“En personlig varumärkesidentitet?!?!!!! Vafan är det??”* En kvalitativ studie som undersöker hur offentliga personer resonerar för hur de stärker och upprätthåller sin varumärkesidentitet i sin digitala kommunikation sett utifrån teorierna personal- och corporate branding

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how public figures motivate their decisions for strengthen and maintaining their brand identity through digital communication. We have analyzed this through the theories of personal- and corporate branding. The main research question for this thesis is: “How do public figures reason about how they strengthen and maintain their brand identity in their digital communication in a changing media landscape?”. The two research questions we developed to help us investigate our purpose are: 1. How do public figures reason about the strategies they use in their digital communication regarding branding in today’s changing media landscape? 2. Are strategies in personal- and corporate branding combined by public figures to strengthen and maintain their brand identity, and if so, in what way? The background introduces a framework for understanding the changing media landscape, and especially how digital media at times has replaced traditional media. The ever-changing media landscape has, through the digitalization of media, created a new and influential actor, called influencers, utilizing new digital platforms where strategies for branding now has developed. This has caused a major shift in the importance of brands, especially regarding the changed media landscape. Previous research has highlighted that brands are of great importance, not only for creating brand-recognition, but also in distinguishing market-actors from others in the same field. In addition, previous research has also shown significant similarities between market strategies within both personal and corporate branding, however, with the blog as the main communication channel. In our analysis, we utilize two theoretical frameworks that jointly provides insight into brand identities for both individual actors and companies. We assume that the contemporary media landscape has created new ways to work with brand identity. This can indicate that public figures take on new strategies which mainly comes from corporate branding theory. Our analysis confirms the assumption that the new media landscape has indeed created new ways to work with brand identities. All individuals possess a personal brand. Moreover, the results also show that the respondents combines personal and corporate branding strategies in their work with brand identity through digital communication. Finally, our analysis show evidence to suggest that both strategies are combined and that this is a direct consequence of the new digitialized media landscape.