Malene Laursen Executive Summary Researching Cross-cultural Implications in Tribal Marketing

Cand. Negot. Global Marketing Management July, 2015
Malene Hesselholt Laursen University of Southern Denmark
& Kristine Snestrup Nielsen Supervisor: Pernille Bendixen
Executive Summary
RESEARCHING CROSS-CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS IN
TRIBAL MARKETING
A study of Les Mills’ “One Tribe”
FORSKNING I TVÆRKULTURELLE UDFORDRINGER
VED TRIBAL MARKETING
En undersøgelse af Les Mills’ “One Tribe

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Introduction
The inspiration for the thesis was based on the global fitness trend that has increased in the last decade.
With a shift in attention towards being healthier, fitness has become a part of the everyday-life for many
people. The focus of the study in the thesis was centered on the New Zealand based company, Les Mills,
which provides pre-choreographed fitness programs, distributed as licenses around the world. Les Mills
offers a whole range of different classes, everything from dance to more strength-based classes. Gyms and
clubs across the globe can purchase these licenses and once a license is acquired, the gym or club is
allowed to offer the programs of the Les Mills experience of group fitness.
What caught the researchers of the thesis’ attention was Les Mills’ global success, based on a standardized
marketing concept. With years of studying marketing, the researchers’ interest in Les Mills’ marketing
method was established. The question of how a global success with standardized marketing was possible
led to the decision of researching Les Mills.
When further studying Les Mills’ procedure and marketing the researchers discovered a general theme in
Les Mills’ company philosophy - the use of the word tribe. This led to the researchers’ interest in tribal
marketing, which the researchers quickly established as an unknown field in marketing, needing immediate
attention and research. When studying the tribal marketing theory - another issue was evident – the aspect
of cultural differences and possible implications when applying standardized marketing and tribal
marketing.
Therefore, the main purpose of the thesis was to discover the possible cross-cultural implications on tribal
marketing. Furthermore, the researchers wanted to discover how Les Mills practiced standardized
marketing with a possible application of tribal marketing, leading to the researchers’ interest in wanting to
discover if and how the tribal feeling had been transferred across cultures.
The researchers’ contribution to the marketing field was to provide a proposal of how tribal marketing is
best and most successfully applied in a globalized world with Les Mills as a case example.
To limit the study the researchers chose to focus on the home culture of Les Mills, New Zealand, and a
foreign market, Denmark.

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Methodological Presentation
To clarify how tribal marketing is most successfully applied in a globalized world and if cultural differences
influence tribal marketing, the study was conducted through various primary and secondary data
collections.
The approach of this study was based on the hermeneutic circle, which means that in order to understand
the totality the researchers have tried to understand the individual parts by themselves. In order to
understand the result of the study as totality, the researchers tried to understand the different parts of the
analysis. In the process of writing this thesis, the researchers gained new insight and knowledge, which
constantly affected further analyses of the different aspects in the study.
A hermeneutic approach was chosen because that it enabled interpretation and a better in-depth
understanding of the qualitative research. By applying a hermeneutic approach it allowed an understanding
of the respondents’ opinions according to their experiences.
The primary data was conducted with the use of a triangulation method, a beneficial data collection
method ensuring a more realistic result or view. By using a triangulation method, more than one method of
primary data collection was used in the research.
First a qualitative research was made, consistent of in-depth interviews and group interviews in New
Zealand and Denmark respectively. 12 respondents participated in the qualitative study, six from each
culture. The respondents were given the same questions - in order to uphold coherence. However, the
interviews were conducted in the respondents’ native languages. The questions for the qualitative
interviews consisted of questions based on tribal marketing and cross-cultural theory - in order to provide a
foundation for the cross cultural, tribal analysis. Furthermore, providing a safe environment for the
respondents to freely answer the questions helped maintain the credibility of the qualitative research and
derived a useful set of data to help examining the researchers’ main purpose of the thesis.
The participants for the qualitative research were selected with help from Les Mills International (the New
Zealand participants) and via social media channels (the Danish participants). A description of the interview
and the criteria of the wanted participants were provided to Les Mills International to retrieve the most
suitable respondents. To discover the true “feeling” of a tribe, the following criteria were selected:
- must be actively engaged in Les Mills’ group fitness, in either New Zealand or Denmark
- age range is not valued important - but preferably in the mid-age as this range is said to be the
target group for Les Mills

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- same situation with gender, not valued important, though an equal mix of respondents is
preferable to provide a nuanced insight of the respondents.
Secondly, a quantitative research was conducted with the use of questionnaires to support the qualitative
results. In other words, a triangulation research method was chosen to gather findings that provided
reliable data in order to conduct a realistic study. The participants for the quantitative research were of the
criteria as such:
- regular attendance in group fitness, either current or previous
- age and gender are not valued important, as it is to confirm or dismiss the qualitative data
However, to get a high number of respondents - everybody was able to participate in this research. The
distribution of the quantitative research questionnaires was accomplished via the social media channel
Facebook, in order to reach as many respondents as possible within a short period of time. A total of more
than 500 respondents were reached.
Theoretical Presentation
In order to understand the concept of tribal marketing, Bernard Cova and Véronique Cova’s research paper
“Tribal marketing: The tribalisation of society and its impact on the conduct of marketing” was applied as
the primary source. Cova and Cova’s work on tribal marketing was chosen due to several factors, but
basically due to their emphasis and capability of discarding the traditional and mechanical strategy thinking.
Instead of a physiological point of view, Cova and Cova had a more ethno-sociological point of view -
making researchers capable of gaining insight into the consumers’ shared experience and understanding of
tribal groupings.
In order to discover if Les Mills applies tribal marketing - and how tribal marketing is most successfully
applied, the use of Cova and Cova’s work was assisted by the use of Imrie and Mitchell’s “Consumer tribes:
membership, consumption and building loyalty.” Their research applied the theories and findings from Cova
and Cova’s work, which provided this thesis with a more practical aspect of applying tribal marketing.
The concept of tribal marketing includes theory on discovering the tribe’s shared passion, emotional
connection, tribal values and how to support the tribe. Cova and Cova furthermore elaborate on the places
of tribal activity and the different roles of membership tribal members can obtain.
In order to discover the cross cultural implication on tribal marketing, the researchers chose to conduct a
cultural analysis of the two countries examined, New Zealand and Denmark. The main reason for this was

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because in order to examine if cultural differences mattered in tribal marketing, the cultural history of each
culture must be clarified. Different theorists were applied in the cross-cultural analysis - to provide a
greater insight into the culture of the chosen countries.
First, a historical description of each of the countries was clarified with the use of Stephen Brown, who
states that cultural heritage shapes the core of the individual in societies and must therefore be included -
when researching a culture. Secondly, culture theories were applied, analyzing the cultures with the use of
Geert Hofstede, Edward T. Hall and Richard D. Lewis. The three authors were chosen due to their static
categorization methods - in order to simply compare the findings from the two cultures making it possible
to further create a comparison of the perception of tribal activity in Les Mills’ group fitness classes.
- Hofstede made it possible to compare cultures by categorizing the cultures into different
dimensions - describing the individuals in the society. The six dimensions categorized the cultures
as either high or low in equality and power distance, high or low in uncertainty avoidance,
individualistic or collectivistic, feministic or masculine at mind, long or short-term oriented and
finally, how indulgent or restraint a culture is.
- Hall made it possible to compare the cultures by describing the differences in high and low context
cultures and in general further examination of the communication within a specific culture.
- Lewis described cultures as either linear-active, multi-active or reactive or as a mix of the three,
making it possible to compare the cultures’ communication and the mind-set of the individuals in
the societies.
After the cross cultural analysis, the tribes of each culture were analyzed with Cova and Cova’s theory,
inspired by Imrie and Mitchell’s application in their study - based on the qualitative data from this study.
First, the tribe was described by illustrating the shared passion and emotional connection, along with the
self-identity of the tribe and a description of the tribal values. Afterwards, the tribal activity and different
memberships were discovered - by using the answers from the respondents in the qualitative research.
Finally, to enlighten if and how the tribal feeling had been transferred across cultures, the use of
McCracken’s “Movement of Meaning”- model was selected. The model made it possible to illustrate which
meaning was transferred from the culturally constituted world onto the product and which meaning was
transferred from the product onto the individual consumers in each culture. Doing so, a comparison of the
cultures’ meaning transfer was possible to conduct to clarify if the tribal feeling had transferred across
cultures. The respondents’ answers from the qualitative research were also applied in the use of

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McCracken’s model in relation to better support the findings in McCracken’s “Movement of meaning”
theory.
Afterwards, to support the results from the qualitative research a quantitative research was conducted to
make as comparison of findings.
Results and Findings
When applying the cross-cultural theory, the researchers experienced difficulties because the theory lacked
contemporary adjustments. However, it was discovered that the two cultures, New Zealand and Denmark,
were quite similar despite very different national histories, and differences in some of the cultural
elements. However, the two countries showed similar traits among the respondents of the individuals in
each culture.
The tribes’ shared passion, self-identities and the tribal values in each culture were also rather identical.
However, the distribution of the tribal membership roles was not equally represented among the
respondents interviewed. However, when analyzing the different memberships in the tribes in each
culture, the researchers experienced that the distribution of membership roles was almost the same, by
taking a closer look at the respondents’ answers. Tribal activity was evident both online and offline, with
social media groups and gatherings at events etc. in both cultures. Through the analysis, it showed a picture
of Les Mills supporting the tribes in similar ways in both cultures.
The meaning transfer from the culturally constituted world onto the product happened in slightly different
ways, when looking at the two countries’ cultures. In New Zealand, the meaning transferred from the
culture onto the product was affected by advertising in the society as a whole. However, in Denmark no
advertising was seen outside the clubs and gyms – making the researchers claim that the meaning
transferred from the culture onto the product was affected by the culture in the gyms and clubs, not the
society.
This study’s analysis of the group fitness tribes in New Zealand and Denmark indicated that cultural
differences only impact tribal marketing slightly. The tribal activity and distribution of memberships were
similar across cultures indicating that the same tribes were evident, regardless of cultural origin.
The analysis showed that tribal members were more evident in individualistic cultures. The fact that people
were becoming more and more individualistic could be connected to the aspect of globalization and its
effect on the way people choose to live their lives. Many cultures, especially the Western part of the world,

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are characterized as being more concerned about the individual aspect in life. This has become an
important part of the self-identity in consumers. People have started to become less focused on the
structure and rank of cultural- and family related norms and by that shifted their focus into a more
individualistic approach based on choosing their own rules and way of life. By that people have created
their own sense of belonging by reaching out for their own personalized values, needs and interests – with
the use of tribes. When changing the focus from being a part of a former ascribed group, consumers are
now a part of a tribe in which they might not have any cultural or normative aspects in common. However,
the importance is based on the freedom of choice that creates this gathering of people in relation to their
shared passion and emotions about the membership in the tribe.
The results from the analysis made the researchers claim that the practice of tribal marketing utilized by
Les Mills was the best practice. The reason for this claim was due to their successful support of the tribe, no
matter which culture the tribal members were located in. The fact that Les Mills supports the tribe in equal
manners across cultures makes their tribal marketing successful, since tribes seem to consist of the same
values, shared passion and emotional connection regardless of culture. By hosting events, tribal members
are able to gather outside of the classes, which is very important for tribal activity. They offer their group
fitness classes worldwide, enabling tribal members to participate in every class, as the classes are
standardized. This standardization showed to be successful as members of the group fitness tribe share the
same values and passion regardless of culture. Furthermore, Les Mills has managed to embrace the
contemporary individual by focusing on the individual’s needs and desires of being healthy with others.
The tools Les Mills used in their tribal marketing consisted of highly educated instructors, specially elected
and contemporary music, professionally and choreographed exercises and most importantly, a high level of
group support.
One of the reasons why the researchers of this study claim Les Mills as the best practitioner of tribal
marketing is due to this study’s triangulation data, which stated that when participating in group fitness
classes an emphasis from participants was on the instructor, the music and the exercises. The level of
support Les Mills provides towards the tribe really showed how much Les Mills is interested in the tribe’s
shared passion. However, what made Les Mills group fitness classes a tribe was the high focus on group
feeling and socialization.
When doing tribal marketing, marketers must realize certain practical implications in order to be successful.
First of all, marketers must consider which tribes can be reached by looking at current users as well as
possible users of the products or services. Secondly, marketers must determine the culture of the tribe by

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discovering the tribe’s shared passion and emotional connection, the tribal values, distribution of roles
among tribe members, tribal identity and influencers on the tribe. This study showed that more tribal
members exist in individualistic cultures. Therefore, marketers must consider where their tribe and the
product or services to support this tribe currently resides. Finally, marketers must consider how they can
reach the tribe by discovering the places of tribal activity in the specific tribe, as well as determining which
kind of support they are able to provide – whether it is offline or online.
Perspective
Marketers must work and think outside the normal tool set of contemporary marketing. Cova and Cova
emphasize that instead of seeing the individuals’ consumption as something being self-defining, the
marketing perspective should instead be based on the consumption, which is also happening due to the
linking value within the products. There has been a shift from individuals focusing on what they are in need
of and instead the consumers base their consumption in order to connect with other people, a desire or
need to belong to a certain type of tribe.
People from around the world start to interact with each other and information on how other people live
their life is easily obtained. People influence each other in a way that is unavoidable since the world is not
as big and unknown any longer. People are able to travel and communicate more easily, which impacts the
speed of information and knowledge of other people’s cultures. On the basis of this assumption, the
researchers found it reasonable to believe that since people are affecting each other’s lives, a change in the
national culture is likely to occur, leading to the answer of why tribal marketing is the future. As this study
primarily examined individualistic cultures, which are more or less likely to interact in these tribes, this
individualistic point of view of society can influence other cultures and by that open up a range of options
never discovered by the individuals themselves. However, since the globalization has an impact on the
culture norms might be changing. Individual- thinking is the key point for this shift in cultural values -
cultures shift their perspective from mainly focusing on their social context of their culture, and start
pursuing what they as individuals need and desire in relation to finding others who share the same passions
and beliefs in a tribe.
The future of tribal marketing was discussed as being promising since more tribes emerge. However, a
strong need for adjusting theories and models in the marketing- and cultural field of research were evident
in the evaluation and discussion of this study and its findings. Globalization and an increasing individualistic
trait in tribal members were the reasons for claiming a need of redefinition and more contemporary
theories in both the field of marketing including tribal marketing, and cultural application. As individuals

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across the globe show more and more similar traits - one of them being the need for self-electing interests,
while wanting to socialize and connect with others - globalization and tribal marketing is said to be quite
relevant for future marketers.

Malene Laursen Executive Summary Researching Cross-cultural Implications in Tribal Marketing

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