Branding through mobile applications : - A case study of Swedish campaign applications

Abstract: We are a few years into a paradigm shift where mobile Internet usage around the world is increasing fast. Smartphones have in Sweden become the device a substantial proportion of the population have, and companies have seen them as a new way to communicate with consumers. This thesis is a case study of four smartphone applications issued by companies in brand building purposes. The applications are King of the slope by Vattenfall, Körklar? by SalusAnsvar, McWrap Go&Get by McDonalds and Många Sträckor Små by Lantmännen. Empirical materials are gathered through semi-structured interviews with people involved in the creation of each application. Results are then analysed based on what initial goals each issuer had set for the application with the aim of obtain learnings valuable to future application issuers. Findings have shown that the mindset when creating these applications has generally been short-term. This contradicts the nature of a mobile application and its purpose of strengthening a company’s brand, which usually is a long-term process. We advocate a more long-term mindset and a consumer-oriented standpoint instead of product- oriented when creating mobile applications for branding purposes.