participated in the study have thought about the factors relating to the selection of target group and the company's own market position in relation to its competitors • Small businesses formulate its marketing strategies mentally rather than having a formal written strategy. • Small businesses mainly choose to segment the market by using geographic and demographic factors. • Small businesses opt out the use of price leadership as their competitive strategy. Instead small businesses try to stand out from their competitors in some unique way and their focus lies on quality rather than quantity. • Small businesses are working diligently to retain existing customers because it is a cheaper approach than trying to attract new customers. • Small businesses can benefit from being apart of a network with other active small, but the study also shows that most benefits can be drawn from startups that not yet enhold a solid knowledge about the market. / Småföretag är Sveriges största arbetsgivare och sysselsätter flest människor på arbetsmarknaden och anses vidare vara en av de viktigaste komponenterna för en ekonomisk tillväxt. Trots det har småföretag problem gällande lönsamhet och överlevnad på marknaden. Det är även svårt att bedriva verksamhet för mindre företag, där bland annat brist på resurser är en återkommande kritisk faktor. Syftet med studien är att, baserat på en kvalitativ metod och genom ett producentperspektiv, ta hjälp av fem stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer för att kartlägga huruvida och på vilket sätt småföretag använder sig av marknadsföringsstrategier i sitt planeringsarbete. Detta genom att besvara forskningsfrågan: “I vilken bemärkelse implementerar småföretag marknadsföringsstrategier i sitt arbete med marknadsföring?” Följande slutsatser kunde dras av studien: • Småföretag implementerar marknadsföringsstrategier i sitt vardagliga arbete i den bemärkelsen att nästan alla av de småföretag som deltog i studien funderat kring faktorer som rör val av målgrupp och företagets egen position på marknaden i relation till dess konkurrenter • Småföretag formulerar marknadsföringsstrategier mentalt i huvudet, snarare än att ha en formell nedskriven strategi. • Småföretag väljer att segmentera marknaden utefter geografiska- och demografiska faktorer. • Småföretag väljer bort användandet av ett prisledarskap som konkurrensstrategi. Istället väljer småföretag att försöka utmärka sig från sina konkurrenter på något unikt sätt och fokus ligger på ett kvalitetstänk snarare än kvantitet. • Småföretagen arbetar flitigt med att behålla befintliga kunder då det är billigare än att försöka attrahera nya kunder. Dock pågår det ett ständigt arbete att försöka locka till sig nya kunder samtidigt. • Småföretag kan dra nytta av att involveras i nätverk med andra verksamma småföretag, men studien visar på att mest fördelar finns att dra nytta av för nystartade småföretag som ännu inte besitter en gedigen kunskap om marknaden.