Background: The expansion of the World Wide Web has presented new challenges for managers. One of these challenges is the shift in power that favors consumers through the uprising of electronic word of mouth (eWOM). This thesis is aimed to the exploration of the effects on consumer purchase intention and brand attitude because of an unsuccessful marketing campaign. Methodology: Interviews have been conducted with a central theme of a case study of Pepsi to gain knowledge on the effects a marketing failure and exposure to eWOM has on students at Luleå University of Technology. Findings: EWOM is indicated to influence consumers’ intention of purchase as well as the attitude for the brand. EWOM is indicated to be influenced by the response to the advertisement in a negative context and may influence consumers to actively share their opinions to others through an electronic medium, thus contributing to the spread of eWOM. The attitude of the brand is indicated to influence the effects of negative eWOM, being of more influence when the brand attitude is bad. Conclusions: Managers and business practitioners need to be aware of the power of eWOM and its effects on purchase intention and brand attitude and should respond quickly to any unwanted spread of negative thoughts regarding the company before it is too late. Research question: How is consumer brand attitude and purchase intention affected by negative eWOM in the context of an unsuccessful online marketing campaigns? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the potential change in customer attitudes and purchase intentions because of negative eWOM communication regarding unsuccessful marketing campaigns

Forskningsfråga: I vilken grad påverkar användargenererat innehåll konsumenters tre dimensioner av attityder till företag i restaurangbranschen? Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur användargenererat innehåll påverkar konsumenters varumärkesattityder till företag inom restaurangbranschen. Resultatet av att analysera de tre dimensionerna av attityder; kognition, affektion och konation kan hjälpa företag att förstå i hur stor grad användargenererat innehåll påverkar konsumenters varumärkesattityder. Kunskapen är relevant för företagens utveckling av strategi och hantering av användargenererat innehåll.  Metod: Studien baseras på en kvantitativ forskningsmetod där primärdata har samlats in genom en enkätundersökning. Medverkade i undersökningen var 129 respondenter, vars svar analyserades i dataprogrammet IBM SPSS Statistics. Där genomfördes korrelations- och regressionsanalyser för att testa studiens tre hypoteser och den teoribaserade modellen.  Slutsats: Slutligen är det konstaterat att användargenererat innehåll påverkar varumärkesattityder till restauranger positivt, främst de konativa- och affektiva komponenterna. Därmed har konsumenterna makten att påverka varandras attityder och beteenden genom användargenererat innehåll. Företag bör komplettera detta innehåll med sin egen marknadsföring och uppmuntra till engagemang på digitala kanaler för att stärka relationer och varumärkesattityder. / Research question: To what degree does user-generated content affect the three dimensions of consumers' attitudes toward companies in the restaurant industry? Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate how user-generated content affects consumers' brand attitudes toward companies in the restaurant industry. The result of analyzing the three dimensions of attitudes; cognition, affect, and conation can help companies understand to which extent user-generated content affects consumers' brand attitudes. The knowledge is relevant for companies' development of strategy and management of user-generated content. Method: The study is based on a quantitative research method where primary data has been collected through a survey. 129 respondents participated and their answers were analyzed in the program IBM SPSS Statistics. Correlation and regression analyzes were executed to test the study's three hypotheses and the theory-based model. Conclusion: The study found that user-generated content positively affects brand attitudes towards restaurants, with the greatest impact on the conative and affective components. Consumers thus have the power to influence each other's attitudes and behaviors through user-generated content. Companies should supplement this content with their own marketing and encourage engagement on digital channels to strengthen relationships and brand attitudes.

Research questions: How does the company's CSR communication affect consumers' purchase intention and brand attitude? Purpose: The study aims to examine the relationship between how companies' work with CSR (marketing) influences brand attitude and further purchase intention among consumers in the fashion industry. Method: The study was conducted using a quantitative method and a deductive research approach. A survey was carried out, and 149 responses were collected for data analysis. Conclusion: The results show that CSR is an effective marketing strategy for strengthening the brand, as the majority of respondents consider it important for clothing companies to take responsibility. However, it is not an easy task to effectively and credibly communicate these efforts. This study reveals that, in the case of H&M, few respondents were aware of what the company does regarding CSR and they were skeptical about the overall accuracy of H&M's claims. Thus, many respondents are still consumers with a positive brand attitude, likely due to reasons other than CSR. / Forskningsfråga: Hur påverkar företagets CSR-kommunikation konsumenternas köpintention och varumärkesattityd? Syfte: Studien ämnar undersöka sambandet mellan hur företags arbete med CSR (marketing) påverkar varumärkesattityden och vidare köpintentionen hos konsumenterna i klädbranschen Metod: Studien utfördes med en kvantitativ metod och en deduktiv forskningsansats. En enkätundersökning genomfördes där 149 svar samlades in för dataanalys.  Slutsats: Resultatet visar att CSR är en effektiv marknadsföringsstrategi för att stärka varumärket, då majoriteten av respondenterna anser det är viktigt att klädföretagen tar ansvar. Däremot är det inte en enkel uppgift att nå ut med kommunikationen på ett effektivt och trovärdigt sätt. Denna studie visar på att i H&Ms fall var det få som hade koll på vad företaget gör när det kommer till CSR, men respondenterna var ändå skeptiska till om det H&M säger att det gör generellt sett stämmer. Många av respondenterna är ändå konsumenter och har en positiv varumärkesattityd, men troligtvis av andra anledningar än CSR.

Yes / Attempts to apply marketing theory and principles to place have become a legitimate area of academic and 'real world' practice. However, place marketing does not typically incorporate all elements of the traditional 7 Ps, focusing far too often on just one of these - promotion. Besides this rather myopic approach, place marketing suffers from an overly strategic view of the world that ignores the meaning and lived experience of places to individuals, especially residents. The purpose of this article is twofold - first, we investigate the impact of litter on place attitudes. Litter is a common, but negative, element of place, which is intimately connected to the lived experience of a place but typically far removed from the positive promotional activity favoured by place marketing efforts and the study thereof. In this sense, the article reframes place marketing from a strategic to a micro-marketing endeavour. We found that exposing respondents to litter significantly lowers their place attitudes. Our second contribution is to demonstrate the relevance of classic marketing research approaches, such as attitudinal measures, to investigate litter and its impact on place evaluations, through quasi-experimental design (with 662 respondents). Through this, we extend the range of theory and method applied in place marketing - away from controllable promotional endeavours investigated through case-studies to a more holistic and robust interpretation of place marketing, which has a measurable impact upon the places where people live and visit.

Detta arbete inspirerades av att ha observerat reklamkampanjer som fått väldigt stor spridning till följd av att de uppmärksammats pga. att konsumenter har ogillat eller gillat budskapet i kampanjen vilket gett upphov till diskussioner muntligen eller online. Denna undersökning syftar till att undersöka hur faktorer som kön och ålder kan påverka konsumenters intryck av kontroversiell reklam och hur kontroversiell reklam kan påverka konsumenternas attityd till varumärken som använt sig av kontroversiell reklam. Studien undersöker även sannolikheten att konsumenter sprider positiv eller negativ word of mouth/elektronisk word of mouth om ett varumärke som använt sig av kontroversiell reklam.   Undersökningen genomfördes med en enkät med standardiserade svar där den insamlade datan sedan analyserades med Chi2 test, bivariat korrelationsanalys samt multipel regressionsanalys. I undersökningen kunde respondenterna ta ställning till fem positiva och fem negativa adjektiv, kopplade till en reklambild. Analysen indikerade att kvinnor var både mer negativa och mindre positiva till kontroversiell reklam, åtminstone för de utföranden som testades i studien, därtill visade studien att äldre var mindre positiva till kontroversiell reklam. Slutligen indikerade studien att konsumenters attityd till ett varumärke påverkas i enlighet med dess intryck av reklamen, dvs. att om dess intryck var negativt kommer de sprida ett negativt omdöme. Detta samband gällde även för word of mouth. / This study was inspired from observing ads that stirredup controversy and thereby got a lot of attention from consumers.The purpose of this study was to investigate how factors like gender and age may affectconsumers impression of controversial advertisements, but also to investigate how controversial advertisements may affect consumers attitudes towards brands that have used advertisements that were deemed as controversial. Lastly,the study investigates the probability that consumers will spread word of mouth/electronicword of mouth about the brands. The study was conducted through a survey with standardized answers and the data was analyzed with a Chi2 test, bivariate correlation analysis,and multiple regression analysis. The analysis indicated that women were more negative and less positive towards controversial advertisement than men were, atleastwithin the categories that were tested in the study. Furthermore, the study indicated that consumers attitudes towards a brand will be affected in the same way as the consumers impression of the controversial ad. Finally, results indicated that the probability for WOM is also affected in the same way as the consumers impression of the controversial advertisement.

Purpose: To investigate how attitudes of hockey supporters change towards a sponsoring company depending on fan type and team commitment. Background: Sponsorship has become a widely accepted and used as a communication tool. In Sweden, sponsoring is a large part of all advertising conducted in the country. Previous studies within the subject of sponsorship show that generally sponsorship is a good affair for companies that engage in it. When it comes to sports sponsorship, hockey is the most developed sport in Sweden. Sports sponsorship is also an area where negative effects could occur due to sponsoring and the fact that many people are very passionate when it comes to sports and their favorite teams. Considering the massive amounts that companies invest in sponsoring it is of great interest to further investigate the effects of such activities. There is quite little research conducted within sports sponsoring in Sweden and therefore it is of interest both from businesses as well as the academic world to investigate the effects of sponsorship in a Swedish context. The main focus of this study is to investigate possible positive and negative attitudes towards sponsoring companies that sponsor different teams as well as effects on brand recall based on fan commitment. Method: In order to answer the purpose of this thesis a deductive approach was applied by collecting quantitative data from an experiment, control group and a follow-up study. Theories and previous research in the subject area was used in order to establish hypothesis that later has been tested.  The data retrieved through the research was processed and analyzed using SPSS. Conclusion: The results show that attitudes towards the sponsor are positive when associated with the supported team and negative when associated with the rival team. Fans viewer frequency did not have a significant impact on positive attitudes towards the supported team while fan commitment had a strong impact on negative attitudes towards the sponsor of the rival team. Brand recall was higher with highly committed fans and is correlated with fan commitment. It is concluded that negative attitudes are easily invoked by fan commitment while it is not as easy to build positive attitude with repeated viewings.

This research addresses an urgent contemporary problem within advertising and brand management in the new era of social networks - how do companies act on social networking platforms and how is this perceived by consumers? Being successful on Facebook is, seemingly, not as straight forward as many might think, and the misuse deriving from misperceptions can create negative brand impacts. This research aims to shed light on the yet under researched topic of firm-created Social Media advertising and its effects on the consumer mindset. This has lead to three overarching research questions, which provides a strong theoretical and practical contribution to the status quo:   RQ1:          What is the influence of the gap between motivational factors to “Like” a brand’s Facebook page and the subsequent firm-created Facebook advertising on perceived advertising value?   RQ2:          What is the influence of perceived advertising value on consumer brand-related activities?   RQ3:                      What is the influence of (1) perceived advertising value and (2) consumer brand-related activities on brand equity?   A quantitative research approach was adopted using a self-administered survey among 101 European Facebook users between 18 and 35. The framework of this research comes from four elements of theory; Uses and Gratifications (U&G) theory to identify the underlying motivational factors to engage with a brand on Facebook, advertising value by Ducoffe (1995), to measure how the brand’s advertising is perceived, consumer brand-related activities (COBRA) by Muntinga, et al. (2011) to classify the level of consumer involvement with the brand on Facebook, and the brand value chain by Keller & Lehmann (2003), which is closely related to consumer-based brand equity as developed by Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993).   The main conclusions of this research include that the gap between initial motivations to start a brand-relationship on Facebook and the subsequent activities performed by the firm is smaller for those in a currently active brand-relationship while it is considerable larger for those who have decided to exit the relationship. Moreover, while not statistically confirmed a clear tendency was identified that the perceived advertising value of a brand on Facebook is attributable to the extent of this gap. In the same vein, the decision to continue or exit a brand-relationship on Facebook is attributable by the level of perceived advertising value. The type and level of interaction with a brand is influenced by the perceived advertising value, however, can be influenced by targeting specific motivations to interact. Both the perceived advertising value and the level/type of interaction with a brand were found to influence the consumer mindset. Especially the form (entertaining, enjoyable) in which advertising is dispersed on Facebook proves to be important.

Submitted by Kirla Ferreira (kirlacardoso@outlook.com) on 2018-03-27T13:51:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Final.pdf: 1734762 bytes, checksum: 58702523e1dfcfd8be1d38bc6cab44aa (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Debora Nunes Ferreira (debora.nunes@fgv.br) on 2018-03-28T15:55:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Final.pdf: 1734762 bytes, checksum: 58702523e1dfcfd8be1d38bc6cab44aa (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzane Guimarães (suzane.guimaraes@fgv.br) on 2018-03-28T16:08:18Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Final.pdf: 1734762 bytes, checksum: 58702523e1dfcfd8be1d38bc6cab44aa (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-28T16:08:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Final.pdf: 1734762 bytes, checksum: 58702523e1dfcfd8be1d38bc6cab44aa (MD5) / Envy has become popular as a marketing tool, and marketers are not only trying to evoke envy but also trying to convince consumers to use their products and brands to provoke envy in other consumers, so brands are strengthened. However, I demonstrate that malicious envy leads consumers to be more likely to choose a competing brand (analysis 2), and while benign envy increases consumers’ attitude toward a brand, malicious envy decreases their attitude toward a brand (analysis 3). Moreover, analysis 1 demonstrates that the effects of deservingness on malicious envy has a moderator factor (type of relationship) that affects how undeservingness is perceived, in terms of luck and deceit. The objective is to investigate the influence of deservingness and type of relationship (like or dislike a person) on benign and malicious envy, and the role of such envy subtypes on brand choice and brand attitude. The findings introduce a more nuanced view of the undeservingness effects and type of relationship, and contribute to the literature on brands and emotions, showing that each envy subtype brings different consequences for brands. / A inveja tornou-se popular como uma ferramenta de marketing, e os profissionais de marketing não somente tentam evocar inveja como também tentam convencer os consumidores a usar seus produtos e marcas para provocar inveja em outros consumidores, de modo que as marcas sejam fortalecidas. No entanto, eu demonstro que a inveja maligna leva os consumidores a serem mais propensos a escolher uma marca concorrente (análise 2), e enquanto a inveja benigna aumenta a atitude dos consumidores em relação a uma marca, a inveja maligna diminui a atitude em relação a marca (análise 3). Além disso, a análise 1 demonstra que os efeitos do merecimento na inveja maligna têm um fator moderador (tipo de relacionamento), que afeta como o merecimento é percebido, em termos de sorte e engano. O objetivo é investigar a influência do merecimento e do tipo de relacionamento (gostar ou não de uma pessoa) sobre a inveja benigna e maligna, e o papel dos subtipos de inveja na escolha de marca e na atitude de marca. Os resultados introduzem uma visão mais detalhada dos efeitos do merecimento e tipo de relacionamento, e contribuem para a literatura sobre marcas e emoções, mostrando que cada subtipo da inveja do consumidor traz diferentes conseqüências para as marcas.

Sociala medier har under senare år växt och blivit en integrerad del av människors vardag. Tillväxten i populariteten av sociala medier har resulterat i att många företag flyttar delar av sin marknadsföring till dessa plattformar i förhoppningen om att få en bredare och mer engagerad publik. En följd av det ökade intresset för marknadsföring på sociala medier har blivit att sponsra och samarbeta med personer som har ett stort antal följare, även kallade influencers, på sociala medie-plattformar såsom Instagram, Twitter och Youtube. Samtidigt som sponsring av influencers blir allt vanligare så ser vi också att influencerns publik, följare och andra intressenter, har börjat tröttna på det sponsrade materialet. Tidigare forskning på marknadsföring med hjälp av kända personer har visat att det finns ett negativt samband mellan mängden produkter som en känd person marknadsför och den kända personens source credibility. Forskarna fann i samband med studierna även att konsumentens köpintention och varumärkesattityd påverkades negativt. Vår studie ämnade därför dels till att undersöka om samma slutsatser går att dra för dagens influencers. Å andra sidan visar forskning att konsumentens relation till en känd person kan skilja sig från relationen till en influencer. Då konsumenter ofta upplever att de har en relation till de influencers som de följer på sociala medier kan detta påverka den minskade source credibility som annars skulle uppstå när en influencer publicerar en större mängd sponsrat material. Därför syftade denna studie även till att undersöka huruvida konsumentens intention och attityd påverkas av att konsumenten följer en influencer eller inte. För att kunna besvara studiens syfte och frågeställning genomfördes därför en experimentell studie på nätet. Deltagarna i studien slumpades in i en av två grupper där de exponerades för olika mängder sponsrat material. Experimentet avslutades med en enkät och grupperna jämfördes sedan för att se huruvida attityden gentemot influencern, köpintentionen och varumärkesattityden förändrades vid en större mängd sponsrat material. Enkäten möjliggjorde även vidare analys av hur attityder och intentioner påverkas av att konsumenten är följare eller inte. Resultatet visade att antal sponsrade inlägg som en influencer publicerar inte påverkar konsumentens köpintention, varumärkesattityd eller attityd gentemot influencern. Dock fann studien stöd för att en influencers source credibility påverkas beroende på om konsumenten är följare eller icke-följare, vilket i sin tur även påverkar konsumentens köpintention och varumärkesattityd. Vi fann även att source credibility påverkar köpintention och varumärkesattityd i båda fallen. Vi kan därmed dra slutsatsen att det är mindre viktigt för konsumenten hur många sponsrade inlägg en influencer publicerar. Det handlar snarare om huruvida man följer personen eller inte gällande hur konsumenten tar emot det sponsrade materialet. / Social media has in recent years grown and become an integrated part of people's everyday lives. The growth in popularity of social media has resulted in many companies moving parts of their marketing efforts to these platforms in the hope of getting a wider and more committed audience. An effect of the increased interest in social media marketing has been to sponsor people who have large numbers of followers, also called influencers, on social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Youtube. While sponsoring influencers is becoming more common, we also see that the influencer audience has begun to grow tired of the sponsored material. Earlier research on celebrity marketing has shown that there is a negative relationship between the amount of products that a celebrity endorses and the endorser's source credibility. Researchers also found that the consumer's purchase intention and brand attitude were negatively affected. Our study therefore aimed to investigate whether the same conclusions can be drawn for influencers. On the other hand, research shows that the consumer's relationship with celebrity may differ from the relationship to an influencer. Because consumers often experience that they have a relationship to the influencers that they follow on social media, this can affect the reduced source credibility that would otherwise occur when an influencer publishes a larger amount of sponsored content. Therefore, this study also aimed to investigate whether the consumer's purchase intention and attitude is influenced by the consumer following an influencer or not.In order to answer the purpose of the study, an online experiment was conducted. Participants in the study were randomized into one of two groups where they were exposed to different amounts of sponsored material. The experiment was completed with a survey and the groups were compared to see if the attitude towards the influencer, purchase intentions and brand attitude changed when the participant was exposed to a larger amount of sponsored material. The survey also enabled further analysis of how attitudes and intentions are affected by the consumer being a follower or not. The result showed that the number of sponsored posts published by an influencer does not affect the consumer's purchase intention, brand attitude or the source credibility of the influencer. However, the study found that an influencer's source credibility was affected by whether the consumer is a follower or non-follower, which in turn also affects the consumer's purchase intention and brand attitude. We also found that source credibility affects purchase intention and brand attitude in both cases. We can therefore conclude that it is less important for the consumer how many sponsored posts an influencer publishes. It is more about whether the consumer follows the influencer or not, than about how the consumer receives the sponsored material. The following thesis is written in Swedish.

Only a few industries face challenges regarding sustainability to the same extent as the fashion industry being one of the largest consumer industries and the second most polluting industry in the world. These challenges are encouraged by the fast fashion business model, which is dominant in the sector and relies on the quick responsiveness to latest fashion trends while maintaining low prices, encouraging more consumption and shorter product life cycles. On the other side, a consumer shift towards more environmental consciousness can be observed leading to most fast fashion brands integrating sustainability in various forms into their products and services. A path that many fast fashion brands take in order to become more sustainable is the strategy of green branding through green brand extensions. Green brand extensions (GBEs) involve the application of an established brand name to new and greener products due to environmental considerations of the brand and can be divided into green line extensions (GLEs) and green category extensions (GCEs). Due to identified research gaps concerning how green brand extensions change consumer attitudes as well as the relationship between brand loyalty and the green image of brands, the following research question got developed to gain in-depth in consumer behavior in the fast fashion industry related to green brand extensions: RQ: How do green brand extensions of fast fashion brands affect the consumers’ parent brand attitude and brand loyalty? This primary study that aims to answer the research question was conducted following a deductive research approach and adopting a quantitative research design through collecting data by means of a web questionnaire. Thereby, the brand attitude of fashion consumers on green line and green category extensions as well as the relationship to brand loyalty got investigated focusing on Generation Y and Z as largest consumer groups of fast fashion. The main results of the study are that the introduction of a GLE by a fast fashion brand generally leads to a more positive brand attitude and a slightly improved brand loyalty of consumers towards the parent brand. However, when introducing a GCE, the launch has rarely a positive effect on the brand attitude and brand loyalty of consumers towards the parent brand. The relationship of GLEs and brand attitude is thereby moderated by the environmental concern of consumers as well as their friends and by the initial brand attitude towards the fast fashion brand. The relationship of GLEs and brand loyalty on the other hand is only moderated by environmental concern of consumers and the initial brand attitude. Looking at GCEs and their relationship with brand attitude as well as brand loyalty, it is influenced and moderated by the age of consumers, the environmental concern of their friends as well as consumers’ initial brand loyalty towards the parent brand.