Titel: “Sveriges bästa plats att bo på” - En fallstudie om kommunens positionering och utveckling av platsvarumärkesvärde. Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi. Författare: Elvira Plötz och Linnea Selberg Handledare: Lars-Johan Åge Datum: 2024 – maj Syfte: Syftet med studien är att värdera hur en kommun genom strategiskt arbete utvecklar långsiktig varumärkespositionering och platsvarumärkesvärde. Studien baseras på ett forskningsgap och behandlar två forskningsfrågor. Hur uppfattar en kommun att de kan arbeta med platsvarumärket för att skapa en långsiktig positionering? Hur effektivt är arbetet med att utveckla platsvarumärket för kommunen? Metod: Studien har en kvalitativ metod, en abduktiv forskningsansats och är en fallstudie om platsvarumärket Piteå. Empiriska data har samlats in utifrån semistrukturerade intervjuer och officiella dokument, med ett målstyrt urval baserat på arbetsuppgifter och relevans. Data har transkriberats, bearbetats till kategorier och komprimerat för att teoretiseras. Resultat och slutsats: Forskningen visar att olika komponenter krävs för en långsiktig positionering. Utvecklingen av platsvarumärken bör ses som en effektiv investering, däremot finns det svårigheter med att mäta aktiviteters inverkan. En kombination mellan en varm och kall marknadsföringsstrategi är fördelaktigt. Examensarbetets bidrag: Kandidatuppsatsen bidrar med teoretisk förståelse att positioneringen baseras på platsvarumärkesvärde. Positioneringen blir en strategisk plan för bevarandet och utvecklingen av platsvarumärkesvärde. Vidare att politiken har en betydande roll för platsvarumärket. Kommunens huvudsyssla är varm marknadsföring, där kall marknadsföring är ett effektivt komplement för att nå potentiella invånare. Forskningen framhåller platsvarumärksarbetet likt en investering som genererar resurser. Det praktiska bidraget är att en gemensam positionering inom kommunen måste finnas för att skapa trovärdighet och effektivitet. Samt att det i nuläget inte går att mäta aktiviteters inverkan, utan att värdera olika aktiviteter ger direktiv till arbetet. Förslag till framtida forskning: Vi rekommenderar att studera möjligheter att mäta aktiviteters effekter på platsvarumärkesvärde samt påverkan kall och varm marknadsföring har på individer. / Title: “Sweden ́s best place to live in”- A case study on the municipality ́s positioning and development of place brand equity. Level: Student thesis, Bachelor Degree in Business Administration  Authors: Elvira Plötz and Linnea Selberg Supervisor: Lars-Johan Åge Date: 2024 – May  Aim: The purpose of the study is to evaluate how a municipality, through strategic work, develops long term brand positioning and place brand value. The study is based on a research gap and addresses two research questions.  How does a municipality perceive they can work with the place brand to create a long-term positioning? How effective is the work in developing a place brand for the municipality?  Method: The study has a quality method, an abductive research approach and is a case study of the place brand Piteå. Empirical data has been collected through semi- structured interviews and official documents, with a purposive sampling based on job roles and relevance. The data has been transcribed, processed into categories, and reduced for theorization.  Results and conclusions: The research shows that various components are required for long-term positioning. The development of place brands should be seen as an effective investment; however, there are difficulties in measuring the impact of activities. A combination of a warm and cool marketing strategy is beneficial.  Contribution of the thesis: The bachelor ́s thesis contributes to theoretical understanding by stating that positioning is based on place brand value. Positioning becomes a strategic plan for preserving and developing place brand value. Furthermore, politics plays a significant role in the place brand. The municipality ́s main activity is warm marketing, where cold marketing is an effective complement to reach potential residents. The research highlights place branding work as an investment that generates resources. The practical contribution is that a unified positioning within the municipality is necessary to create credibility and efficiency. Additionally, it is currently not possible to measure the impact of activities, but evaluating various activities provides guidance for the work.  Suggestions for future research: We recommend studying the possibilities of measuring the effects of activities on place brand value as well as the impact of cold and warm marketing on individuals.

Adopting an inside out perspective to city branding, this doctoral thesis examines the significance of residents and their relationship towards cities in terms of association, identity and ownership of the physical environment, in the context of city branding. This is important because the growing interest towards city branding not only challenged the traditional understanding of branding concepts but also forced academics and practitioners to seek ways to mould and shape existing concepts to the context of city branding. This qualitative study was undertaken within a constructivist grounded theory methodology and uses Leeds, UK and Istanbul, Turkey as deliberately contrasting case studies. In accordance with grounded theory, the literature was only used to inform rather than direct the research design. The sampling design involved initial and theoretical sampling and in total of 22 residents interviewed from both cities. The emergent place brand identity mosaic comprises of four main categories of social process (SP), place attachment (PA), sense of place (SoP) and built environment (BE), and the most significant feature of the place identity mosaic is that it is processual, dynamic, and time and context specific. In terms of contribution to knowledge, the present study bridges the gap in between the subject fields of branding (brand management) and urban studies by proposing an inside out approach to branding cities. The findings indicate that the place brand identity mosaic elements provide a platform to explain how residents make sense of where they live and to begin to understand the concept of the city brand identity. Moreover, in regards to practice, it brings a new perspective to the existing city managements by highlighting a focal point of “keeping the existing customers happy” through investigating and understanding the role and significance of residents, their attachment to where they live and how this insight can be cooperated into creating and developing a sustainable city brand.

Place branding is complex, and marketers need to find new ways in order of place branding. This thesis concerns communication on social media during an event, and its influence of place brand image. Place brand image is a very wide and complex concept. Therefore, this thesis focuses on three place attributes, namely, people, place, and pulse.   The research purpose is to explore engagement on social media and how that may influence a place brand image. The thesis focuses on visual content in frame of Instagram feeds during an event. The context of this thesis is a case study of Melodifestivalen in Kristianstad. Through a qualitative research approach, Instagram posts were selected and analysed. Moreover, two focus groups were conducted to gain an additional perspective of how the participants perceptions of the city image communicated on Instagram and how the selected Instagram posts may contribute to the image of Kristianstad.   Findings reveal that a city gains attention during an event to promote the city. By using an event as a marketing tool influence a place brand image to a favourable place by representing a allured city centre. Furthermore, the findings reveal that content created during an event is beneficial for a city.  This thesis adds insights to the field of event marketing being used as place branding. The main contribution of this thesis is understanding that an event can successfully be used as a marketing tool to influence a place brand image by stimulating engagement on Social media.

Adopting an inside out perspective to city branding, this doctoral thesis examines the significance of residents and their relationship towards cities in terms of association, identity and ownership of the physical environment, in the context of city branding. This is important because the growing interest towards city branding not only challenged the traditional understanding of branding concepts but also forced academics and practitioners to seek ways to mould and shape existing concepts to the context of city branding. This qualitative study was undertaken within a constructivist grounded theory methodology and uses Leeds, UK and Istanbul, Turkey as deliberately contrasting case studies. In accordance with grounded theory, the literature was only used to inform rather than direct the research design. The sampling design involved initial and theoretical sampling and in total of 22 residents interviewed from both cities. The emergent place brand identity mosaic comprises of four main categories of social process (SP), place attachment (PA), sense of place (SoP) and built environment (BE), and the most significant feature of the place identity mosaic is that it is processual, dynamic, and time and context specific. In terms of contribution to knowledge, the present study bridges the gap in between the subject fields of branding (brand management) and urban studies by proposing an inside out approach to branding cities. The findings indicate that the place brand identity mosaic elements provide a platform to explain how residents make sense of where they live and to begin to understand the concept of the city brand identity. Moreover, in regards to practice, it brings a new perspective to the existing city managements by highlighting a focal point of “keeping the existing customers happy” through investigating and understanding the role and significance of residents, their attachment to where they live and how this insight can be cooperated into creating and developing a sustainable city brand.

In the pursuit of attracting more tourists in a market where competition is growing on a global scale, place branding has become increasingly more common. An underexplored alternative within the place branding literature is place brand ecosystems, and how they can create value for both the place brand itself as well as the tourists that travel there. This thesis aimed to research how a place brand ecosystem can be conceptualised as well as how tourists derive value from viewing a place brand as a place brand ecosystem. The conceptualisation of the place brand ecosystem was conducted through a literature review, leading up to the construction of a conceptual framework. The constructed framework showed that a place brand ecosystem could be conceptualised through interactions between stakeholders, place brand perception, and value co-creation. This framework also set the basis for an interview guide to understand tourist value perception of place brand ecosystems. The data collection was conducted through a set of semi-structured interviews consisting of 11 respondents holding a degree of interest of Arjeplog as a tourist destination.  The results of the data collection showed that tourists saw value in functional attributes being more easily accessible to each other, meaning a place brand ecosystem where stakeholders co-operate will be able to construct their functional attributes more easily. The attributes themselves will differ between places, and the place brand ecosystem must identify their strengths and weaknesses among the stakeholders and adjust accordingly. Furthermore, the place brand ecosystem must manage the brand positioning in relation to the brand image, meaning they must meet the expectations they have set out to market, or the tourists would leave discontent as opposed to if they had travelled there without expectations.

Syfte Vårt syfte är att se hur musikfestivaler kan bidra till och påverka en orts platsmarknadsföring och platsvarumärke.Forskningsfrågor vi har formulerat är följande: Hur kan en musikfestival påverka en ort? Hur kan en ort dra nytta av en musikfestival i sin platsmarknadsföring? Varför skapar sig orter ett platsvarumärke? Metod Vi har utfört en kvalitativ studie. Vi började med att leta upp passande teori för musikturism då det området intresserar oss, efter det skapade vi syfte och forskningsfrågor. Därefter har vi har valt att utföra åtta delvis strukturerade intervjuer för insamling av empiri. Vi har med hjälp av den insamlade empirin skapat en teoretisk och empirisk analys. Slutligen kunde vi presentera våra slutsatser. Slutsatser Vi har efter slutfört arbete fått bekräftat att en musikfestival faktiskt påverkar en ort på olika vis. Den största påverkan vi uppmärksammat är den ekonomiska som bidrar till investeringar och utveckling av näringslivet på orten. Andra tydliga effekter är hur ortens invånare och samhället i stort påverkas. En musikfestival bidrar till en känsla av gemenskap bland invånarna och detta i sin tur bidrar till engagemang och stolthet runt festivalen. Orter väljer gärna att förknippas med festivaler i den mån det går i sin marknadsföring, dels befinner de sig på plats under festivaldagarna för att sprida information om orten bland festivalbesökarna. Dels väljer de att i sin egen marknadsföring använda sig av festivalens varumärke och värdeskapande associationer. Fördelen med att skapa ett platsvarumärke är att orten kan skapa en identitet som de sedan väljer att lyfta fram för att locka besökare och särskilja sig ifrån andra orter. / The purpose of this study is to examine the effects a music festival has on the cities where they take place. Before this study we thought there would be effects but we wanted to distinguish these effects. We were also interested to see how the cities could use the music festival to their advantage in a marketing perspective, and if they choose to so. We also wanted to see if this could help a city to create a place brand. To help us examine this we constructed the following three questions; How can a music festival affect a city? How can a city take advantage of a music festival in their marketing? Why do cities choose to create a place brand? We have conducted a qualitative research, where we started by doing research to narrow down our questions and purpose. After this we created an interview guide and then performed eight interviews. These interviews have been the foundation for our study and are combines with theory in an analysis chapter. From our collected information and analysis we were able to draw conclusions. We have confirmed that a music festival will actually have on cities in various ways. The biggest effect we observed is the economic effect that contributed to investments and business developments in the city. Other noticeable effects are how the local residents and the wider community were affected. A music festival creates a sense of community among residents and this in turn contributes to the dedication and pride surrounding the festival. Cities often choose to be associated with festivals as far as possible in their marketing, and one way to do that is to attend the festival to spread information about the city and municipality to the festival visitors. We also see that cities can choose to take advantage of the associations surrounding the festival and its brand to use it in their own marketing. The benefits from creating a place brand is that the place can create an identity by which they choose to highlight what is unique there to attract visitors and distinguish it from other cities.

p. 1-120 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-03-06T19:19:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 99999.pdf: 2678052 bytes, checksum: 63a3264742381de987621c6c8886c6b3 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Tatiana Lima(tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2013-03-13T20:45:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 99999.pdf: 2678052 bytes, checksum: 63a3264742381de987621c6c8886c6b3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-03-13T20:45:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 99999.pdf: 2678052 bytes, checksum: 63a3264742381de987621c6c8886c6b3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Nos últimos anos tem-se observado a existência da percepção da imagem dos países como um ativo poderoso para as economias nacionais. A projeção correta da identidade nacional e da imagem do país pode se tornar um importante instrumento de desenvolvimento econômico. A utilização estratégica deste ativo pode converte-lo numa marca nacional. Uma marca lugar representa um caminho mais curto para decisões econômicas. O desafio consiste em como construir e posicionar esta marca adequadamente de modo que possa resultar em benefícios para o país. O propósito deste trabalho foi compreender o processo de formação e implementação de uma marca lugar, com o objetivo de produzir conhecimentos que sirvam para a implementação de uma marca Bahia.O objeto empírico analisado foi a experiência em construção de marca lugar da Nova Zelândia, nas dimensões turismo, investimentos e educação. Foi adotada a metodologia de estudo de caso. Para obtenção de dados primários foram feitas entrevistas semi-estruturadas através de correio eletrônico. O caso foi analisado considerando-se três aspectos: identidade, ações e comunicação. Como resultado verificou-se que um programa de marca lugar deve refletir a identidade local, deve ser construído a partir de uma base real, e precisa contar com a participação dos vários setores da sociedade. / Salvador

Syftet med denna undersökning är att se hur tidigare bruksorter arbetar för en fortsatt utveckling efter en tid av avindustrialisering. För att undersöka detta gjordes en fallstudie med Åtvidaberg kommun som studieobjekt. Tanken var att finna vilka utmaningar och möjligheter som en sådan ort har i att få en fortsatt utveckling samt vilka metoder som kan användas. Det teoretiska ramverket för studien består av fyra begrepp: platsmarknadsföring, platsidentitet, platsvarumärke och platsbild. Dessa begrepp används för att förstå de metoder som användes i utvecklingen. Studien genomfördes huvudsakligen genom 6 intervjuer samt analys av kommunala plandokument. Det huvudsakliga resultatet från studien är att Åtvidaberg kommun förlitar sig mycket på den större grannkommunen för bland annat arbetstillfällen medan deras egna fokus läggs på att utveckla bostadsmöjligheter. Åtvidaberg kommun spelar an på deras goda läge genom att försöka skapa en platsbild som god pendlingsort. Vidare använder Åtvidaberg kommun sitt industriella kulturarv för att behålla sin egen platsidentitet genom att lyfta upp det i olika sammanhang däribland skolan och kulturverksamhet. / The purpose of this study is to see how former company towns work for continued development after a period of deindustrialization. To study this, a case study was conducted with Åtvidaberg municipality as the study object. The idea was to find what challenges and opportunities such a place has in achieving continued development and what methods can be used. The theoretical framework for the study consists of four concepts: place marketing, place identity, place brand and place image. These concepts are used to understand the methods used in development. The study was mainly carried out through 6 interviews and analysis of municipal planning documents. The main result from the study is that Åtvidaberg municipality relies heavily on the larger neighbouring municipality for, among other things, job opportunities, while their own focus is on developing housing opportunities. Åtvidaberg municipality plays on their good location by trying to create an image of the place as a good commuting location. Furthermore, Åtvidaberg municipality uses its industrial cultural heritage to maintain its own place identity by highlighting it in various contexts including the school and cultural activities.

Notre recherche s’inscrit au cœur du phénomène nouveau des marques de territoires. Nous avons abordé cet engouement territorial en le situant au cœur des pratiques de marketing territorial. Cette discipline a retenu notre attention pour différentes raisons : il s’agit d’une discipline jeune et énormément critiquée pour son « insuffisance de connaissances ». Mais il s’agit également d’une discipline en attente d’une nouvelle structuration. Au cœur de cette étude, nous avons déterminé les liens très forts unissant les pratiques de marketing territorial et l’attractivité. Nous nous sommes donc positionnés en faveur d’une analyse de ce phénomène nouveau, que sont les marques de territoire, afin de le matérialiser, le décortiquer et surtout de comprendre sa place dans les logiques de marketing appliquées au territoire. Nous avons retenu deux cas d’études de cette pratique : Only Lyon et Bretagne. / This research joins at the heart of the new phenomenon of place branding. We approached this territorial craze by placing it in the heart of the practices of place marketing. This discipline caught our attention for various reasons: it is about a young discipline and enormously criticized for its " insufficiency of knowledge ". But it is also about a discipline awaiting a new structuring. At the heart of this research, we determined the very strong links uniting the practices of place marketing and the attractiveness. We positioned in favour of an analysis of this new phenomenon, that are place brands, and especially to understand its place in the applied logics of place marketing. We have analyzed two places brands cases : Only Lyon and Bretagne.

Le branding territorial est perçu aujourd’hui comme un élément central de la stratégie de développement et de promotion des territoires, permettant de construire autour d’un nom de marque une identité et une offre singulière du territoire. Cependant, bien qu’une marque territoriale puisse paraître comme un véritable levier de différenciation et de dynamisme, la réalité a montré qu’elle n’engendre pas systématiquement une amélioration de l’attractivité ou du développement du territoire. D’ailleurs, certaines marques ont réussi alors que d’autres ont échoué. La présente thèse cherche donc à explorer en profondeur ce nouveau phénomène et concourir à la compréhension du processus de création et de gestion des marques territoriales pour aboutir in fine à des marques réussies et pérennes. Sur la base d’une revue de littérature foisonnante et des modèles existants, un nouveau cadre de branding territorial est présenté. En adoptant une approche interprétative, cette recherche combine deux postures méthodologiques : une étude qualitative a été menée auprès de 30 principaux acteurs de Casablanca pouvant avoir un rôle dans la création et la gestion de la marque de la ville, et une enquête quantitative par questionnaire a également été réalisée auprès d’un échantillon de 1016 citoyens casablancais pour évaluer leur perception et leur ressenti quant à la marque WeCasablanca. Grâce à la méthode du jeu de cartes employée dans l’étude qualitative, nous avons pu confirmer l’importance de l’ensemble des éléments identifiés dans le cadre théorique, examiner les relations d’influence entre les composants et entériner le modèle qualitativement. Aussi, l’étude quantitative a permis de valider les relations d’influence définies dans le cadre conceptuel entre les six composants retenus pour le test, et nous avons pu tester et mettre en relation les différentes variables relatives à la perception, au ressenti et à l’appropriation d’une marque territoriale par les citoyens, ainsi qu’expliquer leur formation. / Place branding is perceived today as a central element of the development and promotion strategy of places, allowing to build around a brand name an identity and a singular place offer. However, although a place brand may seem like a real lever for differentiation and dynamism, reality has shown that it does not systematically generate an improvement in the place attractiveness or development. Besides, some brands have succeeded while others have failed. Therefore, this thesis seeks to explore in depth this new phenomenon and contribute to understand the place brands creation and management process to achieve successful and sustainable brands. Based on a rich literature review and existing models, a new place branding framework is presented. By adopting an interpretative approach, this research combines two methodological postures: a qualitative study was conducted among 30 main actors of Casablanca who could have a role in the city brand creation and management, and a quantitative questionnaire survey was also realized among a sample of 1016 citizens of Casablanca to assess their perception and feelings about the WeCasablanca brand. Thanks to the card game method used in the qualitative study, we were able to confirm the importance of all the elements identified in the theoretical framework, examine the influence relationships between the components and validate the model qualitatively. The quantitative study also validated the influence relationships defined in the conceptual framework between the six components selected for the test, and we were able to test and connect the different variables relating to the place brand perception, feeling and appropriation by the citizens, and to explain their formation.