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Sammanfattning Titel: Byggnation pågår – uppbyggnaden av brand equity i en B2B-kontext genom märkeskännedom, märkesassociationer, upplevd kvalitet, märkeslojalitet och exklusiva rättigheter. Författare: Jesper Mårtensson och Alexander Jägerfall Ämne: Kandidatuppsats i Marknadsföring, 15 hp Nyckelord: B2B, brand equity, märkeskännedom, märkesassociationer, upplevd kvalitet, märkeslojalitet, varumärke, exklusiva rättigheter Problemformulering: Hur kan svenska företag verksamt på en B2B-marknad arbeta med byggstenarna märkeskännedom, märkesassociationer, upplevd kvalitet, märkeslojalitet och exklusiva rättigheter som tillsammans utgör brand equity? Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva hur företag verksamma på en B2B-marknad kan arbeta med märkeskännedom, märkesassociationer, upplevd kvalitet, märkeslojalitet och exklusiva rättigheter samt vilka effekter det får, för att öka förståelsen för varumärkesbyggnad i B2B företag. Teori: Teorin utgörs av en beskrivning av ovanstående byggstenar, hur företag kan jobba med dem samt vilka positiva effekter varje byggsten kan innebära för företaget. Metod: Med en kvalitativ ansats har personliga intervjuer med fyra respondenter från fallföretagen Getinge, AJ-Produkter, Nordifa och Logent genomförts. Frågorna ställda till fallföretagen rör deras sätt att arbeta med ovanstående byggstenar samt vilka positiva effekter de upplever byggstenarna bidrar till. Slutsats: Studien visar att företag verksamma på en B2B marknad kan arbeta med byggstenarna på olika sätt. Slutsatsen är att det egentligen inte finns något rätt eller fel sätt att arbeta eftersom studien visar på genomgående positiva effekter av fallföretagens arbete. Ur studien framkommer också att säljkåren i ett B2B-företag fungerar likt ett universalverktyg i arbetet med att skapa märkeskännedom, märkesassociationer, upplevd kvalitet samt märkeslojalitet. I studien framgår det också att det juridiska skyddet inte är något det arbetas aktivt med, då företagen enbart gör en varumärkesregistrering sedan är det jurister som bevakar eventuella varumärkesintrång.

Title: Purchasing Intentions of Young Thai Male towards Men's Skin Care Products Problem: Men concern more about their image than ever before. This behavior is becoming a new trend in cosmetic market. Moreover, Thailand is one of the fast growing cosmetics industry, particularly male skin care market within countries in Asia-Pacific region. However, most of the literatures have just studied on women cosmetic products. There are a few studies within male cosmetic market, despite the demands of cosmetic products are increasing among men as well as women. Purpose: This study aims to discuss the relationships between dimension of brand equity, overall brand equity, brand preference and purchase intention of men‟s skin care products among young Thai male in Bangkok. The study measures the equity of brand and identifies the impact of brand equity on brand preference and purchase intentions. Research Question: How does brand equity associate with purchasing intention of young Thai male towards skin care products? Method: Quantitative research method interpreted by the authors is applied in this research. A questionnaire-based survey is used as a tool to collect the data and the specific variables used in this paper: the dimension of brand equity, overall brand equity, brand preference, and purchase intention. Both primary and secondary types of data collection were used for this research. Conclusion: The results reveal that each dimension of brand equity, which consists of brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand association, and perceive quality have a significant impact on overall brand equity. However, brand loyalty and perceive quality have a bigger impact on brand equity than brand association and brand awareness. The impact of brand equity in itsIIconsequences supported the direct positive impact on brand preference and purchase intention. This predicate that brands with higher levels of brand equity would generate higher levels of customer brand preference. Moreover, the customers, who have high level of brand preference indicated that they have more willingness to continually purchase the specific men‟s skin care brand and this can build higher purchase intention. Last but not least, this current research also figure out that using celebrity may not be the most effective strategy to stimulate consumer purchasing intentions toward men‟s skin care product among young Thai males in Bangkok.

Problem Discussion: The rapid development of the smartphone market led formerly well-established brands to subdue to new entrants. Understanding what drives brand preferences within the dynamic smartphone market is key to formulating marketing efforts that influence purchase intentions. Research Objective: To qualitatively explore how a brand's equity drives Uppsala University students brand preferences within the Swedish smartphone market. Furthermore, to suggest how to increase the level of brand preference that may lead to increased purchase intentions for smartphones. Research Question: a) What are the drivers of brand preferences for Uppsala University students within the Swedish smartphone market? b) How do these brand preferences influence purchase intentions? Method: A qualitative approach is adopted through conducting semi- structured interviews with Uppsala University students. The empirical findings are set against a theoretical framework in order to identify drivers of brand preferences and how they influence purchase intentions. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the Swedish smartphone market appears to be functionally oriented. Perceived quality emerges as the main driver of brand preferences.

Introduction: Counterfeiting is considered as the crime of the 21st century. A highly affected market of counterfeits is the market of luxury branded goods. These goods are bought by consumers who want to express their social class and belonging by being admired, recognized and accepted by other people. The counterfeits of luxury brands that flourish on the market makes it possible for anyone to be a luxury brand user which is against the core of luxury brand, which strives for a low distribution to keep the demand high to be able to keep the consumer associations of luxury brands.   Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to create knowledge of how counterfeit products affect the consumer perception of luxury brands. Methodology: The research approach was a deductive, quantitative research and the data was collected through a questionnaire distributed through Facebook and the internal e-mail of the Linnaeus University. The sample frame was generation Y in Sweden. A total of 432 completed questionnaires were collected and was the foundation for the analysis and result.   Conclusion: The consumers' perception of counterfeit products have a negative effect on the consumer perception of luxury brands. Both the consumer's brand associations and how consumers perceive the quality of luxury brands are affected by counterfeit products. However, what the consequences are of this negative relationship cannot be answered by the result of this thesis.

The underlying motivation of this paper is the investigation of the impact sport sponsorship has on a brand. As sport sponsorship is scholarly considered to be a powerful brand equity building method, this communication tool gains globally in importance by contributing essentially to business success. While the popularity increases, simultaneously the investments, necessary for an efficient realization, rise. Nonetheless even though sponsorship is frequently applied, the evaluation is mainly based on quantitative terms (e.g. media tracking), neglecting the qualitative impacts. In order to gain meaningful data, which allows generalization, the study is based on the sport sponsorship involvement of Löfbergs Lila AB at the hockey club Färjestad BK. A quantitative research strategy is applied by the conduction of a survey within the pre-defined target audience of hockey affine people. Three propositions from different perspectives are used to investigate the main research question and provide a broader picture of the topic. Therefore in order to answer the research question, Does sport sponsorship especially in terms of brand image and brand awareness in a particular target group affect the sponsor’s brand?, brand awareness, brand image and sponsor-fit are examined separately. The study has shown that brand knowledge (brand awareness, brand image) is directly influenced by sport sponsorship efforts. The findings state a positive impact and associations, whereby no direct effect in terms of customers’ brand loyalty can be observed. Nevertheless according to the in the paper developed conceptual model, an influence on brand loyalty building variables is not dependent on sponsorship efforts, rather on the brand’s underlying product attributes, satisfying customer needs and requirements. In general sport sponsorship is a meaningful tool, but requires integration in a diversified marketing communication-mix in order to tap the full potential.

Despite of economic downturn in recent years, the food service industry has performed well in Sweden and has grown by 4.1% in 2009. Now, the players are in a battle of differentiating their products/services and offers, as the degree of competition are moderately high in the market. Hence, building a strong brand image has apparently become a foremost tactics particularly in food chain industry.  The study aims to contribute on the concrete importance of brand equity management in the fast food chain especially by illustrating real empirical cases of McDonald and Max in Sweden. This comparative study attempts to figure out consumer’s attitudes, preference and behavior   that are affected by equity assets; brand awareness, perceived value, brand loyalty and brand associations in one way or another. Based on a quantitative survey, consumer’s brand knowledge is examined to confirm the brand value added by these brand equity assets.

Idag är samhället väldigt miljöinriktat och allt fler människor uppskattar ett utbud av hållbara resurser för en hållbar utveckling. Många företag tillämpar detta i sitt varumärkesbyggande jämsides med andra strategier och faktorer för att uppnå ett starkare varumärke. Vi har valt att avgränsa oss till elbolaget Telge Energi som befinner sig konkurrenspräglad bransch för att undersöka hur de byggt upp sitt varumärke. Ett av till att vi valt Telge Energi är på grund av att företaget gått ut med att de har blivit utsedda Sveriges grönaste elbolag.1Förutom att vi har god access till företaget är ytterligare ett att de även säger sig erbjuda förnyelsebar el och utmanar därmed de större konkurrenterna inom den svenska elbranschen. Med utgångspunkt i att få ökad förståelse för Telge Energis varumärkesbyggande har som mål att belysa viktiga faktorer och strategier som företaget tillämpat och som företag kan inspireras av. Dessa faktorer och strategier som vi har fastställt ur studien även försökt illustrera i en egen modell. Dessutom har vi även tagit fasta på brister i Energis varumärkesbyggande i relation till vår valda teoretiska referensram, som kan vara hjälp och användning för företaget i framtiden. Den teoretiska referensramen är främst baserad på David A. Aaker, men även Mats tidskriften Strategic decision, Bhimrao M. Ghodeswar och Elisabet Garriga och Domènec. Deras teorier har varit relevanta för denna uppsats och behandlar brand equity, framgångsrikt varumärkesbyggande, varumärkesidentitet, varumärkesledarskap, varumärkesorientering CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Dessa olika områden som författarna berör har oss att öka förståelsen för varumärkesbyggande samt besvara studiens syfte. Genomförandet av uppsatsen har bedrivits med hjälp av en kvalitativ ansats för att besvara syftet. Primärdatat består av djupintervjuer med Telge Energis ledning och sekundärdatat används främst i problembakgrunden för uppsatsen. I analysen har vi jämfört den teoretiska referensramen med empirin, som erhållits från djupintervjuerna för att i synnerhet uppnå en ökad förståelse för Telge Energis varumärkesbyggande samt belysa viktiga faktorer i företagets varumärkesbyggande. Resultatet från analysen visar att de faktorer och strategier som har varit till fördel för Telge Energi vid uppbyggnaden av det egna varumärket är varumärkesdifferentiering, att ha en lojal kundbas, att utnyttja ett flertal kommunikationskanaler, att skapa en bra bild av företaget med hjälp av CSR samt med hjälp av kärnvärden införliva valda tekniker och strategier för varumärkesbyggande i företagets alla funktioner och verksamheter.

In today’s world, consumerism is dominating all the aspects of our life. In society, life follows the pattern of the capitalist culture where the human values have a different measure. We do live in a branded world. There is no doubt about it. We all make product decisions every day. We probably all have certain types of products of which we like only one or two brands, while we buy other things based on what is on sale on a given day. This inclination to buy branded products is rooted in two basic things: recollection and satisfaction. We remember which one we like by brand name. A survey by the Henley Centre revealed that the public trust brand names such as Kellogg’s, Heinz and Marks & Spencer more than Parliament, the police and the legal system (Sunday Times, “A can of worms is a bad diet”, 5 April 1998). This research highlights the importance of the relationship between consumers and key brands; and shows that it has strengthened to such an extent that it is now healthier than the relationship with our social structures. This is evidence of the power of consumer culture and the liberal free market economics of the westernized world. The Brands not just represent the symbol of the company but also to a greater extant defines lives people in the society. What a person uses can reflect his taste, his or her status in the society, his / her economic background as well. This makes a deep connection between the company and its brand, with the consumer. In this two way relation both the company and consumers are dependent on each other. The salient of purpose of our study was to find out to what extent brand names influence the consumers’ purchase decisions with regard to high-involvement products. We conducted this study based on theories and survey. We reviewed a good number of relevant theories of brand and consumer decision making process. We also conducted a survey among the students. The respondents of our survey were those students who own a notebook PC, a high involvement product. We used convenience sampling for our survey. We analyzed the data of the survey in order to be able to draw conclusions and find answers to our questions. On analysis of the collected data, we came to a conclusion that brand names have an influence on the consumer decision not only in case of notebook PC, but also in other product categories. The overall means of brand equity for male and female student are 3.64 and 3.66 respectively. Both the means are considerably higher than the average of 2.5 on the Likert Scale. So, it is reasonable to say that both male and female students’ purchase decisions are influenced by the brand equity to an extent. The consumers are very conscious about branded products because they have the view that well-known brands are more reliable. This study also explains that customers trust the branded products. Before purchasing a notebook PC people do not consider the lesser known brands. Our survey results show that the respondents previously automatically knew which brand of Notebook PC to buy. The mean of the statement “I automatically knew which brands of this product to buy” was much higher than average indicating that respondents had only a few brands in their evoked set and they ended up buying their top-of-the-mind brand. Consumers opined that well-known brand companies maintain quality of their product. Which is why, brand name affects the customer choice while making a purchase decision. Moreover, consumers also tend to trust well-known branded products. The mean of the statement “When I see an advertisement of this brand I believe the information in it is accurate” was much higher than the average which testifies to the fact that consumers usually trust the brands.

PURPOSEThe main purpose of this research is to determine the consumer level approach of brand equity in Citibank N.A using empirical information based on its brand awareness. The awareness of a brand would show the level of the brand recognition. A telephone interview was conducted to explain the different aspects that constitute the recognition of brand equity and brand awareness of Citibank N.A-Cameroon in addition to its ads. RESEARCH QUESTIONHow can Citibank N.A, Cameroon subsidiary, measure the level of its brand equity from its brand awareness? RESEARCH APPROACH/METHODOLOGYIn order to answer the research question and achieve the research objective established for this research, a structured research method was required. In this research a qualitative research approach was applied to suit the content of the research. A telephone interview was conducted to give a qualitative view of this research. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONSAwareness (aided, unaided), contributes to the recognition of brand equity. In the empirical part of the thesis brand recognition and awareness can be facilitated by Citibank-Cameroon subsidiary being participative in its social corporate responsibility plan to develop the community by planting trees and organizing football competition every summer holidays. This brand strategy has been used for several years to keep a positive brand image of the bank.