En studie över mediebilden av varumärket Malmö

Sammanfattning: In order to manage the image of a city in a highly medialized world it is important that the key features of the brand is correlating with the overall media image. This paper exams the impact of Malmö Stads vision-report in the media portrayal of the city between 1997-2012. The aim is to describe, explain and problematize the media image of Malmö in the biggest swedish publications and compare that to the image that the city of Malmö intends to communicate. The essay is based on a combined quantitative and qualitative analysis of content in newspaper articles and official documents from the city of Malmö. Our findings suggest that the attempts from citites to be regarded as attractive in the eyes of external stakeholders, may generate negative consequences for the media image in terms of credibility. The discrepancy that arises when a brand's identity as defined by the brand manager, in vital aspects does not correspond to how it is represented in news media, could pose a threat to the city´s reputation and the way the brand is perceived by both external and internal stakeholders. In order to achieve a strong city brand it is crucial to consider and explore the city´s existing qualities before defining what and where the city will be in the future.