Brand Communities around Finnish Companies : a qualitative study of marketing professionals’ perception

Modern consumers and marketers commonly perceive the concept of brand community as a social formation that exists in symbiosis with organizations behind different brands. However, many researchers question whether community branding remains engaged and aligned with the brand’s agenda. Moreover, existing literature fails to explore the role of individual marketers in building the relationship between brands and communities. To compensate for this omission, this study investigates the perception of brand communities conveyed by marketing professionals who have worked at several Finnish companies in four different industries. The research questions were the following: How do marketing employees at Finnish companies perceive brand communities? What do interviewees think about the relationship between brand communities and companies? The data used in the study consists of semi-structured interviews of six marketing professionals collected during face-to-face meetings. The data were thematically analysed: the texts were first coded according to the predetermined topics (interviewees’ feelings about brand communities; the relationship between the community and the brand; life inside a brand community), after which the themes that emerged from the topics were studied further. Three themes were detected: participants feel distant from all brand communities; the relationship between brand communities and companies is symbiotic; the profile of brand communities in the eyes of brand managers is incomplete and blurry. The presentation of the findings is guided by the constructivism paradigm. The analysis revealed that participants’ perception of the subject is categorically complex, yet it lacks a critical perspective and insight on what may drive people to participate in brand communities. Marketing professionals shared their experiences of being lurking members and observers of brand communities. The data also indicate that interviewees do not identify themselves with most brand communities. The analysis also indicates that there may be a conflict of values between brand representatives and how they perceive brand community members’ values

PENGARUH VIRTUAL BRAND COMMUNITIES TERHADAP KEPUASAN DAN DAMPAKNYA PADA WORD OF MOUTH ADVERTISING PADA KOMUNITAS SEPEDA MOTOR YAMAHA VIXION V-ASCA DI KOTA BANDA ACEH

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh virtual brand communities terhadap kepuasan dan dampaknya pada word of mouth advertising. Teknik pengambilan sampel yang digunakan yaitu stratified random sampling, dengan sampel sebanyak 100 anggota komunitas sepeda motor yamaha vixion v-asca di Banda Aceh. Teknik analisis dalam penelitian ini menggunakan hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa virtual brand communities berpengaruh terhadap kepuasan dan word of mouth advertising, kepuasan berpengaruh terhadap word of mouth advertising, dan virtual brand communities berpengaruh secara tidak langsung terhadap word of mouth advertising melalui kepuasan. Kata Kunci: Virtual Brand Communities, Kepuasan, dan Word Of Mouth Advertising

Millennial cultural consumers : Co-creating value through brand communities

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise millennial cultural consumers (MCCs) to bring together strands of consumer theory with branding theory to consider how to attract and retain younger audiences in arts organisations. With that the authors single out for attention how 'brand community' theory might apply.This paper contributes to the knowledge development of such concepts as value and brand communities. It also provides an explanation of these concepts connecting academic thought on value with pressing management challenges for arts organisations, suggesting ways to apply brand community thinking to innovatively conceptualised MCCs.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

When totems beget clans: The brand symbol as the defining marker of brand communities

The veneration of brands as part of “brand communities” reflects the expansion of consumerism in advanced capitalism. But what is it about brand communities that set them apart from other community types? It is argued that brand communities differ from other types of communities in one important respect – the community is a secondary, rather than primary, effect of brand community association. In other words, the brand as symbol precedes the emergence of the brand community, rather than the symbol being employed (in a totemic fashion) to represent a pre-existing community as in other types of community. This realization opens the way for understanding the specific dynamics that characterize brand communities, particularly in their relationship with the corporate entities that legally own brands and market the branded products, and also with wider social trends where the brand comes to possess an iconic, mythic significance. It will be argued that, contrary to the recent trend in the brand community literature to view all manner of brand-oriented group activities as examples of brand communities, there are specific features that set brand communities apart from other types of community configurations. As a consequence, some of the examples put forward by analysts as brand communities might have brand community aspects, but are in fact primarily other types of community formations, such as subcultures and hobby groups. It is suggested that brand communities be viewed as a part of a continuum, with some groups according with the ideal type of brand community more than others. This is not merely important for classification purposes, but is important analytically, as it is contended that brand communities have a unique set of dynamics that sets them aside from other types of community formations

The Mystique of Customers’ Saturation in Online Brand Communities

Most research studies in the area of online brand communities have largely studied the positive aspects of online brand communities, ignoring the negative influences, mainly the growing threat from customers’ saturation within these communities. Given the lack of understanding on the concept of customer saturation in online brand communities, this study establishes the necessary early understanding on this important concept by combining various streams of marketing and brand literature as well as information system. This study enhances understanding through the development of five propositions focusing on the role of customers’ saturation on (1) customers’ experience within online brand communities, (2) brand relationship, and (3) the co‐creation of value. The discussion and review of the current literature produces five important propositions. The propositions develop the direction that customer saturation in online brand communities is likely to impact three key areas

Understanding Online Brand Communities: Netnographic Study of Apple iPhone Consumers

This study extends the concept of brand communities. The netnography approach has been applied to two online brand communities, both central to Apple iPhone consumers. This study reveals two cultural manifestations with their own passions and communal norms not detected by previous research. This study, thus, enriches the conceptual understanding of brand communities. It also offers contribution toward understanding consumers of high technology brands, an area where few studies have been conducted to date

Brand community under fire: The role of social environments for the HUMMER brand community

This research was undertaken as part of a larger consumer behavior research project investigating brands and brand communities as social systems. The paper is concerned with the particular role of social environments for brand communities previously neglected in literature. Grounded in a social-constructivist interpretive framework, a multi-perspective study was conducted to explore how the HUMMER brand community and its social environments discursively construct, situate, and legitimate one another. Findings reveal brand communities as powerful, socially embedded phenomena that continuously negotiate a set of core distinctions with and against their social environments

How Do Motivations for Commitment in Online Brand Communities Evolve? The Distinction Between Knowledge- and Entertainment-Seeking Motivations

The current study used the concept of motivational hierarchy to investigate how commitment is developed in online brand communities. By examining the online brand communities of two functional (Canon and Nikon) and two symbolic brands (Coca-Cola and Starbucks), the study focused on two pragmatic motives, knowledge- and entertainment-seeking motives, that served as the members’ initial drives to participate in online brand communities. The findings suggested that different initial motives followed different hierarchical routes to form commitment. Specifically, members with knowledge-seeking motives to participate in online brand communities became committed via two routes: with or without symbolic motives. On the other hand, entertainment-seeking members became committed only via the route through symbolic motives. Pragmatic and symbolic motives were connected by satisfaction, which could be seen as a proxy whether or not the pragmatic and symbolic motives were fulfilled

Online Anti-brand Communities as a New Form of Social Action in Adult Education

This purpose of this study was to explore online anti-brand communities as a form of social action. This paper provides an understanding of why online anti-brand communities form and how the Internet shapes the educative character of 21st Century social movements

Antagonism within online brand communities

Perceived benefits of brand community participation, engagement and value co-creation have been underlined in past marketing researches. However, recent research papers have directed focus to outbreak of tensions within these communities. This study illuminates the characteristics of antagonistic consumers who incite communal conflicts and their interactions with the rest of the community. Netnographic methods were employed in conducting the research and the drama that happens within an online game brand community was chosen as the research context. Three groups of antagonistic consumers were identified, including trolls, hostile purists and crusaders. As a response to antagonists’ transgression, the community engages in a continuous learning process, develop new interpretations of brand meanings, habitualise deviant behaviours, as well as devise a resistance mechanism. The study suggests implications on value co-creation process and the role that antagonistic consumption has in the continuation of brand community. It also offers insights to marketers to leverage brand relationship that can help them handle antagonism