The bachelor thesis examines conceptions behind the Swedish public librarian?s opinions of the public library as a meeting place. The study uses the critical discourse analysis, developed by Ernest Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, to analyze a focus group interview. The discourse analysis identifies four themes in the empirical material: the imagined arena of the meeting place, the behaviour in the meeting place, the meeting place?s librarian and the polemic against the meeting place.

There are many views in the concept of corporate reputation and the massive research in the area tends to result in many new definitions. Research has shown that a good corporate reputation has a positive relation to Sustainable Competitive Advantage, financial performance and attraction to competent employees. The many views in the concept make it especially interesting to examine the view on corporate reputation in a perspective of big Swedish corporations. Another interesting area to examine is whether the companies manage their reputation or not. The empirical findings of this essay are based on qualitative interviews to get a deeper understanding in the area of reputation.

Syfte:  Syftet är att analysera och utvärdera Apoteket Shop och The Body Shop som varumärkeMetod:  Denna studie har utgått ifrån ett holistiskt synsätt. Det valda teoretiska förhållningssättet är deduktion och en kvalitativ forskningsmetod i form av djupintervjuer samt kvantitativ forskningsmetod i form av en enkätundersökning.Teorier:  Involvement Theory, Brand, Brand Strategy, Brand Equity, Business Concept, Planning Philosophies, Brand Service Value Chain, Total Communication.Empiri:  Totalt 6 st djupintervjuer med representanter på Apoteket Shop och The Body Shop. Enkätundersökning med 25 stycken kunder på vardera företag.Resultat:  Resultatet visar att Apoteket Shop har ett långsiktigt tänkande men en bit kvar i implementeringsarbetet. The Body Shop har ett långsiktigt tänkande vilket även syns tydligt i deras arbete. Slutsats:  De otillbörliga konkurrensfördelar som Apoteket Shop har är att de redan tillhör ett starkt och väletablerat varumärke. Om Apoteket Shop inte arbetar så att organisationsutformningen är i samklang med den starka affärsidén/varumärket kommer de otillbörliga konkurrensfördelar endast att vara kortsiktiga då förutsättningarna för en långsiktighet inte finns inom organisationen.    .

The retailing landscape has become even more competitive with an increasing number of store formats. One result of this can be seen within different retail-chains as they launch different formats that operate under the same name. Thus, consumers now have many alternatives and substitutes when it comes to choosing which format to shop from. This phenomenon has led consumes to shop across stores for the same brand. The objective of this study is to explain how consumers respond to various offers in different store formats and to determine whether the results differ if we compare a familiar brand with an unfamiliar brand.

Companies of today are facing a development where it is more significant to focus on existing customers since the approach constitute a more cost reducing way, compared to finding new customers. During the last decades the marketing has therefore moved towards a relationship based marketing. Companies emphasize creating long-term relationships with customers, instead of consider the sale as a non-recurrent phenomenon. To engender customer loyalty has been an essential objective in the creation of long-term relationships.In this essay the authors have chosen to do a study which enlighten how companies in the ready-made apparel business produce added value to their brand and through this generate customer loyalty. Through a case study we analyze how Filippa K, Tiger of Sweden and Gant do to maintain value in their brand, in both a business- and customer perspective.

The aim of this Master's thesis is to study the public library identity from a brand perspective, how the public library brand identitity is communicated through blogs and what is communicated in them.The authors analyse the public library identity through selected concepts and a model within Aaker´s and Kapferer´s branding theories. These theories have been applied on literature and blogs as a method. The authors have examined literature about the public library identity in different works within Library and Information Science and political documents that applied to public libraries. An empirical study has been carried out on blogs published by public libraries in Sweden.The result of this study has lead to the identification of different core and extended identities for the public library brand. The core identities have been identified as democracy, adult education (the swedish word ?folkbildning? has no correct translation in english, adult education is the recommended related term) and lifelong learning.

Purpose: To contribute to the understanding of the relationship between private labels and the retailer brand in grocery retailing. Methodology: We use structured interviews as a cross-sectional method for quantitative data collection. The existence of the relationship is tested through correlation analysis and regression analysis. Theoretical perspective: Perceived quality of private labels and of retailers are the main theoretical concepts for this thesis. Additionally, we introduce the concept of loyalty to show the benefits of a positive consumer image.

Swedish consulting companies within the architecture-and engineering business exist on a market that is distinguished by an increasing globalization and internationalization. The companies? commissions are based mostly on long-term, personal clientele. These relations are threatened by a huge number of coming retirements and high employee turnover.Consequently these companies need to improve and strengthen their relationships with existing customers, to create long-term employee and customer loyalty. The purpose of this essay was to analyze and evaluate consulting companies´ internal marketing.

Denna studie fokuserar på att se till hur företagen resonerar i samband med val av produkter och brand extensions specifikt och hur konsumenterna ser på företagets agerande i det här sammanhanget, med avseende på produkterna. Vi utgår här ifrån problemformuleringen; hur väl överensstämmer företagets avsikt med en brand extension med kundernas syn på denna? Studien bygger på insamling av kvalitativa data genom intervjuer med företags beslutsfattare samt med fokusgrupper av konsumenter. Vi tillämpar här ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv och har inslag av både induktion och deduktion i vår ansats. Den teoretiska referensramen utgörs av teorier inom dels aspekter såsom vad ett varumärke och en vision innebär men framför allt vilka fördelar och nackdelar respektive möjligheter och begränsningar som kan påverka varför företaget vill göra en brand extension.

»Does it have to be so green?« is a visual communication project focused on packaging design. I attempted to challenge the clichés of graphic design for organic products and designed a packaging concept for a fictional food brand. The project had a special objec¬tive which was to explore ways to use the package as carrier for in¬formation about the enviromental impact of the packaging itself.The process included research about packaging design and its ef¬fect on the consumer, an investigation of the Swedish market for organic foods, creating and defining a brand, and designing a cohe¬rent packaging concept for a product line which communicates the brand?s values and appeals to the intended target group.The project resulted in prototypes for a muesli package, tea car¬ton and honey jar, as well as a manual that explains the application of the graphic program..

Syftet med uppsatsen är att jämföra, undersöka, identifiera och urskilja de eventuella korrelationsmönster som uppkommer när brand value för ett antal globala företag står som beroende variabel i förhållande till en uppsättning utvalda nyckeltal. Arbetet kommer att utgå från en kvantitativ metod med en deduktiv ansats. Genom multipla och enkla linjära regressionsanalyser kommer korrelationen för de undersökta företagens X-variabler EBIDTA, EBIT, marknadsföringskostnad, nettoresultat, aktievärde och EPS att mätas gentemot den valda Y-variabeln brand value.Resultatet visar på att de variabler som överlag haft högst korrelation gentemot brand value är de som på olika sätt visar på företagens intjäningskapacitet. Verksamheter inom data- och internetbranschen har haft högst korrelationsvärden i studien. Främst visade dock regressionsanalyserna skillnader på individuell nivå.

Communication can be heard in many different ways and it is important for all businesses, especially in B2B. The construction and maintenance of a brand plays just like the communication a very important part. These parts also have a lot to common and affect each other in a large extent. One problem that may occur in many companies is the failure to grow and gain a larger share of the market even if they in various ways are trying. Expander is one of those companies and in this research report we studied communication and brand building, focusing on brand management, relationships and integrated marketing. Here we drew the conclusion that all these areas are important for a company, especially in the Business-to-Business marketing in different ways.

AbstractTitle: Strategic Communication within franchising, a case study of GallerixNumber of pages: 60 (65 with enclosures)Author: Charlotta Babington ThorszeliusCourse: Media and Communication DPeriod: Spring 2008University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University, SwedenPurpose/Aim: To find out, by doing a case study, how communication between the two parties in a franchising relationship works, and how communication can strengthen the concept and brand. By analysing the communication, identify strengths and weaknesses and make suggestions for improvement.Material/Method: Qualitative method by using interviewsMain results: The understanding of the concept and the relationship between franchiser and franchisees are vital for the success of the franchising chain. The main internal communication channel today is the Intranet, and more personal contacts and meetings are requested. The yearly meetings are appreciated by the franchisees, but the content of the meetings are of varied quality. The chains value words, which are important for how the brand is perceived by the customer, are slightly different from how the franchiser and the franchisees sees them.

This paper discusses the issue of trade dress imitation in the grocery sector. Our study has its starting point in the conflict that may arise between a brand owner and an imitator following an imitator?s marketing actions. In this study we look at the Market Court?s precedents in which this question has been addressed.

Earlier studies and research on the subject of perception and social media during the working process resulted in a change of the problem. At first the focus of the study was to examine how social media affects the perception of a brand although later on the problem had to be developed to instead examine if social media reflects the perception of a brand. The purpose of this study is to figure out if social media reflects consumer?s perception of a brand. This will contribute to company?s knowledge on how important social media is in their branding and will give pointers on how many resources that is necessary to spend on branding in social media.