Abstract Title: External communication and brand strategies in Swedish municipalities
 Author: Philip Hagne & Einar Svensson
 Tutor: Jessica Gustafsson
 Purpose: The aim of this thesis was to study and obtain greater understanding on how Swedish municipalities use external communication and branding strategies to gain and attract more residents. The key questions to be answered in this thesis were: What does the external communication look like in the selected municipalities? Are the selected municipalities trying to establish their own brand? What does the work on creating the brand look like?
 Method/Material: This thesis is based on material collected trough interviews with people working with external communication in eleven swedish municipalities. The selected municipalities where divided into two groups based on their negative or positive population growth between 2005 and 2012. All of the selected municipalities where in the same population range between 20,000 and 40,000 citizens. The theoretical framework used in this thesis consists of David Aaker’s theories on Brand Equity along with Graham Hankinson’s, Gregory Ashworth's and Mihalis Kavaratzis theories on Place Branding.
 Main results: The main results show that the external communication is rather similar in all of the eleven municipalities regardless their population trend. The study could not show any definite correlation between the use of external communication and branding towards gaining new inhabitants. However this thesis sugests that municipal councils have changed their attitudes in prioritizing the external communication. The attitude from municipal councils today are more positive than earlier research has shown. Furthermore this thesis has shown that the financial issues and low communication budgets still are the main reason for limited work on external communication, though this is solved with collaborations with local actors in the public sphere.
 Number of pages: 64
 Course: Media and Communication studies C
 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University
 Period: Fall 2013
 Keywords: Brand, external communication, municipalities

Den här uppsatsen bygger på en fallstudie av ett callcenter i en pågående organisationsförändring och ett medvetet arbete med Employer Branding. Syftet var att undersöka vilka internkommunikativa strategier som bolaget använt sig av i inledningsfasen av organisationsförändringen samt det medvetna arbetet med Employer Branding. För att få svar på syftet bygger undersökningen på tre frågeställningar samt vilar mot ett ramverk som tar upp teorier och tidigare forskning i ovan nämnda ämnen. För att få svar på frågeställningarna har en omfattande e-postenkät genomförts hos organisationens ledningsgrupp samt en enkätundersökning bland övriga organisationsmedlemmar. Resultatet visar att ledningsgruppen har lyckats väl med att skapa en förståelse för organisationsförändringens syfte, vision och målbild hos dem som varit delaktiga i uppstartsfasen men att en hög personalomsättning kräver att informationen upprepas för att skapa en förståelse hos alla. Undersökningen visar även att medarbetarna inte känner någon delaktighet i skapandet av organisationsförändringen utan snarare är mottagare av information, där frågor och synpunkter kring förändringen kan tas upp i olika grad men på medarbetarnas initiativ. Vidare visar undersökningen att trots ett medvetet arbete med Employer Branding finns ingen uppfattning om när arbetet exakt startade samt att det inte finns något nedskrivet medarbetarlöfte, ingen förväntad målbild eller några faktiska tal som skall mäta hur effektivt arbetet med Employer Branding är. Det framkommer även att bolagets medarbetare, dess ambassadörer, tenderar att säga något negativt om bolaget ju längre de varit anställda. Slutsatsen är att verktyget för att organisationen skall lyckas med sina internkommunikativa strategier och stärka sitt arbetsgivarvarumärke är att skapa möjligheter för en dialog mellan ledningsgruppen och medarbetarna i olika hierarkiska nivåer. Detta för att skapa möjligheter att ställa frågor och komma med synpunkter, då delaktighet ökar chansen för att öka gemenskapen och den positiva känslan kring en förändringsprocess och den egna arbetssituationen. Undersökningen visar även att klyftan mellan teori och praktik gällande Employer Branding är stor och att teorin är svår att tillämpa i verkligheten. / This essay is based on a case study at a call center in an ongoing organizational change and their deliberate work with Employer Branding. The purpose has been to examine what internal communicative strategies the company has been using in the initial phase of the organizational change and their work with Employer Branding. To get the answer to the purpose, this research is based on three scientific questions and a theoretic framework that describes theories and research in the fields of internal communication at an organizational change and Employer Branding. The answers to the questions are based on an e-mail survey with the board members at the company and a survey with the remaining employees. The results show that the board members have succeeded in creating an understanding for the purpose, vision and goals of the organizational change with the employees that participated in the initial phase but that a large employee turnover demands a repetition of the information to create a total understanding. The research also shows that the employee’s don´t feel any participation in the creation of the organizational change but rather are the receivers of the information and questions and opinions about the change have only been discussed at the initiative of the employees. The research also shows that despite a deliberate work with Employer Branding, there isn´t any estimation about when the work started nor any employer promise, estimated goal or any numbers that measure how effective the Employer Branding work is. Research also shows that the employees, the ambassadors of the company, tend to be more likely to say something negative about the company the longer the persons have been employers. The conclusion is that the tool for an organization to succeed with its internal communicative strategies and get a stronger employer brand is to create opportunities for a dialogue between the board members and the rest of the employees. That is to create opportunities to ask questions and lift up an opinion, as participation increases the chance to increase the solidarity and the positive feeling around the process of change and the work situation. The research shows that the gap between theory and practice are hard to apply in reality.

This study was developed during the Swedish spring semester of 2013 for the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration of the now graduates Rafael Moser and Thor-Björn Käck. The students, authors of this research, were selected by ABB Sweden for a research internship on the field of Employer Branding (EB). Employer Branding (EB) is an increasingly popular practice within multinationals. It is applied to develop in the minds of current and potential employees, brand associations related to the organization as an employer. The research problem identified by the authors relates to the lack of reliable measurement of the employer branding process. Therefore, this study consisted of creating a set of indicators or measures of the process’ performance. To do so, the authors relied on theoretical support as well as consistent feedback from Joakim Forsberg, employer branding manager at ABB Sweden. A conceptual model of the employer branding process was developed and internal measures, or Key Performance Indicators (KPI), were placed in the context of the three stage model. The KPI’s were proposed as a solution for the lack of internal measurement of the EB process, and were developed based on the objectives of each stage of the process as well as in Human Resources and Marketing theory. Once the model was developed to the point where internal measures could be incorporated into the EB process, an empirical study was executed and respondents were asked to scrutinize the applicability of the proposed solution in current business environment as well as the applicability of certain KPI’s. Among different findings, results from the empirical study point to a variety of issues that currently inhibit the development of employer branding and consequently its measurement i.e. lack of managerial autonomy, poor integration and communication among departments, misguided resource allocation within EB, etc. Nevertheless, as the experts and professionals interviewed in this research point out, solving the problem discussed in this research with the solution proposed is considered to be the future of employer branding.

Studien har genom en kvalitativ fallstudie på Karlstads kommuns projekt om att starta sitt employer branding beskrivit hur employer branding kan bedrivas i projektform. Employer branding handlar om hur företag och offentliga organisationer kan arbeta med sitt varumärke som arbetsgivare gentemot sina nuvarande och framtida anställda. Genom sex halvstrukturerade intervjuer med projektbeställare, projektledare och projektdeltagare framkom att projektets resultat har varit lyckat. Vi har genom denna studie kommit fram till följande slutsatser: 1. Att arbetet skedde i projektform signalerade att uppgiften var viktig för organisationen, vilket skapade effektivitet i arbetet och underlättade för enhetssamarbete. Inga nackdelar med att arbeta i projektform kunde hittas. 2. Projektarbetsformen kan ha varit en förutsättning för att Karlstads kommuns employer branding skulle lyckas och få spridning ut i organisationen. Genom att de lyckades få förankring visade man inför hela organisationen att employer branding är ett viktigt område att arbeta aktivt med, men förankringen bidrar också till att förändringen inte går för fort. 3. Utifrån projektet skapades inte bara en enhetlig kommunikation utan också en känsla av ett vi. Detta genom att nya arbetssätt och rutiner infördes. Projektgruppen skapade ett vi genom materialet de tog fram i projektet. Sättet de tog fram materialet på, bidrog också till ett vi eftersom employer branding även går ut på att utveckla en gemenskap för organisationen och medarbetarna i den.

Industribranschen har idag vissa problem med att attrahera kompetent arbetskraft. Arbetet med att bygga ett starkt Employer Brand har därför blivit allt viktigare. Användandet av sociala medier har ökat och detta skapar nya möjligheter för företag att marknadsföra sig. Frågan är dock om företagen använder denna möjlighet i sitt arbete med Employer Branding. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur industriföretag arbetar med Employer Branding genom sociala medier. Metoden som används för att besvara syftet var kvalitativa intervjuer, med HR-verksamma inom industribranschenen, och en fenomenografisk ansats. Det som eftersöktes var därmed informanternas uppfattning av dessa två fenomen, Employer Branding och sociala medier. Det huvudsakliga resultatet var att de intervjuade företagen visserligen arbetade med Employer Branding, men att endast ett fåtal använde sig av sociala medier. Resursfrågan var den största anledningen till att sociala medier inte användes i den utsträckning informanterna önskade. Nästan samtliga informanter ville och såg ett behov i att användandet av sociala medier skulle öka då det var ett enkelt sätt att nå ut till många på kort tid. Informanterna resonerade även kring risker med sociala medier och vilken information de ville publicera på dessa sidor, något som presenteras närmre i rapporten.

Syfte Uppsatsens syfte är att genom en analys av dagens digitala marknadsföring av artister i Sverige få fram olika strategier som kan leda till differentiering online, samt få vidare förståelse om hur artister aktivt kan arbeta med strategierna online för att förstärka helhetsupplevelsen av varumärket och hur fansen upplever det digitala arbetet. Metod Denna uppsats är genomförd utifrån en kombination av kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod och har en abduktiv ansats. Vi har samlat in det empiriska materialet via kvalitativa intervjuer med utvalda personer från olika delar av musikbranschen för att få olika synvinklar. Samt gjort en enkätundersökning för att få in konsumenternas aspekt, som vi i uppsatsen benämner som fans. Dessa tillvägagångssätt har kompletterats med primär- och sekundärkällor inom branding, sensory branding och digital marknadsföring.  Slutsatser Vi har genom vår analys och slutdiskussion kommit fram till följande: genom att tillämpa de fyra strategier som vi har valt att kalla; branding-strategi, sensory branding-strategi, digital marknadsförings-strategi och storytelling-strategi, är artisten på god väg att utmärka sig för både fans och musikbransch. Fansen anser att man ska ha en bra story kombinerad med en röd tråd och ett helhetskoncept. Genom att då arbeta aktivt och hitta sin balans i huruvida personlig eller informativ man ska vara i sin kommunikation, men även att vara konsekvent i sin marknadsföring som helhet.

Datum: 15/1/2015 Nivå: Kandidatuppsats 15 hp, Företagsekonomi C, HT 14 Författare: David Norman, Johan Rappling Handledare: Jukka Hohenthal Titel: Ett “glokalt” växelspel för ett multinationellt företag - En studie om branding- arbetet för Post-it på den nordiska marknaden Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att visa hur branding-arbetet ser ut för ett globalt varumärke, ägt av ett multinationellt företag, på den nordiska marknaden samt till vilken grad marknadschefer för ett varumärke av denna typ är fria att lokalanpassa brandingen. Förhoppningen är att denna fallstudie ska fungera som ett komplement till rådande studier inom glokalisering. Teori: Uppsatsens teoretiska referensram består av erkända koncept inom marknadsföringsområdet såsom global branding, glokalisering och produktlivscykeln men även Hofstedes kulturella dimensioner. Metod: En kvalitativ fallstudie för det multinationella företaget 3Ms varumärke Post- it har utförts. Primärdata har samlats in genom ostrukturerade och semi-strukturerade djupintervjuer med personer med marknadsansvar över Post-it samt genom en dokumentstudie. Analysen har skett med ett analysverktyg skapat utifrån de teoretiska utgångspunkterna. Resultat: De lokala marknadsförarna för varumärket Post-it är relativt fria i branding- arbetet och lokala anpassningar förekommer i allra högsta grad. Standardisering förekommer också i form av bl.a. gemensamma kampanjer och hemsidor. Glokalisering är implementerat i Post-its varumärkesstrategier. Slutsats: Branding-arbetet anpassas relativt mycket lokalt i Norden och frihetsgraden är stor. Hofstedes dimensioner och produktlivscykeln kan till viss del förklara varför det empiriska resultatet som framkommit ser ut som det gör.

It is important, for companies operating on a homogeneous product market, to understand and adapt to customer needs. Since coffee is a homogeneous product in food retail it is vital for coffee companies to work extensively with differentiation and the fierce competition. The prevailing homogenity makes it difficult for companies to develop the product itself and must therefore work to create added value to the product. The purpose of this thesis is to carry out a study on consumer decision-making when purchasing homogeneous products, and to examine how companies work to strengthen their brand and gain market share in a homogeneous product market. The market that this thesis highlights is the coffee market. To answer the purpose of this thesis the writers have conducted a questionnaire survey regarding consumers’ decision-making process and interviewed two marketing managers for two major actors on the coffee market. The results of the survey show that the availability and the price are key factors for consumers when choosing coffee, and the generated responses from the interviews emphasize the importance of working with strengthening a brand and finding an identity for the product.

ABSTRACT “Almost all places are in trouble, but some are in more trouble than others" Kotler, Haider & Rein (1993) Kotler, Haider & Rein (1993) contend that all places are in trouble now, or will be in the near future. The onset of globalisation of the world's economy, country political dynamics and the accelerating pace of technological changes are some of the forces that require all places to learn how to compete on the world arena. Porter (1990) states that the framework for understanding a company’s sources of competitive advantage can be extended to the level of nations. It is basically concerned with the question as to why some nations succeed in global competition when others fail. Nations must learn how to think more like businesses if they are to survive and should begin by identifying their competitive advantages and building on them. As countries compete for inward investment, tourism and export of goods and services- success or failure can accurately be chartered, and questions of reputation, image, identity and hence marketing and branding become central to the competitive edge (Olins, 1999). Faced with the challenge of a negative image, a country must adopt a proactive stance to correct this image. This is where the question of country branding comes in. Branding a country for many is misconstrued and interpreted to simply mean designing a new logo for their country and possibly a slogan to go underneath it. However country-banding proponents highlight that there is a difference between nation branding and tourism promotion. It helps even less that there are so many communications agencies that perhaps frustrated by lack of pure strategy capacity to sell to governments, have fallen into the habit of i Sibonokuhle GUMPO - 34462481 pandering to this misconception and simply selling logos and slogans to any government prepared to buy them (Anholt, 2003). However faced with the urgent need to address the crippling impact of a negative image, countries like Zimbabwe cannot simply wait and expect things to turn out for the better. Kotler et al (1993) stress that places are not able to respond to negative images concerning their nations as quickly as negative perceptions are built, be it through media, word of mouth or other channels. As a result the importance of a pro-active response cannot be overemphasized. This study explores the current negative image of Zimbabwe and tries to define the root or source of this negative image. Having defined or spelt out what is thought to be the problem, the researcher than explores possible ways of how the stakeholders of Zimbabwe can rebrand their country reflecting on known success stories. Kotler et al (1993) contend that the central tenet of marketing places is that in spite of the powerful internal and external forces that buffet them, places have within their collective resources and people the capacity to improve their relative competitive positions. Zimbabweans in general believe that their situation has been sensationalised by the media and is not a reflection of what is on the ground. By adopting a proactive stance in rebranding their country, Zimbabweans will perhaps finally realise that when it comes to image, “being in possession of the truth is not enough, the truth has to be sold” (Anholt,all places are in trouble now, or will be in the near future. The onset of globalisation of the world's economy, country political dynamics and the accelerating pace of technological changes are some of the forces that require all places to learn how to compete on the world arena. Porter (1990) states that the framework for understanding a company’s sources of competitive advantage can be extended to the level of nations. It is basically concerned with the question as to why some nations succeed in global competition when others fail. Nations must learn how to think more like businesses if they are to survive and should begin by identifying their competitive advantages and building on them. As countries compete for inward investment, tourism and export of goods and services- success or failure can accurately be chartered, and questions of reputation, image, identity and hence marketing and branding become central to the competitive edge (Olins, 1999). Faced with the challenge of a negative image, a country must adopt a proactive stance to correct this image. This is where the question of country branding comes in. Branding a country for many is misconstrued and interpreted to simply mean designing a new logo for their country and possibly a slogan to go underneath it. However country-banding proponents highlight that there is a difference between nation branding and tourism promotion. It helps even less that there are so many communications agencies ABSTRACT “Almost all places are in trouble, but some are in more trouble than others" Kotler, Haider & Rein (1993) Kotler, Haider & Rein (1993) contend that all places are in trouble now, or will be in the near future. The onset of globalisation of the world's economy, country political dynamics and the accelerating pace of technological changes are some of the forces that require all places to learn how to compete on the world arena. Porter (1990) states that the framework for understanding a company’s sources of competitive advantage can be extended to the level of nations. It is basically concerned with the question as to why some nations succeed in global competition when others fail. Nations must learn how to think more like businesses if they are to survive and should begin by identifying their competitive advantages and building on them. As countries compete for inward investment, tourism and export of goods and services- success or failure can accurately be chartered, and questions of reputation, image, identity and hence marketing and branding become central to the competitive edge (Olins, 1999). Faced with the challenge of a negative image, a country must adopt a proactive stance to correct this image. This is where the question of country branding comes in. Branding a country for many is misconstrued and interpreted to simply mean designing a new logo for their country and possibly a slogan to go underneath it. However country-banding proponents highlight that there is a difference between nation branding and tourism promotion. It helps even less that there are so many communications agencies that perhaps frustrated by lack of pure strategy capacity to sell to governments, have fallen into the habit of i Sibonokuhle GUMPO - 34462481 pandering to this misconception and simply selling logos and slogans to any government prepared to buy them (Anholt, 2003). However faced with the urgent need to address the crippling impact of a negative image, countries like Zimbabwe cannot simply wait and expect things to turn out for the better. Kotler et al (1993) stress that places are not able to respond to negative images concerning their nations as quickly as negative perceptions are built, be it through media, word of mouth or other channels. As a result the importance of a pro-active response cannot be overemphasized. This study explores the current negative image of Zimbabwe and tries to define the root or source of this negative image. Having defined or spelt out what is thought to be the problem, the researcher than explores possible ways of how the stakeholders of Zimbabwe can rebrand their country reflecting on known success stories. Kotler et al (1993) contend that the central tenet of marketing places is that in spite of the powerful internal and external forces that buffet them, places have within their collective resources and people the capacity to improve their relative competitive positions. Zimbabweans in general believe that their situation has been sensationalised by the media and is not a reflection of what is on the ground. By adopting a proactive stance in rebranding their country, Zimbabweans will perhaps finally realise that when it comes to image, “being in possession of the truth is not enough, the truth has to be sold” (Anholt, / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

Employer branding has over the last 15 years gone from being a fashion concept to becoming a strong, established priority for many employers. Earlier research points to the importance of a strong employer brand for the well-being of a company. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of Västerås city’s work with employer branding and to highlight employee experiences of Västerås city as an employer. The following questions are answered in the essay: • How do HR staff in Västerås city work with employer branding? • How do the existing employees experience Västerås city as an employer? To answer these questions, a qualitative methodology was used with case study as a research strategy. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews. One interview was conducted with HR staff in Västerås city and four interviews were conducted with employees in various sectors within Västerås city. Their answers were then analyzed based on the chosen theoretical framework. The result showed that Västerås city emphasizes internal staff work to create a strong employer brand. This is done by emphasizing the importance of a good working environment, values and good leadership. Employees are involved in external communication through, for example, ambassador programs and EVP. All employees emphasized job security as one of the most important factors for their employers' choice. It was also a decisive factor in making them stay in Västerås city. Other important factors that were mentioned by the employees in the study were; personnel policy and administrative systems as well as work in itself. Improvement points raised by the staff in the study were to be more visible as employers for existing employees as well as more development opportunities to an even greater extent. / Employer branding har under de senaste 15 åren gått från att vara ett modebegrepp till att bli en stark, etablerad prioritering hos många arbetsgivare. Den tidigare forskningen pekar på vikten av ett starkt employer brand för ett företags välmående. Syftet med denna studie är att få en förståelse för hur arbetet med employer branding går till inom Västerås stad samt belysa medarbetares upplevelser och erfarenheter av Västerås stad som arbetsgivare. Följande frågeställningar besvaras i uppsatsen: • Hur arbetar HR-personal inom Västerås stad med employer branding? • Hur upplever befintliga medarbetarna Västerås stad som arbetsgivare? För att besvara dessa frågeställningar användes en kvalitativ metod med fallstudie som forskningsstrategi. Datamaterialet samlades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. En intervju genomfördes med HR-personal på Västerås stad och fyra intervjuer genomfördes med medarbetare inom olika sektorer inom Västerås stad. Deras svar analyserades sedan utifrån det valda teoretiska ramverket. Resultatet visade att Västerås stad betonar det interna personalarbetet för att skapa ett starkt employer brand. Detta görs genom att framhäva vikten av en god arbetsmiljö, värderingar och bra ledarskap. Medarbetarna involveras i den externa kommunikationen genom exempelvis ambassadörsprogram och EVP. Samtliga medarbetare framhävde anställningstrygghet som en av de viktigaste faktorerna till deras val av arbetsgivare. Det var även en avgörande faktor för att få de att stanna inom Västerås stad. Andra faktorer som benämndes positiva enligt medarbetarna i studien var; personalpolitik och administrativa system samt arbetet i sig självt. Förbättringspunkter som lyftes av medarbetarna i studien var att visa sig mer synliga som arbetsgivare för de befintliga medarbetarna samt fler utvecklingsmöjligheter i ännu större omfattning.