Bachelor Thesis, 15 credits, for Bachelor of Science in Business Administration: International Business and Marketing Spring 2018 Brand new Image A case study of engagement on Instagram during Melodifestivalen in Kristianstad Matilda Eneberg & Johanna Scortea Fakulteten för ekonomi Eneberg & Scortea Authors Matilda Eneberg and Johanna Scortea Title Brand new Image. A case study of engagement on Instagram during Melodifestivalen in Kristianstad Supervisor Lisa Källström and Felix Terman Co-examiner Alina Lidén Examiner Marina Jogmark Abstract 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. Keywords Place brand image, place attributes, engagement, Instagram, event Eneberg & Scortea Acknowledgements Firstly, we would like to express our many thanks to our supervisors Lisa Källström and Felix Terman for their very helpful guidance, encouragement, and support throughout this study. Secondly, we would like to take this opportunity to thank Annika Fjelkner for her help with the language. Finally, we would like to thank all of the participants in our focus groups for taking your time to participate. Without you, our study would have been possible to conduct! Kristianstad, May 2018 _______________ _______________ Matilda Eneberg Johanna Scortea Eneberg & Scortea Innehållsförteckning 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 PROBLEMATISATION ........................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION .......................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 RESEARCH PURPOSE ........................................................................................................................... 3 1.5 OUTLINE .......................................................................................................................................... 4 2 THEORETICAL METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................... 5 2.1 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY ....................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 RESEARCH APPROACH ......................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 CHOICE OF THEORY ............................................................................................................................ 6 3 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................ 7 3.1 PLACE MARKETING AND BRANDING ....................................................................................................... 7 3.2 PLACE BRAND IMAGE ......................................................................................................................... 8 3.3 PLACE BRAND ATTRIBUTES ................................................................................................................... 9 3.4 RESIDENTS AS STAKEHOLDERS ............................................................................................................ 10 3.5 USER-GENERATED CONTENT ON INSTAGRAM ........................................................................................ 11 3.6 EVENT ........................................................................................................................................... 12 3.7 CONCEPTUAL MODEL ........................................................................................................................ 13 FIGURE 1. ILLUSTRATED CONCEPTUAL MODEL ............................................................................................. 14 4 CASE STUDY ................................................................................................................................ 15 5 EMPIRICAL METHOD ................................................................................................................... 17 5.1 RESEARCH DESIGN ........................................................................................................................... 17 5.2 RESEARCH STRATEGY ........................................................................................................................ 17 5.3 DATA COLLECTION ........................................................................................................................... 18 5.3.1 Instagram feed ..................................................................................................................... 18 5.3.2 Focus groups ........................................................................................................................ 19 5.4 DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................... 22 5.4.1 In depth analysis .................................................................................................................. 23 5.5 VALIDITY ........................................................................................................................................ 25 5.6 LIMITATIONS ................................................................................................................................... 25 6 FINDINGS .................................................................................................................................... 26 6.1 INSTAGRAM POSTS ........................................................................................................................... 26 6.1.1 People .................................................................................................................................. 26 6.1.2 Place .................................................................................................................................... 27 6.1.3 Pulse ..................................................................................................................................... 30 6.2 FOCUS GROUPS ............................................................................................................................... 32 6.2.1 City image interpretation ..................................................................................................... 32 6.2.2 Post perception ................................................................................................................... 36 7 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................ 39 8 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 42 8.1 SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................... 42 8.2 PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS .................................................................................................................. 43 Eneberg & Scortea 8.3 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS .............................................................................................................. 44 8.4 LIMITATIONS ................................................................................................................................... 44 8.5 FURTHER RESEARCH ......................................................................................................................... 44 WORKS CITED ................................................................................................................................ 46 APPENDIX A- FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW GUIDE ............................................................................ 52 APPENDIX B- FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW