AbstractTitle: 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.

AbstractInterest in the subject appeared from real events. We seemed to discern a trend in society. Wehave noted that the amount of social enterprises to a greater extent is formed in Sweden.Companies like GodEl, Postkodslotteriet and DEM Collective are typical illustrations ofcompanies included in the category of social enterprise. It seemed as socially profiledcompanies is the new generation companies. The purpose of this essay is to make aninventory of possible competitive advantages that arise from social branding.

Kevin Roberts has extended the comprehension of strong consumer brands to a higher level where loyalty beyond reason is established. He calls this new status Lovemarks. As the concept of Lovemark has only been applied in B2C markets, this thesis is directed to find out the applicability of Lovemarks in B2B context. In order to fulfill the research purpose, three main questions are answered based on a cross-sectional research approach: What role do intangible factors play in B2B branding? Is the idea of B2C Lovemarks transferable to B2B context? How should a B2B Lovemark be characterized? The results of the qualitative interviews indicate insights of high investment and involvement, integrated brand communication, balance between function versus emotion, brand?s trustworthy personality, customer partnership, and finally, the potential establishment of B2B Lovemarks.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera företaget ÅF:s employer branding-arbete, närmare bestämt samverkan mellan ledningen, HR-avdelningen och marknadsavdelningen.Uppsatsen är av kvalitativ fallstudiekaraktär ochämnar utveckla teori genom en kombination av en deduktiv och induktiv undersökningsansats. Insamlad data är baserad på intervjuer medrepresentanter på ÅF.Sammanfattningsvis har vi kommit fram till att ÅF:s samverkan inom employer branding-arbetet i stort överensstämmer med den teoretiska modell som presenteras. Det finns en huvudsakligen god samordning av ledningens, HR- och marknadsavdelningens samt employer brandmanagers aktiviteter som syftar till att stärka arbetsgivarvarumärket. Dock finner vi en diskrepans mellan ÅF:s och litteraturens definition av begreppet samt en allt för stor fokus på de externa aktiviteterna som en följd av employer brand managers starka band till marknadsavdelningen..

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att få en ökad förståelse för små destinationers destinationsmarknadsföring. Frågeställning: Hur kan en liten destination använda sig av samarbete och branding för att marknadsföra sig vid olika tidsskeden? Metod: Vi har valt en kvalitativ metod för den empiriska undersökningen. Det empiriska materialet har inhämtats från tre intervjuer. Vid intervjuerna har vi använt oss av en semi-strukturerad intervjuguide.

Title: Artists? identity and image ? a brand perspective The purpose of this study has been to create an understanding of how artists in the music business can be seen as brands and to see what stands out when having this approach. During the study we have focused on the two terms identity and image. We find this issue interesting and relevant since branding has been widely discussed in business economy, but not enough when it comes to artists in the music business. To answer our research question we have targeted three aims for this essay, which is to clarify and analyze:? Identity and image when people are viewed as brands? What specifically characterizes the image of the artists when they are seen as brands and what it might mean that artists are considered as brands? How artists identity and image can be highlighted, shaped, influenced and how it can changeIn this study we have used a qualitative approach to get the topic in depth and gain a greater understanding for the subject.

Att attrahera topptalanger till sin organisation och skapa en trivsam och utmanande arbetsmiljö är något som har blivit allt viktigare. Den nya generationens medarbetare har helt andra prioriteringar när det kommer till att välja arbetsplats. Det handlar inte längre om vad den arbetssökande har att erbjuda organisationen, utan snarare tvärtom ställer sig många frågan, vad har organisationen att erbjuda mig?För att möta dessa behov måste organisationerna se till att ha en strategi för att attrahera och behålla medarbetarna. Strategin om Employer Branding handlar om att skapa ett starkt varumärke som arbetsgivare och se till att organisationen blir attraktiv och drar till sig medarbetare med rätt kompetens.

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.

Today, branding is not a phenomenon but rather a prerequisite for a brand to be able to both survive and grow stronger. During the last couple of years, personal branding has come to be an established term, just like corporate branding. With the growth of the social media and the thousands of ways to interact with each other personal brands face great competition. It is more difficult than ever to maintain a strong brand, partly because of this. There are several growth options for brands.

The purpose of this study has been to maintain a deeper understanding of how unestablished, professional musicians can get discovered by the music industry by communication, branding and positioning of their brand at social media.We found that fans have a greater impact on unestablished musicians than we previously thought. They have to create an identity for their brand, keep active on social media and engage their fans. Musical artists must maintain an ongoing dialogue to keep their fanbase, preferably with emotions involved. No fans equals minimum attention from the industry. Uniformity and professionalism is also important, because it evokes seriousness.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera företaget ÅF:s employer branding-arbete, närmare bestämt samverkan mellan ledningen, HR-avdelningen och marknadsavdelningen.Uppsatsen är av kvalitativ fallstudiekaraktär ochämnar utveckla teori genom en kombination av en deduktiv och induktiv undersökningsansats. Insamlad data är baserad på intervjuer medrepresentanter på ÅF.Sammanfattningsvis har vi kommit fram till att ÅF:s samverkan inom employer branding-arbetet i stort överensstämmer med den teoretiska modell som presenteras. Det finns en huvudsakligen god samordning av ledningens, HR- och marknadsavdelningens samt employer brandmanagers aktiviteter som syftar till att stärka arbetsgivarvarumärket. Dock finner vi en diskrepans mellan ÅF:s och litteraturens definition av begreppet samt en allt för stor fokus på de externa aktiviteterna som en följd av employer brand managers starka band till marknadsavdelningen..

Since Brand Management and Marketing in theory mainly been focusing on the consumer market, our main purpose of this essay is to analyze how a brand also can be appealing to the labour market, to attract and engage employees. Keywords attached to our essay are, brands, recruitment, Human Resource management, theories of motivation, corporate identity, employer branding and internal marketing. The study is based on a qualitative research. Our main reason for choosing this research was to get a closer insight for the phenomen and to establish a major understanding for the subject. To get a better knowledge and to answer and fulfil our purpose we have chosen to complete eight interviews, of whom six respondents representing Service firms.

Surrogate boycotts are highly threatening for corporations in terms of both economical cost and image damage. All corporations are due to our globalized environment and increased stakeholder fragmentation gradually more risking to become victims of surrogate boycotts, which of nature is hard if not impossible to predict and prevent. Corporations are generally recommended to build clear and strong corporate identities, which should be reflected in their most important stakeholders, as this will secure minimum damage on the corporate image. Even a surrogate boycott situation can have positive effects on corporations, especially in terms of image, as such situation increases the brand involvement and thereby make it possible for corporations to connect with important stakeholders on an emotional level. .

Samhällets konstanta utveckling och ständiga förändringar på marknaden innebär att organisationer behöver anpassa sig och sina erbjudanden utefter detta för att bibehålla konkurrenskraft. Inom ämnet marknadsföring har en del av den centraliserade synen på varor flyttats till ett fokus på organisationers anställda. Framförallt inom tjänstebaserade företag ökar värdet av att ha rätt personal då det är människorna inom organisationerna som utför företagets erbjudanden.Detta relativt nya uppmärksammande visar på vikten av att företag internt marknadsför sitt arbetsgivarvarumärke. Med detta tillkommer dock komplexiteten som anställda i all sin mänsklighet medför. Behov och förväntningar, motivation och attityder är några komponenter som influerar hur anställda fungerar och engagerar sig på en arbetsplats.Vårt syfte med denna studie har varit att undersöka hur företag hanterar denna komplexitet genom begreppet employer branding.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how a company with a single brand is perceived as uniform, as well as how they use internal brand building to reconcile various competing actors within one brand. Furthermore the aim is to examine how staff, through internal brand building processes, perceives and identifies themself with the values of the common brand. Method: A case study with method triangulation was conducted at Nordiska Kompaniet department store in Stockholm. Quantitative data through a questionnaire survey with employees combined with two observations. Qualitative data was given through an email interview with a responsible manager of digital channels and PR from NK AB.Theories: This study has used the following theories; Destination marketing, Corporate brand, internal branding, corporate identity, corporate culture, brand value, service brand values, brand citizenship behaviour.Conclusion: This case study of NK has shown that internal branding building in a department store is a comprehensive work, which all involved must have a unified perception and understanding of the brand, in order to successful unite under one brand.