Financial Institution’s Media Strategy : With respect to the Swedish financial market

Abstract: Financial experts from various financial institutions are often seen in media. Media’s objec-tive towards the society is to report occurring events of interest to its audience. Media ap-pearances through giving expert opinions, is for financial institutions costless and a reason-ably effective way of promoting their top analysts and strategically position their firms. For the financial institutions, there exists competition for being allowed to participate and give expert reports when media is in need for a comment, and therefore a media strategy is con-sidered required. The purpose, used as guidance in this thesis, is to describe the Swedish financial media en-vironment and analyze why certain financial institutions are more active than others. The method when conducting research in this thesis is a combination of both an inductive and deductive approach. The underlying factor behind this choice, rests in the strive to ful-fill the purpose in most satisfying manner and receive as valid and reliable data as possible. The study also uses both quantitative and qualitative data. Statistical research in media companies’ databases and interviews with persons with key positions at the financial insti-tutions has been conducted. The thesis stresses the fact that the broadcasting companies approach strategies towards the Swedish financial industry differently. However, this thesis proves that another reality governs. In truth, all the broadcasting companies have common references for the most appealing financial expert when asking for expert opinions. The financial institution’s standpoints differ in the area of media appearance. The thesis concludes that financial institutions with the most prominent desire to participate and comment a broad range of financial segments in media are proved to be successful in this area. In general though, as a financial institution on the Swedish market, this thesis shows no correlation between having an outspoken media strategy and being successful in this field. This thesis concludes that when discussing which financial institutions that is more suc-cessful than others, the size of the company is important to take into consideration. The study has also proved that financial experts, often equivalent with the analyst, are appeared to be vital for any financial institution in order to succeed in media.