The WOW-effect. A qualitative content analysis of communication strategies used by the Swedish music festival Way out West
(2023) SKOK11 20231Department of Strategic Communication
- Abstract (Swedish)
- I dagens samhälle finns en allt större press på varumärken att stå ut ur mediebruset samt att kommunicera kring hållbarhet och CSR. Detta gör brandingstrategier högst nödvändiga, trots detta är det ännu ett relativt outforskat område inom marknadsföring av evenemang. Tidigare forskning visar på studier baserade på konsumentens perspektiv samt under tiden av det faktiska evenemanget. Däremot är forskningen begränsad när det kommer till vilka strategier som används av varumärket för att engagera publiken före och efter det faktiska evenemanget. Kopplat till detta har en kvalitativ innehållsanalys genomförts på den prisvinnande musikfestivalen Way out West. Detta med syftet att undersöka hur olika marknadsföringsstrategier appliceras för att... (More)
- I dagens samhälle finns en allt större press på varumärken att stå ut ur mediebruset samt att kommunicera kring hållbarhet och CSR. Detta gör brandingstrategier högst nödvändiga, trots detta är det ännu ett relativt outforskat område inom marknadsföring av evenemang. Tidigare forskning visar på studier baserade på konsumentens perspektiv samt under tiden av det faktiska evenemanget. Däremot är forskningen begränsad när det kommer till vilka strategier som används av varumärket för att engagera publiken före och efter det faktiska evenemanget. Kopplat till detta har en kvalitativ innehållsanalys genomförts på den prisvinnande musikfestivalen Way out West. Detta med syftet att undersöka hur olika marknadsföringsstrategier appliceras för att skapa varumärkeskapital. Det teoretiska ramverket består av de tre perspektiven symbolisk-, social- och experiential marketing. Fallet Way out West analyseras genom att undersöka Instagraminlägg från varumärkets officiella konto. Resultaten indikerar att alla tre strategier användes frekvent och då ofta i kombination för att förstärka varandra. Way out West använde flertalet strategier för att göra varumärket relevant mellan de faktiska evenemangen med ett särskilt fokus på community-byggande. Emellertid kunde det också fastslås att inläggen kring hållbarhet ofta var i direkt anknytning till vad som skulle ske på det fysiska eventet, detta utan informativt eller exklusivt innehåll för just sociala medier. Resultaten indikerar på en hög relevans för strategisk kommunikation gällande att bygga brand equity över tid och att ett evenemangs-varumärke därigenom har potential att kommunicera utöver vad evenemanget erbjuder i sig. Därigenom kan det göra sig relevant även när den fysiska upplevelsen inte kan erbjudas. Det stärker dessutom vikten av forskning inom eventmarknadsföring med fokus på hur strategisk kommunikation kan implementeras i alla kanaler i en så pass unik kontext. (Less)
- Abstract
- In today’s society, brands face pressure to stand out and to communicate about sustainability and CSR efforts. This makes branding strategies necessary, yet it is a rather unexplored area within marketing of events. Previous research of events shows studies from the consumer’s perspective based on when the event takes place. However, less focus is put on how event brands engage the audience before and after the event. This qualitative content analysis examines the award-winning music festival Way out West, with the aim to analyze how different marketing strategies are applied to gain brand equity. The theoretical framework consists of the three perspectives of symbolic-, social- and experiential marketing and the case is analyzed by... (More)
- In today’s society, brands face pressure to stand out and to communicate about sustainability and CSR efforts. This makes branding strategies necessary, yet it is a rather unexplored area within marketing of events. Previous research of events shows studies from the consumer’s perspective based on when the event takes place. However, less focus is put on how event brands engage the audience before and after the event. This qualitative content analysis examines the award-winning music festival Way out West, with the aim to analyze how different marketing strategies are applied to gain brand equity. The theoretical framework consists of the three perspectives of symbolic-, social- and experiential marketing and the case is analyzed by examining Instagram posts from the Way out West’s official account. The results indicate the usage of all three strategies, often in combination to enhance each other. Way out West communicates to make the brand relevant in between the actual event with a special focus on community building. However, it was also found that the posts regarding sustainability were often connected to what is going to happen in the physical event, without exclusive content for social media. The findings suggest that strategic communication is highly relevant for building brand equity over time, and thus an event brand has the potential to communicate beyond what the event offers itself. Thereby the event brand can become relevant even when the physical experience is not offered. It also enhances the importance of research within event marketing with focus on how strategic communication can be implemented in all channels in such a unique context. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9118890
- author
- Fredlund, Elin LU and Gillblad, Savannah LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SKOK11 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- strategic communication, event marketing, sustainability communication, CSR, brand community, symbolic branding strategies
- language
- English
- id
- 9118890
- date added to LUP
- 2023-08-28 09:09:41
- date last changed
- 2023-08-28 09:09:41
@misc{9118890,
abstract = {{In today’s society, brands face pressure to stand out and to communicate about sustainability and CSR efforts. This makes branding strategies necessary, yet it is a rather unexplored area within marketing of events. Previous research of events shows studies from the consumer’s perspective based on when the event takes place. However, less focus is put on how event brands engage the audience before and after the event. This qualitative content analysis examines the award-winning music festival Way out West, with the aim to analyze how different marketing strategies are applied to gain brand equity. The theoretical framework consists of the three perspectives of symbolic-, social- and experiential marketing and the case is analyzed by examining Instagram posts from the Way out West’s official account. The results indicate the usage of all three strategies, often in combination to enhance each other. Way out West communicates to make the brand relevant in between the actual event with a special focus on community building. However, it was also found that the posts regarding sustainability were often connected to what is going to happen in the physical event, without exclusive content for social media. The findings suggest that strategic communication is highly relevant for building brand equity over time, and thus an event brand has the potential to communicate beyond what the event offers itself. Thereby the event brand can become relevant even when the physical experience is not offered. It also enhances the importance of research within event marketing with focus on how strategic communication can be implemented in all channels in such a unique context.}},
author = {{Fredlund, Elin and Gillblad, Savannah}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The WOW-effect. A qualitative content analysis of communication strategies used by the Swedish music festival Way out West}},
year = {{2023}},
}