The Impact of Event Marketing on Brand Awareness in eSport Industry

The purpose of this qualitative research is to study what is the impact of event marketing on brand awareness in the context of electronic sport industry. Based on the research questions, the theoretical framework will be developed. This research will analyze earlier theories, and also searching more fresh literature to explain the current phenomenon in the eSport industry. In the empirical part, there were total of five case companies interviewed. The context of this research is eSport, which has its own chapter. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on event marketing and brand awareness. In this research, event marketing is analyzed from the event organizers perspective. In some occasions, event exhibitors’ perspective is also analyzed. In brand awareness, the focus is how to create a brand recognizable, recalled and from there top of mind in consumers’ minds. The results of this research revealed that many companies’ struggles on getting their brand recognizable. Some of the case companies lacks a strategy and don’t exactly know the core values of their customers. However some of the case companies were opposite. One reason behind this is that some of them has experience on the field and the companies have resources that covers them. Also the current strong brand has clearly a positive affect on their business.

Formation of the Employer Brand Image

The purpose of this study was to explore the employer brand image and its formation of a Finnish (yet international) service company in B2B sector. In the research qualitative case study method was used to explore the most preferred attributes in employer attraction, the employer brand perceptions towards the case company, and the effectors behind these brand perceptions among the prospective group of employees. The research was conducted through in-depth semistructured interviews among 23-30 undergraduate or graduate business students in Finnish universities close to their graduation. After deriving the attributes of an attractive employer, and exploring their relation to the case company, the employer brand image of the case company was determined and its attractiveness level evaluated. Moreover, the formation of the employer brand image was investigated and its sources detected. The most important factors for the target group in employer attractiveness were found to be company reputation and company culture/work atmosphere. Also career opportunities and international opportunities were seen important. The case company was found to hold a positive, attractive image on company culture and international opportunities, but failing to hold a good reputation as a fair employer. The main and most impactful source of employer brand image was former and current employees - directly or indirectly. Company’s own actions played only small part in employer brand formation as credibility is a critical factor in brand image formation and corporate communication found not to be perceived genuine. Based on the findings, suggestions for further employer branding were made.

Impact of Product-harm Crisis on Brand Equity: the Moderating Role of Corporate Social Performance

There is an increasing amount of product-harm crisis in the past few years; and the impact of a product-harm crisis becomes more and more influential due to the high increasing speed of globalization. And it is believed that the negative damages to a firm leading to a loss of the intangible assets is bigger than other costs such as the cost of the product recall. Brand equity is a very important and valuable intangible asset for a firm; and it is particularly vulnerable during the crisis. And CSP (CSP) is a hot concept associated with product-harm crisis and brand equity. The aim of this study is to understand how product-harm crisis influences by simultaneously involving CSP as a moderator in a consumer-based level. An experimental study was conducted through an online questionnaire among 198 students in Finland. The questionnaire mainly assessed the consumers’ attitudes towards CSP and brand before/after a fictional product-harm crisis. The results shows that the brand equity was negatively related to the product-harm crisis. And the extent level of crisis’s severity was positively related to the loss of the brand equity; whereas, acknowledged blame was more useful to compensate the loss of brand equity in the low-severity crisis. CSP acted as a moderator role which could compensate the loss of brand equity caused by the product-harm crisis. Managerial implications are also offered for crisis managers, brand managers, and CSR managers.

Internal Employer Brand: The factors affecting the formation of internal employer image

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting the formation of employer image and attractiveness in the minds of an organization’s employees. Six employees from different backgrounds and business units within a larger organization are interviewed, and the results are compared in order to better understand the effect divergent variables have on the resulting factors. The theoretical background of the research is based on the study of the concept of employer branding, an organization’s effort in affecting the employer image it projects and attractiveness perceived by the employees and applicants. The results of the study reveal how immaterial factors, primarily related to self-actualization and social relationships, often took precedence over material ones, so long as the material factors, such as salary and work equipment, were at least on a minimum level acceptable to the employee. As such, focusing on these immaterial factors when forming an employer brand strategy is expected to yield larger benefits in form of employer attractiveness.

Commercial blog communication and brand image

The aim of this thesis was to examine whether company initiated commercial communication in personal blogs has an effect on consumers’ brand image. A detailed picture of the main topics was built based on the previous academic literature. The study explores how sponsored and company-initiated blog postings influence consumers’ brand image with a qualitative research. A framework defines the link between the main concepts of commercial blog communication and how this can be used in order to reach positive results in relation to consumers’ brand image. The findings of this study demonstrate that if the tech-savvy consumers consider that the commercial blog communication is genuine and the blogger stands behind the recommendation of the blog posting, it will result on a more positive brand image. However, if the consumers consider the content of the blog posting to be too controlled by the company, it is automatically seen as an advertisement instead of a recommendation by someone trustworthy. The company-controlled commercial blog communication without presenting the personality of the blogger has negative effects on brand image.

The Janus-faced City: A Sensory History of the London Blitz 1940–1941

The city of London was, during the years of 1940–1941, a city under fire. The metropolis seemed to have two faces, like the Roman deity Janus: the face of the daylight hours, so normal, and yet so deceiving in its false quietness – and at nightfall, the city turned, and the face of it was the face of the devil himself, transforming London into a living inferno. This thesis examines the sensescapes of the Blitz, through the diaries and memoirs written of that time. The primary sources consist of seven different diaries, two autobiographies, and four research volumes that contain multiple diary- and memoire entries, mostly from the Mass Observation Archives and from the Imperial War Museum. The sensory approach is a new orientation in the field of history – it studies the five senses in their cultural contexts, interpreting the often subtle ways in which the senses affect into society, politics, culture, and class hierarchies, to name only but few. The subject of the sensory history of war is a theme widely unexamined: this thesis contributes to this frontier field by unveiling the sensorium of the London bombings, comparing the differences between the halves of nychtemeron, and examining how the Blitz was communicated by the writers as a lived, bodily experience. This study reveals the very different sensory worlds in which the Londoners lived, during a time that is often described with the mythical solidarity that was thought to exist between the people. The reality of the homeless, working class, and poor were in the foul smelling tubes, poor law -dated rations, and in the smoking ruins of East End – the contrast was massive reflecting it to the luxury hotels and restaurants of the upper classes, opportunities for evacuation, sheltering possibilities, and overall comforts of life.

Narrative transportation in global brand content

People understand life and events around them through narratives. Narratives are a new way for marketers to convey messages to consumers about their brands and products. Brand narratives are an effective way to reach out to people due to their influential nature. Narratives have a power to change beliefs and attitudes, making them relevant and interesting for any marketer. The power of narratives has to do with narrative transportation, which narratives can trigger in people. A transported person is more likely to perceive brand or product in a more positive light. The creators of the narrative are able to influence the content of the narrative through message factors that work as antecedents for narrative transportation. This study explored narrative transportation qualities of well established advertisements. The study uses qualitative content analysis to analyze and identify narrative transportation antecedents among Cannes Lion grand prix winners in the film category between years 2005 to 2015 (15 in total). The narrative transportation antecedents are identifiable characters, imaginable plot and verisimilitude, which were used in the analysis of the data. The study analyzes the winners to make judgment on whether they can trigger narrative transportation or not. It was found that the Cannes Lion grand prix winner advertisement mostly had identifiable narratives in them. In most of the advertisement (ten out of fifteen) at least two out of three antecedents were found, thus most of them are able to trigger narrative transportation. The study also found that most narratives in the advertisement were able to be linked to the main brand narrative of the advertiser. In four of the advertisements the link to the brand narrative was not able to be established. The study concludes by discussing certain factors and aspects of the advertisements that were identified to further enhance the narrative transportation qualities of the advertisement.

Children of Matter: Luxury Value Perceptions of Millennials in Higher Education in Europe

In recent years, the luxury market has entered a period of very modest growth, which has been dubbed the ‘new normal’, where varying tourist flows, currency fluctuations, and shifted consumer tastes dictate the terms. The modern luxury consumer is a fickle mistress. Especially millennials – people born in the 1980s and 1990s – are the embodiment of this new form of demanding luxury consumer with particular tastes and values. Modern consumers, and specifically millennials, want experiences and free time, and are interested in a brand’s societal position and environmental impact. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what the luxury value perceptions of millennials in higher education are in Europe, seeing as many of the most prominent luxury goods companies in the world originate from Europe. Perceived luxury value is herein examined from the individual’s perspective. As values and value perceptions are complex constructs, using qualitative research methods is justifiable. The data for thesis has been gathered by means of a group interview. The interview participants all study hospitality management in a private college, and each represent a different nationality. Cultural theories and research on luxury and luxury values provide the scientific foundation for this thesis, and a multidimensional luxury value model is used as a theoretical tool in sorting and analyzing the data. The results show that millennials in Europe value much more than simply modern and hard luxury. Functional, financial, individual, and social aspects are all present in perceived luxury value, but some more in a negative sense than others. Conspicuous, status-seeking consumption is mostly frowned upon, as is the consumption of luxury goods for the sake of satisfying social requisites and peer pressure. Most of the positive value perceptions are attributed to the functional dimension, as luxury products are seen to come with a promise of high quality and reliability, which justifies any price premiums. Ecological and ethical aspects of luxury are already a contemporary trend, but perceived even more as an important characteristic of luxury in the future. Most importantly, having time is fundamental. Depending on who is asked, luxury can mean anything, just as much as it can mean nothing.