A brand community is a community formed on the basis of attachment to a product or marque. Recent developments in marketing and in research in consumer behavior result in stressing the connection between brand, individual identity and culture.

1. Brand Community
Marketing Management

2. Prepared By
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Manu Melwin Joy
Assistant Professor
Ilahia School of Management Studies
Kerala, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com

3. Brand Community
• A brand community is a
community formed on the
basis of attachment to a
product or marque. Recent
developments in marketing
and in research in
consumer behavior result
in stressing the connection
between brand, individual
identity and culture.

4. Brand Community
• A brand community can be
defined as an enduring
self-selected group of
actors sharing a system of
values, standards and
representations (a culture)
and recognizing bonds of
membership with each
other and with the whole.

5. Brand Community
• The term "brand
community" was first
presented by Albert
Muniz Jr. and Thomas C.
O'Guinn in a 1995 paper
for the Association for
Consumer Research
Annual Conference in
Minneapolis, Minnesota.

6. Brand Community
• Muniz and O’Guinn said
Brand Communities
exhibit three traditional
markers of community:
– Shared consciousness
– Rituals and traditions
– A sense of moral
responsibility.

8. Brand Community
• Many brands provide
examples of brand
communities. In computers
and electronics: Apple Inc.
(Macintosh, iPod, iPhone),
Holga and LOMO cameras,
and Palm and Pocket PC Ultra-
Mobile PCs. In vehicles: Ford
Bronco, Jeep, Miata, Mini
Cooper, Saab, Saturn and
Subaru automobiles, and
Royal Enfield and Harley-
Davidson motorcycles. In toys:
Barbie and Lego

9. Myth & Reality
• MYTH #1 :A brand
community is a marketing
strategy .
• THE REALITY: A brand
community is a business
strategy.

10. Myth & Reality
• MYTH #2: A brand
community exists to
serve the business.
• THE REALITY: A brand
community exists to
serve the people in it.

11. Myth & Reality
• MYTH #3: Build the
brand, and the
community will follow.
THE REALITY: Engineer
the community, and the
brand will be strong.

12. Myth & Reality
• MYTH #4: Brand communities
should be love-fests for
faithful brand advocates .
• THE REALITY: Smart
companies embrace the
conflicts that make
communities thrive.

13. Myth & Reality
• MYTH #5: Opinion leaders
build strong communities .
• THE REALITY: Communities
are strongest when
everyone plays a role.

14. Myth & Reality
• MYTH #6: Online social
networks are the key to a
community strategy.
• THE REALITY: Online
networks are just one tool,
not a community strategy.

15. Examples of Brand Communities

16. BEING GIRL (PROCTER & GAMBLE)
• The site was created in 2000 as a
destination for young, teenage
girls. P&G includes content
provided by experts and
encourages open discussion with
expert advice on topics such as
menstruation, eating disorders,
acne and dating.

18. BEING GIRL (PROCTER & GAMBLE)
• They take a big-sister approach.
They also advertise the
companies products, Always and
Tampax. Being Girl is now
available in over 25 countries. It
has been cited in the book,
Groundswell, as delivering 4X
the Return on Investment (ROI)
of traditional marketing.

19. FIGMENT (RANDOM HOUSE)
• This is an online writing
community owned by Random
House, the biggest general-
interest trade book publisher
in the world. It was founded
by Jacob Lewis and Dana
Goodyear in 2010. It currently
has over 300,000 users.

21. FIGMENT (RANDOM HOUSE)
• The target group of the community is
mainly teenagers between 13 and 18
years old. It’s succeeded because
they gave the community something
to do, write and share novels. This
isn’t just a community of interest, it’s
a community of practice too. They
highlight the best contributions of
the community.

22. H & R Block
• Tax preparation is a highly
seasonal business. H&R
provides immediate access to a
tax professional for Q&A through
the “Get Answers” section of
their website but also connects
you to learn and share
experiences with others through
their H&R Community.

23. H & R Block
• The effort secured
1,500,000 unique visitors
and answered 1,000,000
questions for a 15% lift in
business versus the period
before H&R Block created
the community.

24. HARLEY OWNERS GROUP (HOG)
• This is a sponsored
community, operated by
Harley-Davidson for
enthusiasts. The HOG is “the
grandaddy of all community-
building efforts,” serving to
promote not just a consumer
product, but a lifestyle.

25. HARLEY OWNERS GROUP (HOG)
• The HOG has also served to open
new revenue streams for the
company, with the production of tie-
in merchandise offered to club
members. Membership is
1,000,000+. The Harley Owners
Group was created in 1983 as a way
to build longer-lasting and stronger
relationships. At that time, the
company was facing bankruptcy.

26. LUGNET (LEGO)
• When Lego Group set out to
develop Mindstorms NXT, the
latest version of its game for
building programmable robots, it
enlisted help from a group of
adult enthusiasts whom it found
on Lugnet.com the largest
unofficial community of Lego
fans.

27. LUGNET (LEGO)
• While the marketing target for
Mindstorms is mainly teenage boys, the
people that Lego reached out to were a
group of men in their 40s and 50s who
knew each other from communicating
and working together on elaborate Lego
projects on Lugnet.com.The group’s
members, according to a Lego
spokesman, contributed “incredibly
valuable insights” in hardware, software,
design and usability based on their own
experiences.

28. MY STARBUCK IDEA
• This is now 6+ years-old and
remains the gold standard of
crowd sourced tip boxes that
have actually worked for a brand
and delivered ideas from
customers (150,00 plus) with
innovations (277) that have
actually been implemented.

30. MY STARBUCK IDEA
• Customers today can order a “skinny”
beverage and a cake pop, garner digital
rewards for using their Starbucks Card
and enjoy free Wi-Fi – all thanks to
suggestions from fans. “Our passionate
customers and partners have been
sharing their ideas with us on My
Starbucks Idea, and we have listened and
acted upon many amazing innovations
that we have received from this online
community,” said Alex Wheeler, VP
global digital marketing for Starbucks.

31. ORACLE COMMUNITY (ORACLE)
• This is s a site for people
interested in Oracle
Corp.’s database and
software products.
Members share personal
stories, pictures, videos
and birthdays.

32. ORACLE COMMUNITY (ORACLE)
• They can create blogs on
the site, form groups
around themes and build
networks of designated
friends. Members can also
schedule meetings and
events both online and in
person.