Subject: This paper is about Brand Extension and if the process differs when a company extends its brand from a service to a product in comparison to an extension from a product to a product. As an example we have analyzed the mobile phone business and the mobile phone operators who launch their private branded mobile phones Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze how companies use brand extension from service to product as a part of their brand extension strategy. Method: A literature study was done in the brand extension area, but also in the area of brands to have a deeper understanding for the subject. A qualitative study with interviews was combined with a quantitative survey study. On the basis of the theories we could analyze the collected data and fulfill the papers purpose. Results: Important features and differences in services and products were identified and the importance of a strong brand identity before an extension. The consumers showed positive attitudes and reactions towards the companies brand extension strategies through the survey.

Background: The brand embodied a set of values and attributes which were appropriate, which stimulated consumer interest, which distinguished brand from others and created a unique piece of property for its owners. From marketing point of view, brands are the means that consumers use to distinguish products and services based on essential and non-essential attributes and they are a source of business’s differential advantage. Furthermore, brands communicate tangible and intangible advantages and are attractive to a range of feeling. In order to make decisions for brand strategy, branding plays an important role. Kotler and Keller (2006) state that a brand is needed because it identifies the product, and the responsibility of the product hence lies in the hands of the makers or producers of the product. Brands are important in both consumer and business-to-business situations, where a decision of purchase is needed. A strong brand can create sufficient higher total returns to shareholders than a weak brand. Brands are at the heart of marketing and business strategy ( Doyle,1998, p.165) and building brand equity or strong brands, is considered to be one of the key drivers of a business success ( Prasad & Dev, 2000; p.22). Problem Statement: What are the promotional strategies company’s uses to create International brand in order to pursue the potential customer in B2C marketing environment?? Purpose:The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how firm employ effective promotional tools and techniques to create and sustain international brand in the customers mind. Research design: Both Qualitative and Quantitative method is applied in this thesis. Primary data is collected from interview (E-mail and telephone) and internet survey, while secondary data is gathered from books, journals, and internet source. Conclusion: The promotional tools capabilities can help businesses to spread the messages to the mass market. It is very powerful technique to be used to increase brand awareness of the organization. We found out those promotional tools such as sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling, publicity, advertisement, and internet marketing play vital role to create international brand.

Brands are an important feature in today’s society. A brand can consist of anything; a product, an organisation, a university, a person or even a city. They are not constricted to products or companies, but are important constituents of culture. Having a cup of coffee at Starbucks is not only about the coffee, it’s also about the brand; its values and motivations, and what it represents for the customers and fans. Brands are interweaving themselves further into society than ever before. Social media is growing and taking up a large part of people’s time. We discuss everything, including brands, on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Thus it is imperative for brands to actively partake in the discussion to not submerge and lose control over their brand image. They shape their brand identity, but the image is what is perceived by the people. If they let others shape the perception of the brand then there is a great risk that the image construct will not correspond to their intended identity. Social media provides a gateway for fans and brands to interact. This thesis investigates the primary uses of Facebook and Twitter for product and people brands respectively. Also, it looks at what components of the brand identity are displayed on the aforementioned platforms for both product and people brands and whether there are any differences between the brand types. The investigation takes the shape of a content analysis of twenty brands’ Facebook and Twitter pages – 10 each for product and people brands. Variables pertaining to the four identity perspectives proposed by David Aaker – (1) brand as product, (2) brand as organisation, (3) brand as person, and (4) brand as symbol – were used to see whether there is a dominant perspective that brands adopt when interacting with fans in social media. Also, the uses of social media were investigated and matched with authors’ suggestions for ideal uses of social media for brands. It was found that, in line with several authors’ recommendations of ideal usage of social media; brands adopt an identity approach consistent with Aaker’s Brand as Person perspective – regardless of brand type. The Brand as Person perspective was dominant for people brands on both Facebook and Twitter, however, slightly more enhanced on the latter. While still being the main perspective for product brands, the other identity perspective are given more attention so the prevalence of the Brand as Person perspective is not quite as distinguished. Also, the main uses of Twitter and Facebook were found to differ; Facebook is to a further extent used to engage fans whereas Twitter is predominately used to inform. The results provide a basis for which future research on brand identity and uses for brands in social media can build upon, starting with these general findings to dig deeper into more specialised areas of brands in social media.

The premise of this thesis is to conduct a research regarding the connection of brand image, brand identity, brand positioning with brand adapting management. The significant purpose of this thesis is for better understanding how a Chinese auto corporation can effectively manage and adapt an acquired foreign brand in Chinese market. In order to reach this purpose, a case study of Geely/Volvo’s acquisition has been carried out which entailed company visit (Volvo Brand Experience Center), interviews with Volvo brand specialists, Volvo dealer and Chinese market expert. The Theoretical Framework describes the general concepts of brand, brand management, company acquisition and three brand adapting concepts of brand image, brand identity and brand positioning. The Empirical Data Collection deals with the Volvo’s brand identity and value proposition, Chinese customers’ perceptions on Volvo brand image and Geely’s brand positioning strategy on Volvo. The Analysis related the theory framework with the empirical results. It discussed and analyzed how Geely can adapt Volvo in Chinese automotive market through dealing with Volvo’s core values, brand image and brand positioning. The Conclusion summarized the Chinese auto corporation needs to concern on three factors for adapting an acquired brand: value proposition of acquired brand, Chinese customers’ perceptions on acquired brand image and brand positioning strategy. Finally our recommendation presents the limitations of this study, suggestions for future research in this field, and managerial implications for the case company.

This paper examines a popular music song (Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez) as a sign system in television advertising. The study was conducted through qualitative questionnaires in connection to an audio-visual method of analysis called Masking. The method facilitates the analysis of isolated parts in the audio-visual spectrum by masking/hiding parts of the audio-visual totality.The survey had seven respondents where a hermeneutic epistemological approach was used. For the analysis Cooper's theory of brand identity (Practical and Symbolic Attitudes to Buying Brands) was used together with an interaction model for music in audio-visual advertising called "Modes of music-image interaction”. The results showed that the music was associated with values as genuine, honest, responsibility, purity, independence and innovation. The music's symbolic values helped to position the brand in a lifestyle context. The music also helped to express the target group’s identity and attitudes by being innovative and independent. It also enhanced the perception of the visual colour rendition in the film. In general the television advertisement perceived more positive and entertaining when the music was present. In other words the music's social and cultural position contributed to raise the film's credibility. A deeper social and cultural value was created in the movie through resonance between symbolic values of the music and symbolic values of the film.

<p>Background: The consumers of today have the possibility to choose from a wide range of products and services. Consequently, the ability to differentiate the products is essential for the brand owners. If a brand owner does not manage to differentiate its product, it can be difficult to make the consumers realise the benefits of the product and convince them to buy it. One way to differentiate the product is to create a distinguished brand identity. However, it is not enough to create a strong brand identity, the brand owner must also be capable of communicating the brand identity successfully. There are several ways to communicate a message and one is to use product placement. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to create an understanding for product placement’s ability to communicate a brand identity, seen from the brand owners’ point of view. Delimitation: We have chosen to limit our study to only treat product placement in Swedish film. Proceed of the study: We have conducted a qualitative study where the empirical material consists of four personal interviews. Three of the interviewees represented brand owners that have used product placement and one was a product placement agent. The theoretical frame of reference consists of three main theories; marketing communication theory, theories on brand identity and theories on consumer behaviour, where communication theories will be given strongest emphasis. Results: We observed that product placement has possibilities to communicate brand identity, under certain circumstances. The product placement must either be supported by a cross promotion-campaign or expose a product that has distinguished physical characteristics as part of the brand identity.</p>

Der Hochschulsport ist an vielen Hochschulen, an einigen wie der Universität Göttingen sogar bereits seit ihrer Gründung, ein wichtiger Bestandteil universitärer Kultur, studentischen Lebens und akademischer Ausbildung. Trotz seiner gesetzlichen Verankerung, der beträchtlichen Reichweite dieser sekundären Hochschuldienstleistung, seines Potenzials als Instrument zur Schaffung von Identifikation und Bindung mit der Hochschule sowie seiner Funktion als vielfach größter inneruniversitärer Begegnungsraum und zentrale Sozialisationsplattform ist der Hochschulsport nur an sehr wenigen Standorten in Deutschland als Profilelement und Imagefaktor der Hochschule entwickelt. Die vorliegende Arbeit geht daher der zentralen Frage nach, ob der Hochschulsport unter den gegenwärtigen hochschulischen Rahmenbedingungen die Voraussetzungen und Kriterien erfüllt, um als Marke der Hochschule entwickelt und positioniert zu werden. Damit einher geht die Frage nach seiner sinnvollen Rolle und Funktion für die Gesamtorganisation. Zur Klärung dieser Fragen werden wesentliche strukturelle und organisatorische Voraussetzungen für den Hochschulsport in Deutschland dargestellt, die theoretischen Grundlagen und besonderen Voraussetzungen des Hochschulmarketings herausgearbeitet, die hochschulsportspezifischen Marktbedingungen beleuchtet und seine institutionellen und zielgruppenspezifischen Mehrwertaspekte systematisch analysiert. Der empirische Teil der Arbeit ist als internationaler Vergleich konzipiert, der die Wahrnehmung des Hochschulsports der Universität Göttingen unter Markengesichtspunkten im Verhältnis zum Universitätssport der University of Western Ontario, der Vergleichshochschule im kanadischen London (Ontario), untersucht. Neben den umfangreichen Literaturbetrachtungen zu den unterschiedlichen zuvor dargestellten Themenbereichen fließen auch die Erfahrungen des Autors aus mehr als einem Jahrzehnt nationaler und internationaler Tätigkeit als ehrenamtliche bzw. hauptberufliche Führungskraft im Allgemeinen Deutschen Hochschulsportverband (adh) sowie im Europäischen Hochschulsportverband (EUSA) in die Arbeit ein. Der internationale Vergleich der universitären Sporteinrichtungen in Göttingen und London basiert auf einer umfangreichen Befragung von Nutzern und Nichtnutzern der jeweiligen Sport- und Bewegungsangebote aus den Jahren 2001/02. Als zentrales Ergebnis dieser Arbeit kann konstatiert werden, dass ein entwickelter Hochschul-sport erhebliche Mehrwertoptionen bietet. Je nach Ausgestaltung der im Rahmen der jeweiligen Hochschulpositionierung sinnvollen Schwerpunkte kann die Institution Hochschulsport inhaltliche Beiträge zur Umsetzung des hochschulischen Bildungsauftrages und zur Gewährleistung einer stärkeren Internationalisierung, aufgrund seines identitätsstiftenden und Bindung schaffenden Potenzials, als Qualifizierungs- und Erprobungsfeld, als Instrument aktiver Gesundheitsförderung und als außercurriculares Hochschulangebot zur sozialen Integration und Freizeitgestaltung liefern. Für die Gesamtorganisation kann er als Standortfaktor und Profilelement beträchtliche Öffentlichkeits- und Imagewirkung erzielen, ein ergänzendes sportliches Exzellenzfeld darstellen und zur hochschulischen Qualitätsorientierung beitragen. Für die Studierenden bietet der Hochschulsport zahlreiche Betätigungsfelder zum Erwerb und zur Erprobung von Kompetenzen, zur ergänzenden Ausbildung von fächer- und jahrgangsübergreifenden Netzwerken sowie für ein aktives Gesundheits- und Stressmanagement. Er hat damit das Potenzial, wesentlich zu wichtigen Studienzielen wie der ganzheitlichen Persönlichkeitsentwicklung, der praktischen Anwendung von theoretisch erlernten Kompetenzen und Fähigkeiten sowie mithin zur Ausprägung einer von den Arbeitgebern geforderten Employability der Studienabsolventen beizutragen. Hinsichtlich der zentralen Frage nach der Markenfähigkeit des Hochschulsports wird gezeigt, dass die Dienstleistung alle Anforderungen zur Positionierung als Marke grundsätzlich erfüllt und damit als Marke der Hochschule vorzugsweise im Rahmen einer Dachmarkenstrategie entwickelbar ist. Unter der Voraussetzung einer am Gesamtkonzept des jeweiligen Hochschulmarketings ausgerichteten Rollenzuweisung mit einer für die Hochschulpositionierung dienlichen Schwerpunktsetzung in dessen Programmangebot und Infrastrukturentwicklung (z.B. Leistungssportorientierung, Gesundheitsorientierung, Fun- und Erlebnisorientierung etc.) kann der Hochschulsport wichtige Beiträge zur hochschulischen Marketingstrategie leisten. Weil er allerdings einen Entwicklungsstand aufweisen muss, der ihn zumindest im nationalen Vergleich als Alleinstellungsmerkmal nutzbar werden lässt, wird gleichzeitig deutlich, dass er eine solche Rolle nur an einer überschaubaren Anzahl von Hochschulen einnehmen kann. Auf einem noch immer unzureichend differenzierten Hochschulmarkt wie derzeit in Deutschland eröffnet sich den Hochschulen damit auch über den akademischen Sport eine Differenzierungsoption, die erhebliches Potenzial birgt.

Syftet är att undersöka hur en förpackningsförändring påverkar ett varumärkes image. Det varumärke som undersökts är Gille som genomförde förpackningsförändringar under 2012.  Detta är en fallstudie med ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt genom strukturerad samtalsintervju, kvalitativ textanalys och fokusgrupper.  I teorikapitlet presenteras de teoretiska utgångspunkter som ligger till grund för studiens problemområde; att kommunicera ett varumärke, att särskilja ett varumärke samt att kommuncera via förpackningen.  Studien visar att majoriteten av fokusgruppsdeltagarnas bilder av varumärket förbättrades i samband med förändringarna. Resultaten visade att den bild varumärket vill kommunicera och den bild deltagarna hade inte stämde överens, vilket indikerar på ett glapp mellan varumärkesidentiteten och imagen. Förpackningsförändringarna resulterade även i svagare varumärkesassociationer, då ingen av respondenterna kunde koppla de nya förpackningarna till varumärket. / The purpose with this study is to examine how a packaging redesign affects a brand´s image. The brand that has been investigated is Gille, who conducted a packaging redesign during 2012.  This is a case study with a qualitative approach through structured interview, qualitative textual analysis and focus groups.  This study has a theoretical frame of reference built by: to communicate a brand, to distinguish a brand and to communicate through the packaging. The study shows that the majority of the focus groups participant’s attitudes to the brand improved in relation to the changes. Results showed that the image the brand wanted to communicate and the image that the participants had were not consistent, indicating a gap between brand identity and image. Packaging redesign also resulted in weaker brand associations, when none of the respondents could connect the new packaging to the brand.

Background: The hospitality industry, especially the hotel business, is a relatively new, and rapidly growing industry in Lithuania. The last two decades resulted in a significant expansion of the local hotel market, as well as of operations of international hotel chains. Thus, competition among actors in the industry, along with the companies’ need to differentiate their offerings from those of competitors, has risen. Branding strategies are increasingly used by companies for achieving better positioning on the market, as well as for gaining a competitive advantage and customers’ loyalty. Knowing that global brands play an important role for firms’ visibility on the market, it is important to recognize, and understand the factors influencing marketing management- and branding-related activities. To accomplish this, an in-depth understanding behind the structure and branding strategies of international hotel chains should be developed. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to understand the rationale behind the structure, and operations of international hotel operators in Lithuania, with a focus on the hotels’ branding strategies. Furthermore, the thesis aims to investigate how companies use their brand identity to position themselves in the market. Methodology: This thesis relies on a qualitative research, with a main focus on discovery, and aim to expand current knowledge in the field of hospitality management and branding within the Lithuanian hotel industry. The study consists of an in-depth case study of three international hotel chains operating in Lithuania. The empirical data was gathered from semi-structured, and e-mail interviews with the chosen hotels’ representatives, as well as from secondary data such as annual reports and official websites.   Conclusion: Three key findings are presented in this thesis. First of all, the authors identify business travelers as the main target group of the selected international hotel operators in Vilnius. Secondly, the examined hotel operators are recognized to standardize their structure and operations, but at the same time to customize their marketing strategies to the local market. Finally, the findings indicate that some hotels completely incorporate the brand identity of the chain, which they belong to, while others develop their own brand identity, relying only partly on the identity of the chain. Contributions: This thesis positively contributes to the academic community, as it expands the theoretical knowledge about the Lithuanian hotels industry, with a main focus on the branding- and marketing activities of international hotel chains. The findings provide a practical insight on how companies are positioned in the market in relation to their competitors. Moreover, with an extensive choice of accommodation available in the market, the comparison of hotels is beneficial in helping customers choosing the best alternative according to their needs.

Det finns mycket forskning om hur design bygger starka varumärken, men den är inte branschspecifik.  Modebranschen är en komplex företagsmiljö med ständigt förändrade marknadsvillkor. Detta kräver att modeföretag arbetar med effektiva strategier för att kunna differentiera sig mot konkurrenterna, där varumärket ses som ett verktyg. Avsikten med denna uppsats är att studera tre modeföretags designprocess och hur man, med hjälp av design som verktyg, kan förmedla sin varumärkesidentitet till konsumenterna i form av en varumärkesupplevelse. Denna studie är av kvalitativ karaktär och består av tre individuella intervjuer med centrala personer från valda företag (Mayla, Minna Palmqvist och Whyred), samt individuella intervjuer och gruppintervjuer med konsumenter. Insamlad data har analyserats med hjälp av en modifierad modell av The Corporate Branding Model och The Brand Design Management Model. Med hjälp av modellen identifierades modeföretagens varumärkesidentitet och deras designprocess kartlades. Sedan studerades hur designarbetet formar varumärkesupplevelsen hos konsummeterna och skapar en varumärkesimage. Studien visade att den interna synen på varumärket och varumärkesimagen är likartad, därmed lyckas alla tre företag kommunicera sin varumärkesidentitet genom sin designprocess. Denna studie kompletterar den befintliga designforskningen, som är generell och inte branschspecifik, genom att kartlägga hur designkompetens kan nyttjas för varumärkesuppbyggnad specifikt inom modebranschen. / There is much research into how design as a strategy builds strong brands, but the existing research is not specific for any industry. The fashion industry is a complex business environment with constantly changing market conditions. This requires that fashion companies working with effective strategies, where the brand is seen as a tool, differentiate themselves from the competition. The purpose of this paper is to study three fashion companies’ design processes and how they can use design as a tool to convey their brand identity to consumers as a brand experience. This study is qualitative in nature and consists of three individual interviews with key persons from selected companies (Mayla, Minna Palmqvist and Whyred), as well as individual interviews and group interviews with consumers. Collected data was analyzed using a modified model of the Corporate Branding Model and the Brand Design Management Model. By using the model, the brand identity of each fashion company was identified, and their design processes were analyzed. Then the study explored in which way the design process forms the brand experience of consumers and creates a brand image. The result is that the internal perception of the brand and the brand image are assumed to be similar, thereby each company succeeds to communicate their brand identity through their design process. This study complements the existing general and non-industry specific design research by charting how design expertise of the fashion industry can be used for brand building. / <p>En bilaga (bilder som har använts i uppsatsens metod) har tagits bort ur dokumentet på grund av upphovsrättsliga skäl.</p>