Diploma thesis "Sensory and emotional marketing" deals with engagement of sensory stimulations and try to clarify their meaning in commercial communication. It approaches this issue for which struggles to create a theoretical background. Emphasis is placed on the use of sensory stimuli, both within the various communication products or services, but also multiple-sensory involvement in the brand communication. After defining the basic concepts of marketing and brand management, the work is fully focused on the consumer and his behavior in the shopping environment. It also brings to the multiple-sensory communication as an opportunity, through which companies can gain a competitive advantage in the market. On the basis of practical examples there is demonstrated the effectiveness of the involvement of multiple sensory stimuli toward consumers. The final text is devoted an investigation, that was as part of this work done, and produces results revealing the importance of individual factors, focusing on selection of coffee and cafes.

This Master's Thesis focuses on the role of personal networks and importance of its use in business development. It details the role of personal branding in networking. There are two main sources of research used in the work: financial and business data of 10 networking clubs based in Prague as well as the collected information from in-depth interviews with the entrepreneurs. Analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data enable the author to draw correlation between the elements of the personal brand and its effects on the results of networking.

Czech Tourist Authority, CzechTourism, decided in 2011 to start a longterm process of destination brand rebranding.The aim of this thesis is to evaluate and analyze the effectiveness of the activities carried out so far in all steps.The thesis is divided into several parts, the first part concentrates on brand and image of the country, the second part is focused on corporate identity, the content of the third chapter is a theory about rebranding. Practical part contains a sum of activities and events throughout the history of the country affected the brand as well as the reasons for the rebranding and problem areas. In conclusion various steps of CzechTourism and designs of visual identity are evaluated and analyzed and a few next steps are recommended.

The aim of my final thesis is to explain important terms which the marketers should know while wanting to build the successful brand. I would like to outline terms as promotion, distribution, indentity and brand value. Furthermore I willfocus on terms such as marketing mix and its parts. The aim of the practical part is to present the firm SCA Packaging and to compare the theory with brand building of this firm.

The main object of this thesis is to study and explore if students at Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE) can find potential employers though Event Marketing (EM). The authors will analyze EM as a tool for interaction and information, and if these tools will help students gain more knowledge about companies that can make them more interesting as potential employers. Previous research was found regarding both EM and Employer Branding (EB), however there was little research found on how they can be used together. There was also little research to be found from business students point of view since in both EM and EB the previous research had rather been done from a company standpoint. Therefore, with the aim to fill these research gaps the following research question was formulated: Does event marketing help business and economics students find potential employers? The study uses a deductive research design with a quantitative research strategy, and the data was collected using a self-completing questionnaire. The authors adopted objectivism and positivism as their research philosophical standpoints. The sample was drawn though multi-stage cluster sampling, the samples selected contained 384 students enrolled at USBE and 132 replies was received and analyzed. The questions in the online self-completing questionnaire were designed to measure variables such as information and interaction. Findings indicate that EM does help Umeå business and economics students find new potential employers. However, students do not feel that they learn that much about new companies, they do not feel that they are interacting with companies and they do not feel that they are gaining more knowledge about a company at an event. The findings contribute to the research field of business administration. Specifically, the merging of EB and EM and how it is perceived from a student´s point of view rather than from a company’s perspective. The students do believe that events are an effective way to meet companies, however the empirical results from event attendees show differently. The theories within the subject and the answers from students regarding if they believe in EM or not are counterintuitive. Therefore, this study opens up possibilities for future research.

En general, una de las habilidades más importantes que debe poseer una empresa es la capacidad de saber cómo es que posiblemente actuarán sus consumidores. Para ello necesitan desarrollar buenas estrategias de marca, entre las más comunes están el uso de redes sociales, branded content sites, la comunicación a través de influencers, el brand experience, alianzas de marca, entre otras. ​Debido a ​la competencia excesiva de la actualidad​, ​las empresas han dejado su ego atrás y están buscando nuevas estrategias que en el pasado eran inconcebibles, como ​las alianzas de marca. E​xisten distintos tipos de alianza de marca, entre los cuales destacan las siguientes: promociones conjuntas, patrocinios y auspicios; y Co-branding. El Co-branding ​es una manera de acercarse al consumidor mediante un acuerdo en el cual se asocia a un único producto o servicio con más de una marca. ​Por otro lado, ​existen diversas versiones sobre las distintas estrategias de co-branding. Sin embargo, en el presente estudio se utilizará una de las estrategias propuestas por Tom Blackett y Bob Boad (2001). Esta es la estrategia basada en el respaldo de valores, en ella u​na de las marcas está destinada a incluir el respaldo a los valores y posicionamiento de la marca de uno de los socios o de ambos. Su elección se debe a que ​esta estrategia es la menos utilizada por las empresas y muchos autores miden el éxito o fracaso del co-branding atendiendo solamente a ciertos criterios parciales como el operativo. / In general, one of the most important skills a business should possess is the ability to know how its consumers are likely to act. To do this, they need to develop good branding strategies. Among the most common are the use of social networks, branded content sites, communication through influencers, the brand experience, brand alliances, among others. Due to today's excessive competition, companies have left their ego behind and are seeking new strategies that were inconceivable in the past, such as brand partnerships. There are different types of brand alliances, such as the following: joint promotions, sponsorships and sponsorships; and Co-branding.   Co-branding is a way of approaching the consumer through an agreement in which a single product or service is associated with more than one brand. On the other hand, there are different versions of the different co-branding strategies. However, in the present study one of the strategies proposed by Tom Blackett and Bob Boad (2001) will be used. This is the strategy based on the endorsement of values, in it one of the brands is intended to include endorsement of the values and brand positioning of one of the partners or both. His choice is due to the fact that this strategy is the least used by companies. Many authors even measure the success or failure of co-branding based only on certain partial criteria such as the operational one. / Trabajo de investigación

The need for Swedish SMEs to expand beyond their limited domestic market grows, spurred on by fading barriers to international trade. Often consisting mainly of engineers without marketing experience, the SMEs cannot afford to recruit expertise in internationalisation. The international business environment is complex, and attempting to internationalise through trial and error, often ends poorly. To remedy this, the objectives of this study has been: To explore and compare how Swedish SMEs expand to other markets. To identify which factors in this expansion pose the largest problems                          to Swedish SMEs. To assure that these objectives were fulfilled, two research questions were formulated: RQ1: What is the internationalisation pattern for Swedish SMEs? RQ2: What are the main problems encountered by Swedish SMEs when                                         expanding their market from domestic to international? The study has been exploratory and descriptive, taking a deductive approach. The research strategy has been multiple holistic case studies. Data was collected qualitatively through semi-structured interviews and analysed through within-case analysis and cross-case analysis. The main findings show that SMEs are increasingly strategic and systematic with time, and that advice given by the interviewed subject revolved around being strategic and systematic from an earlier stage. It also seems that SMEs are fairly systematic in market selection and customer acquisition, and that market entry occurs in many different ways. Furthermore, branding revolves around appearing trustworthy and “larger than they actually are.” Strategies for employer branding seems lacking in all but the most mature SMEs. Also, strong strategic partners are a valuable tactic for long-term success. The practical implications revolve around the importance of being systematic and strategic from the start, highlighting the importance of larger strategic partners, and focusing on relationships with customers, and what value the SME can offer them.

The aim of this study is to investigate how self-employed entrepreneurs create and manage their brands and how the entrepreneurs engage customers to their brands in online and offline contexts. Furthermore, the viewpoints of entrepreneurs towards branding will be explored To answer the research question, a qualitative, multiple case study was conducted. The primary data was collected by semi-structured interviews and the secondary data was obtained by studying the entrepreneur´s social media behaviour. This study found that entrepreneurs build their brands by utilizing their own personalities and characteristics. The brands created have loyal following and the customers are positively engaged. The engagement process itself is due to the relationships built between the company and the customers. Even if the brands are effective, there is not much strategic elements to them but are rather very organic.

Inom marknadskommunikation har det genom åren blivit allt viktigare för företag att engagera sig i sociala frågor i syfte att bygga upp sitt varumärke (Dahlén, Lange & Rosengren2017). Genom samhällsutvecklingen har synen på könsstereotyper och ideal förändrats vilket har bidragit till att feministiska budskap inom reklam har tagit en väsentlig roll. Genomfeministisk manifestation kan varumärken uppmärksamma och förmedla budskap tillframförallt kvinnor och samtidigt bidra till en positiv och stärkande bild av varumärket (Windels, Champlin, Shelton, Sterbenk & Poteet 2019). Syftet med studien är att skapa kunskap om hur feministiska budskap används för att byggaett varumärke. För att besvara syftet har en tematisk analys med stöd av semiotisk analysundersökt bilder, reklamfilm och skriftlig kommunikation publicerade på Estrids egna kontrollerade kanaler. Studien har sin utgångspunkt i teorierna kulturell branding, kommodifierad feminism, femvertising samt semiotik och analyserar hur feministiska budskap kommer till uttryck i Estrids marknadskommunikation. Genom analysen framgår fyra huvudteman som ligger till grund för Estrids kommunikation i form av mångfald, bestäm över din egen kropp, utmana normerna och att sälja feminism. Dessa utgörande teman påvisaratt självständighet, självsäkerhet och befriande av kvinnans kropp är de huvudsakligafeministiska tecken som kommer till uttryck och som fäster betydelse till produkterna. De visar även att feministiska budskap används i syfte att bygga upp sin varumärkesidentitettillsammans med ett kommersiellt intresse, vilket är fördelaktigt för Estrid men kan vara problematiskt då det kan förminska feminismens kraft och betydelse. Studiens resultat visar att ett varumärke kan bygga sin identitet och skapa en plats på marknaden genom feministiska budskap som utmanar kulturellt skapade samhällsnormer. Estrid påvisar med användning av kommodifierad feminism i kombination med kulturell branding att deras kommunikation tar utgångspunkt i feministiska budskap som byggt deras varumärke och skapat en tydlig plats på marknaden. De tar ställning till kulturellt konstruerade samhällsnormer och har även ett bakomliggande kommersiellt intresse. Studien är skriven på svenska. / Over the years it has become increasingly important for companies regarding marketing communication to get involved in social issues in order to build their brand (Dahlén, Lange &Rosengren 2017). Due to changes in society, the view of gender stereotypes and body norms has changed which have contributed to the fact that feminist messages in advertising have taken on a significant role. Through feminist manifestation, brands can draw attention to and present messages to particularly women, and at the same time contribute to a positive and strengthening image of the brand (Windels, Champlin, Shelton, Sterbenk & Poteet 2019).The purpose of the study is to gain knowledge about how feminism in marketing communication is used to build a brand. To answer the purpose, a thematic analysis based on a semiotic analysis has been used to examine images, commercials and texts published on Estrid's own controlled marketing channels. The study is based on the theories of cultural branding, commodified feminism, femvertising and semiotics which support the analysis of how feminist messages are expressed in Estrid's marketing communication. In the analysis four main themes appear in Estrid's communication which are diversity, determined over your own body, challenging the norms and selling feminism. These defining themes reveal that independence, self-confidence and the liberation of the woman's body are the main feminist signs that are expressed and attached to the products. They also indicate that feminist messages are used in order to build their brand identity together with a commercial interest, which is beneficial for Estrid but can be problematic as it can diminish the power and significance of feminism. The results of the study show that a brand can build its identity and create a market position through feminist messages that challenge culturally created societal norms. Estrid demonstrates that their communication is based on feminist messages by using commodified feminism in combination with cultural branding, which have helped built their brand and create a distinct market position. Through their marketing communication they engage in culturally constructed societal norms while having an underlying commercial interest. The study is written in Swedish.

In recent years, the fashion industry has set off a trend of co-branding, and co-branding has become a unique marketing strategy for major brands to obtain benefits. However, there are potential risks when brands are selecting joint partners. The literature in this paper addresses both the positive effects of co-branding and how it is viewed from a business and customer perspective related to customer loyalty. Besides, previous researches on how to correctly select joint partners have not been explored in the collected literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of the strategy of choosing partners for brands from a negative aspect under the current trend of brand cooperation，and to propose relevant implications through case analysis. The research method used in this paper is qualitative research by conducting case studies and four focus groups. The findings indicate that communication and connection are the basis for two brands to having success. Furthermore, the enterprise needs to evaluate and estimate the capabilities of the partners by analyzing the external environment and opportunities. Besides, with the help of co-brand partners, brands can make up for their shortcomings and work together to achieve the expected goal.