The evolution of the media landscape and the introduction of social media have increased thenumber of communication channels tremendously during the last decade. These new channels have also made an impact on the information control, which has shifted focus from organisations to consumers. In order to communicate one coherent image in the numerous existing channels, organisations need to create strategies that take this into account and makes sure the same messages are communicated through all channels. One way to do this is to use integrated marketing communication (IMC). Since the social media is a relatively new phenomenon, there is no clear way of how to include social media into an IMC strategy.

In the media world today it is important for TV-companies to differentiate since the number  of competitors has increased. The competition is more complex today because of the  possibility to broadcast throughout satellite and cable. As a company you need a strong brand  in order to differentiate the company from the competitors. The brand of media companies are  set by the content of the offer, which means that the program and the people connected to the  television program has an importance for the sake of how people experience the company. For  a commercial TV channel the content is also important because it attracts the viewers and as a  consequence, also attracts the advertisers.

Problem-definition: How companies work with social media to strengthen their brand equity and what other purposes might lay behind this usage.Purpose: How Volkswagen Sweden use social media in order to strengthen their brand equity.Method: Qualitative case- study of Volkswagen Sweden where a number of respondents will be interviewed with the help of a semi structured interview guide.Theories: A number of theories in the field of brand equity and communication theory will be used in this paper, some of these theories are, Post-model, Social technographics ladder, brand equity and word of mouth.Empiric: A semi-structured interview guide will be shaped from theory and answered through interviews with people who have knowledge within the field.Conclusions: Extracted from the results the research members has identified a number of important factors that business should consider when they work with social media or planning to. They have also answered how business can strengthen their brand equity with social media..

AbstractTitle: Brand exposure in television. A comparison between SVT and TV4 2003 and 2006.Number of pages: 57 including appendixAuthor: Axel VictorinPeriod: Spring 2008Course: Media and Communication studies CUniversity: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalance of brand exposure in Swedish public service television, SVT and TV4. The Swedish public service TV broadcasting company, Sveriges Television (SVT) advertises itself as purveyor of free television, without commercial or political interference. A B-level essay, written some years ago, showed that the SVT policies were not always observed throughout the entire organisation. The aim of this essay is, by using quantitative research, to study whether SVT is letting commercial interests have their say in the programmes by exposing brand names and logotypes.Material/method: The study is performed through examining 40 hours of television from SVT and 40 hours from TV4, as reference.

The climate at the labour-market in Sweden today means that students who have recently passed their examinations find it quite difficult to find work. The competetiveness calls for a strategy to find advantages in the employment process. The strategy explored in this thesis is called personal branding. We believe that by building a strong personal brand you can increase the possibilities to influence the decisions of those responsible for recruitments in our society. The question we ask ourselves in this essay is how to build a personal brand with the power to give students a competetive advantage in the employment process.

AbstractThe purpose of this investigation is to find out how the pupils can discover and to feel joy in their creative art activity and also to believe in their own ability. The aim is to figure out if creative art activity is able to raise the pupil?s self-image. By literature, pedagogue interviews, and interviews with pupils at the age of ten years old and by action research is the way that I have searched for an answer for my question. The main result is that fantasy, creativity, courage and lust are important parts to develop in the job of raising the self-image.

This paper examines a popular music song (Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez) as a sign system in television advertising. The study was conducted through qualitative questionnaires in connection to an audio-visual method of analysis called Masking. The method facilitates the analysis of isolated parts in the audio-visual spectrum by masking/hiding parts of the audio-visual totality.The survey had seven respondents where a hermeneutic epistemological approach was used. For the analysis Cooper's theory of brand identity (Practical and Symbolic Attitudes to Buying Brands) was used together with an interaction model for music in audio-visual advertising called "Modes of music-image interaction?.

The purpose of this research aims investigate whether front line personell are brand carriers who can affect the customers brand experience. This present study focuses on commercial fitness centers in Kalmar. Like brands, training is taking part in people?s everyday lives; fitness centers are offering the customer a wider range of group training.This thesis is based on a qualitative approach whereby eight interviews have been carried out with two members of the board and six employees of the front line. Additionally, this thesis is also based on three focus groups with four customers, representing the majority of each fitness centers.The research findings highlight that the front line employees are very important as they are seen as the brand; therefore the front line employee?s personality and behaviour will influence the customer?s view of the brand.

The purpose to this study is to find an understanding of the effects of how sponsorship can affect companies and their business and at the same time get a better understanding of how sponsorship is or can be used as a marketing tool in today?s marketing. By using a quality research method we have chosen to use a half structured research method to make it possible to find out how sponsorship as a marketing tool can be used from a company perspective in relation to our chosen thesis. To enhance the readers understanding we describe the base of sponsorship and principals for sponsorship, after that describes a deeper perspective of sponsorship, what sponsorship is, and what factors are needed to be taken into consideration. Further on we illustrate the figure that later on will constitute the analysis with attributes like: association, exposure, relations and integrated communication.

Product development is essential for all companies that want to survive in competitive markets regardless of the characteristics of the product that the company sells. Companies that sell products within product categories which can be seen as bad, also need to develop their products in order to remain competitive. If these bad products add a positive attribute, for example that they get organic, a contradiction within the product arises and they get incongruent. This thesis investigates which effects that follow a launch of an incongruent product. The thesis also examines if these effects are affected by the strength of the brand under which the product is launched.A total of 240 respondents participated in an experimental study where product incongruity was manipulated for two different product categories, where one well known brand and one unknown brand were examined in each category.

This examination paper concerns how a organization can reach right quality. In this case the focus is on the communication of the soft product quality within an organization to achieve right quality. To fulfill the aim of this study a case company has been used to be able to show the absence in the topic. The questions of the study are: How have the customer?s needs been communicated within the organization? What absences are there today concerning the communication of the customer?s needs within the organization? How can the communication of the customer?s needs within the organization improve?The aim of this study is to describe and analyse how the transmitting of the customer?s needs concerning soft product quality is made today in the case company and to reach any improving suggestions.

Vi har i vår uppsats funnit att den verkliga situationen för ett destinationsutvecklingsorgan som är i ett initialt skede av en eventsatsning är komplexare än vad den normativa teorin beskriver. Vår fallstudie påvisar tydligt att destinationsutvecklingsorgan inte alltid har strategier, mål och visioner för destinationsutveckling eller för hur de ska gå till väga i ett eventbeslut. Våra resultat tyder på att de som inte har några strategier som kan ligga till grund för sådana beslut styrs av irrationella ad hoc-beslut. För Region Skåne anser vi att det var ?Chansen? som var det primära motivet till att satsa på America?s Cup.

Today endless choices exist for a customer in the grocery store in terms of information, products, brands and prices. Consequently, it is important for retailers and brand owners to gain insights in how they can manage to break through the clutter to reach the customer. Displays that include some kind of motion element are assumed to possess an attention grabbing ability, which is a necessary first step in influencing the customer?s decision making. Therefore we have explored whether so called dynamic displays are efficient in grabbing attention and influencing customer behaviour.

Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) is a marketing activity that has grown popular in the USA and studies have been carried out that explore how American consumers perceive and react to CRM. In Sweden, however, CRM has not yet found ground to any greater extent, and therefore there is limited research on how Swedish consumers react to CRM and how they perceive it. In this study, eight Swedish consumers are interviewed regarding their perception of CRM. The main findings of the investigation are that Swedish consumers fit well into a model that is based on American consumers? responses to CRM.

Thesis purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to make a contribution, by connecting the transfer of meaning within the context of TV series. The meaning is transferred from the brand to the character in a TV series and then further to the viewer. To look at different role functions that are used in dramaturgy and narrative techniques, we will be able to see how the brand will have a specific role and thereby make the transfer of meaning more successful and effective. This role will have an important impact on product placement according to the meaning that will be transferred from the brand to the viewer, through the character. Methodology: By looking at the transfer of meaning process that is created from the brand, an unstructured observation is applied where we observed the placement and usage of different within a specific TV series. Qualitative strategy is conducted by using a case study.