BUILDING BRAND COMMUNITIES

Brand community is a specialized community of consumers and employees whose identification and activities focus around the brand

1TO CREATE BRAND RESONANCE

Brand community lies in the top most

stage of “Brand Building”

2TO CREATE VALUE AND BOND

FUNCTIONAL VALUE

ECONOMIC VALUE

EMOTIONAL VALUE

FINANCIAL BOND

SOCIAL BOND

STRUCTURAL BOND

Created by Brand communities

3TO ADDRESS SOCIAL NEEDS

Brand communities

lead to fulfilment of

needs of ‘Love and

belongingness’

4TO SEEK MULTIPLE OTHER BENEFITS

Customer insight

Increased product

knowledge

Customer satisfacti

onBrand loyalty

Customer engagem

ent

KNOW THY CUSTOMER

CREATE A MESSAGE AND POSITIONING

USE POSITIVE EMOTIONS

CREATE UNIQUE CONTENT

EMPOWER COMMUNITY MEMBERS

The world-famous motorcycle co. sponsors the HOG which by 2011 had 12mn members world-wide sharing a simple mission,

“To Ride and Have Fun”

The company invests in yearly rallies for the HOG members, who enthusiastically participate in large numbers..

“It’s a matter of pride” is what they say..

The perfect ‘Brand Extensions’, Merchandise and biking accessories are well appreciated by the Harley riders!

Harley Davidson Museum…The unique customer engagement model!

The company actively manages the Harley community by leveraging social media through high end videos, user contests, rally announcements, etc.

It also provides a larger platform for customer interaction

THE VIBRANT APPLE COMMUNITY-another quintessential example of Brand Communities that exist!

Facilitating discussions, query solving & announcements by company for its users..

Find your user group and talk about how much you LOVEEEE APPLE- quite an idea!

Seeking participation through social media and Google forums, after all..

BRAND COMMUNITY IS SOMETHING YOU PARTICIPATE IN!

ELEMENTS OF A STRONG BRAND COMMUNITYStrong Brand

Story/Myth

Need for Collaboration Unique Culture

Identifiable Brand Elements

DISTINGUISH BETWEEN MYTHS AND REALITY

BUSINESS STRATEGY MARKETING STRATEGY

BRAND COMMUNITY

BRAND COMMUNITY: Exists to serve the people, not the business

Brand communities are not love-fests for faithful brand advocatesSmart companies embrace the conflicts that make

communities thrive

Opinion leaders build strong communityCommunities are strongest when everyone plays a role

Online networks are just one tool, not a communication strategy

Successful brand communities are tightly managed and controlledOf and by the people, communities defy managerial control

Funding and

resource allocatio

n

Negative associati

on

Challenges in brand

extension

Internal resistan

ceSynergies

• Brand communities are specialised communities of custumers

• They are established to create brand resonance, value and bond as well as address the social needs of consumers and create customer engagement

• Harley Davidson and Apple are the look up to examples of Brand Communities

• Developing pioneering Brand communities require clarity of difference between reality and myth as well as the capability to overcome challenges involved

This deck has been prepared by Nirali Raichura as a part of the PGP course- Brand Management taught by Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow

DISCLAIMER

Marketing Professor 2009 – 2013

Ph.D. and M.S. (Marketing) 2003 – 2009

Marketing Professor 2013 –

Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow

21

Prof. Sameer Mathur