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Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist

brandingsmThere is a lot of research on Brand Communities, defined by Muniz and O’Guinn as “a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relationships among admirers of a brand.” (Muniz and O’Guinn 2001).

But do brand communities really exist?

Brand communities imply that the brand is at the center of the community. So in the Harley community it would mean that the Harley bike is at the center, in the Jeep community the Jeep Wrangler or the Cherokee, in the Mini Cooper community the Mini, and in the Fiskateer community, the Fiskars tools.

Is this really what is happening? I don’t think so.

For communities to work, the members need to be at the center of the community, and so the motivations have to be different from the pure hedonistic pleasure of owning a brand/product. The Fiskateers may be the people who come up with most of the new Fiskars products ideas. And they may be their staunchest defenders when the brand comes under attack. But the reason they form a tight-knit community, one that some members say changed their lives, is because they share a passion for scrap-booking. The reason that Harley owners get together is because they share a riding lifestyle passion. Jeep owners, probably because they have a shared aspiration for being adventurous by “off-roading” their cars. Mini owners? Not sure, but according to ethnographic research even people who no longer own a Mini Cooper stay with the community, so it cannot be that the car is at the center of the community.

So why Jeep and not Ford, why Fiskars, why Mini, why Harley ? Because in all those cases the companies have provided environments in which those member communities can operate and thrive. Jeep marketers are providing training camps, and are organizing the barbecues around which members can share their passion. Fiskars provided an online environment for their members to thrive and connected those with offline events as well. But in all cases they are enablers of a shared passion that exists within a tribe or community.

The result of that is what I described in a recent blog post – people use the Jeep, the mini, the Fiskars scissors, or the Harley as symbols to associate with others who share that passion. In some cases they take that a step further and create rituals around those brands, which make the brands more sticky. But at the end of the day, these are not brand communities, they are passionate rider communities, scrapbooker community, adventure seeker communities.

What do you think? Do you buy that, or do you think I am missing something?


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76 Responses to “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist”

  1. Depends on the brand.

    I’m a firm believer that if it’s B2C, you go to your community where they’re hanging out.

    If it’s B2B, you can certainly build a community from the centre and have others come to you.

    Different shoes, same goals.

  2. Hi Dan – thank you for taking the time to comment. But I have to disagree with you on this. In our Tribalization of Business research we actually found no difference between what makes B2C or B2B communities work – and the reason for that is because successful communities have nothing to do with B’s, nor C’s for that matter. They are all about P2P or H2H (human to human).

    One difference that we did see is that more B2C communities are populated with what we call “defenders of belief,” people who share a common belief and shun diversity (e.g., Apple Zealots would not want to be caught around PC admirers, and Ducati owners certainly don’t want to be confused with Harley owners). You have to go to B2B environments to find more communities populated with “seekers of the truth,” who embrace diversity (to a point) as a way to come up with better solutions (e.g., developer communities where competitors will help one another find better ways to leverage the platform).

  3. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by francois gossieaux, francois gossieaux. francois gossieaux said: New blog post: Why Brand Communities Don't Exist http://bit.ly/Atff9 [...]

  4. François,
    this ppost made me think about quite a lot… I agree with you as long as you stick to the Muniz definition. The terms themselves, « admirer of a brand », made me sceptic, as belonging to a rigid view of branding. Brands are merely an experience, expanding from and to customers through products, of course, but also through symbols. Your examples of Harley, Mini or Fiskars do not say anything else.
    On the other way, communities are also a gathering of people sharing an experience, this single touchpoint, the “user experience” being at the center of communities. Great brands have a story and a personality they share with their customers. This is specially the case of luxury brands, which are reluctant to dip into social media, although they ought to get the most success from it.
    Branding is, at its best, storytelling. Communities are not synonyms for crowdsourcing, ie letting other people tell their story and pervade the brand their own way. They are about gathering people to step into the brand’s story and getting in phase with the experience it provides. Brands are not the center of such communities, they are catalysts, a much more important and pervasive role.

  5. Thierry – thank you for the thoughtful comment. I agree that brands serve as catalysts in those communities – that are not just at the edges, they become part of the fabric of the community. I also agree that customer experiences are at the center of communities. And I certainly could not agree more with your assessment that communities are not the same as crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing sometimes has no social component at all, while communities is all about the social.

    But do great brands really have a story and personality to share, or is it humans internalizing the social that gets associated with being in the presence of the brand and therefore them who have a story to share? Not sure…need to think about it some more. Dan Ariely spoke about some of that when I interviewed him – http://bit.ly/k8dN9.

    Thanks for a great conversation.

  6. Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by fgossieaux: differences between B2B and B2C communities? See comment on own blog post (is this kosher?) and let me know ur thoughts http://bit.ly/Atff9…

  7. Francois, how about throwing in another famous example – LEGO – I would say it is actually formed around the brick, off-course as a tool for creative expression, but still with the brick as the center of passion.

    Like your examples of passionate rider communities, scrapbooker community, adventure seeker communities – is it a “creative expression community” or actually a brand community?

    Casper

  8. @Casper – I agree with you – the lego community is another great example. That one shows the power of what happens when you combine community with allowing people to customize the product.

  9. I am very sorry to say that I disagree with you. Brand communities do exist and brand fans like to connect to brands, social brands!

    The question if it is a brand community or not is dependant upon your particular definition of an online community and how a company brand choose to engage with their online community and brand fans.

    Main categories of online communities may be categorized in the following way:

    1. General
    2. Professional
    3. Niche
    4. Support
    5. Situation
    6. Collaboration
    7. Brand

    Main purpose to join the online community will set the main category belonging. You will find some examples here: http://www.mindmeister.com/29862531/online-communities

    Shopping (social shopping) is another highly interesting category under development which equals e-shop integration with online community (Amazon in the lead). Another one is co-design which will turn conversations into production, marketing and sales.

    I use the following destinctions related to brand in order to help companies to navigate and facilitate their brands:

    1. One brand community
    2. Shared brand community
    3. Target brand community
    4. Product brand community
    5. Trinity brand community
    6. Portal brand community
    7. Portfolio brand community

    The brand communities are most likly to increase in numbers due to the need for companies to engagage with brand fans at home space.

  10. Hi Hans,

    Thanks for taking the time to elaborate on your point and to disagree. That always makes for a good constructive debate.

    The categories of communities that you list are confusing to me as I do not think that they help understand what really happens.

    For example, collaboration-based communities are not communities to me – they are work groups in my mind, with people who know one another and whose job it is to collaborate. General could encompass any community. Sometimes professional communities are niche, etc.

    I think there are many more reasons to join online community than to belong. For example, if I join a product support community I do not want to belong – I look for a solution to my . Or if I have cancer and join a cancer support community – do I really want to belong? I wrote about the motivations for joining a community here (http://bit.ly/2an9pJ) and listed them as forming around shared passions (e.g., fan clubs), shared pains (e.g., cancer survivors), shared sense of duty (e.g., school alumni communities), or around categories based on common traits (e.g., poor frugal moms).

    I like the social shopping category, and do believe that brands play an important role in communities – but as symbols for people to relate to others, not at the center of the community.

    Francois

  11. Interesting post! But I believe you’re generalizing the motivations of people who join a brand community. For instance, a Mac fan is a Mac fan and may not want to discuss other brands (PCs); that would make the community, a dedicated brand community. For less fan’nable brands that have not yet evolved into marquee names that people aspire to own/ be associated with, what you suggest makes sense – build a community not around the brand, but around a real activity/ interest/ topic in which the brand has products/ services.

  12. [...] This post was Twitted by beastoftraal [...]

  13. Hi Karthik – I am not sure that a community centered exclusively around the ownership of a product would work. The Mac community you are describe does not exist. There are some support communities, where people help one another, there are some news scooping communities, which is more akin to paparazzi’s than pure brand fans…maybe I am missing something :)

  14. I just had a good meeting with a researcher on brand communities who could not agree more with the fact that brand communities do not exist – they are either customer communities, support communities, or lifestyle communities.

    In fact the term itself is a dangerous term because it gives the impression to less experienced (in terms of social media and communities that is) executives that they can run brand communities – which will inevitably fail.

  15. I disagree with the logic in the 3rd paragraph “Brand communities imply that the brand is at the center of the community. So in the Harley community it would mean that the Harley bike is at the center…” I would make a distinction between brand and product, where product is an artifact of the brand. A brand represents a set of values which the community identifies with at a primal-motivation level. Harley Davidson doesn’t mean bikes; Harley Davidson means freedom and autonomy, and they make bikes. The bike is the user’s mechanism for realizing this freedom. The Harley community rallies around a set of values or motivations and uses the Harley brand as a symbol of internal and external identification.

  16. I get the examples of a Jeep or Harley being at the center of a brand community rather than the members in a sort of literal translation, but feel that might be taking things a bit too literally.

    Why take “branded community” so literally? There needs to be consistent differentiation between the focus of a Jeep community being the actual Jeeps (ie: the product) instead of the Jeep *lifestyle* (ie: the brand).

    Communities are formed around much, much more than just your brand or product, but depending on how the brand is marketed, it’s more likely that communities form not so much around products, but around products which imply the realization of the lifestyle promised by the brand.

    Maybe the spare tire covers are right. Maybe it really IS a Jeep thing and you wouldn’t understand. (wink)

    Excellent read. A lot of food for thought right here. Appreciate it.

  17. Hi Anastasia — thank you for the thoughtful comment. Exactly what I meant. If we can the Harley a brand community that would mean that the bike is at the center. It clearly is not – the brand is used as a symbol or a link by community member to enable the social around a riding lifestyle. So it is not a brand community but a lifestyle community. Obviously it benefits the brand tremendously, and the brand people played a big role in enabling that tribe to come together, but that is a subtle, yet huge difference. Calling it a product community would put the product at the center, which again is not reflective of what it happening in this case. I believe that product communities do exist (and brand communities don’t), but they are almost always product support communities or product development communities.

  18. Francois, thanks for such a debate-inspiring post!

    As you know, I’ve been thinking about your post all afternoon (wish I had access to the Muniz and O’Guinn PDF, is it worth $10?). I am not sure I agree or disagree because I am not coming from it as an academic, but a community member and marketer.

    I consider there to be two types of communities: organic (people gathering around a brand/topic) and inorganic (a brand creating the community first). Some folks call the latter “intentional.”

    My first engagement in a community was a scarf Yahoo! Group that focused on Hermès scarves (yes, very true!). I did not participate as a marketer, but as someone who was a brand admirer. I was just starting to collect Hermès scarves, so when I stumbled upon the group…imagine my delight! There I had access to people who have been Hermès admirers for 1-50 years! I learned more about Hermès and their products then I would have ever learned from the brand itself. Hermès was not involved in the group (or the other two groups that also exist around the brand).

    As I said to Rachel Happe of The Community Roundtable, if Hermès were to get involved, it wouldn’t have strenghtened the group because the members knew more about the products than the Hermès staff that we have met over the years (that is to be expected in retail, but perhaps not corporate). It’s my opinion that members knowing more about the brand than the brand itself could have led to a negative brand perception for Hermès. There is no room for “fake it until you make it” within a community.

    Many B2B and B2C companies work very hard to create both types of communities (like Communispace does), but at the end of the day…if the community doesn’t focus on the members I think it will be hard to be successful (i.e. the brand needs to walk a fine line of engagement). As well, it does cost a lot of money to create a community around a brand.

    Julie Wittes-Schlack at Communispace shared with me that they know that at the end of the day members who have been invited to a community want to be there because it gives them direct access to a brand (and each other) they’ve wanted a dialogue with. (Her comment is here: http://www.theharteofmarketing.com/2009/01/organic-vs-inorganic-communities.html)

    When Brains on Fire helped Fiskar create the Fiskateer community, they knew it wasn’t about the product…it was about scrapbookers.

    The challenge is for organizations to find out what would ignite their community (or seamlessly integrate into a community that already exists). Perhaps there is no gas…and that’s okay. A brand doesn’t need a community just because it’s a buzz word.

    Beth Harte
    Community Manager, MarketingProfs
    @bethharte

  19. [...] This post was Twitted by chrisflanagan [...]

  20. Absolutely Danny, depends on the brand. [While I'll also add a caveat that there are rarer and rarer cases of total brand allegiance due to the proliferation of substitutes]

    The classic case from my experiences is one of community born of rejection elsewhere: smokers communities. While working at RJ Reynolds the strength of smokers communities was seen as an example that surpasses others.

    But there’s also the case of the ‘noble cause’ taking on a brand, so intertwined with community that it’s hard to separate them: http://ww5.komen.org/

  21. [...] This post was Twitted by novophil [...]

  22. @Beth – thanks for the thoughtful comment. I am not sure that I agree with the distinction between organic and inorganic. Even though the Jeep community and the Fiskarteer communities were created by the vendors themselves, they look very organic to me. But that is neither here nor there.

    I agree with you that sometimes you will not be able to create a community and that not everyone needs one. While most communities are peer-to-peer problem solving communities (often in the context of a brand – as in developer communities or customer support communities), there are some communities that seem to center around brands. But they really don’t. As Cova rightfully said in Tribal Marketing (http://bit.ly/1RFS83), brands are used as links to enable the social. And in that case, just like Fiskars did and Jeep did, it is ok for marketers to also engage. Somehow I get a sense that your Hermes community was very much like that.

    @Rotkapchen – Thanks for the comment – although I wonder where you left it :)

  23. Francois, thanks for the comment. In my mind, because Jeep and Fiskars created communities, they are inorganic. The Hermes group is organic because a group of brand evangelists started them and the brand is not involved at all. Perhaps it’s just semantics on my end (even though there are studies around these types of groups. Thanks for the link to the Cova paper.).

    At the end of the day, I think the irony lies in the fact that we are trying to neatly define a community for marketing purposes. Most [organic] communities don’t even know they are ‘engaged in social media’ or a ‘community.’ They tend to call themselves online groups. ;-)

    I am not trying to simplify the educational or intellectual aspect of what we are discussing, but I do think, however, that marketers tend to like nice, tidy buckets. As you know, communities are not nice and tidy because they involve a lot of sociological factors. As I tell other marketers: If you want to truly understand social media, don’t engage as a marketer, engage as a person.

    Looking forward to more discussions around this area.

  24. [...] week’s post was written by Francois Gossieaux titled, Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist. Notice he refers to “Brand” communities, not “Branded” communities. [...]

  25. [...] Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist – Emergence Marketing – Oct ‘09 [...]

  26. [...] anschliessende Debatte ist ungewoehnlich rege. Warum [...]

  27. [...] Gossieaux hat einen interessanten Beitrag zum Thema Brand Communities geschrieben. Er ist der Ansicht, dass es diese nicht geben könne, da [...]

  28. I very much enjoyed your article, and I see what you are saying. I do however, feel you missed one point. I have met some of the really off the deep end Mac or Harley zealots (I wasn’t aware of Fiskars fanatics but it doesn’t surprise me), and I can’t explain their behavior any other way than to equate it with being similar to a religion. I was once told by a Mac guy that touching a PC left him physically soiled, like a fanatic Bhraman touhing someone of lower caste. I know Harley guys who have told me sincerely that they would rather die than ride anything else. They sre immune to any kind of rational discussion about the brand they love (performance comparisons, cost, etc.). They have riuals, troll the internet looking for heresy, annual gatherings, sometimes even gurus. They have established devils that are responsible for every ill and who are limitless in their evil despite any view to the contrary (Japanese bikes, Microsoft). I could go on and on but you get the idea. I see very little difference between the behavior of the really comitted brand loyalists and that of members of a cult.

  29. New blog post: Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/Atff9

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  30. differences between B2B and B2C communities? See comment on own blog post (is this kosher?) and let me know ur thoughts http://bit.ly/Atff9

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  31. RT @fgossieaux “brand communities” don’t exist http://bit.ly/iZbvZ Members’ shared passion not product fuel the connections

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  32. Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist: There is a lot of research on Brand Communities, defined by Muniz and .. http://bit.ly/bKpR1

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  33. @dc2fla @t_de_baillon – thanks for tweet and for making for a good conversation on brand communities at http://bit.ly/Atff9

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  34. MARCOM WONK BREAKS RANKS – “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist” by @fgossieaux http://tinyurl.com/yhens6v

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  35. RT @amandachapel: MARCOM WONK BREAKS RANKS – “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist” by @fgossieaux http://tinyurl.com/yhens6v

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  36. Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://j.mp/KwACY

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  37. Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist: So in the Harley community it would mean that the Harley bike is at the .. http://bit.ly/O5RNu

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  38. New Harley events? Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/15KV3g

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  39. Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/O5RNu

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  40. Theres already a chain of commonality, the brand is just a link RT @jtwinsor Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/O5RNu

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  41. RT @jtwinsor: Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/O5RNu

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  42. I think reflects P&G view brands be ‘purpose-driven’ eg. Being Girl: RT @fgossieaux Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/Atff9

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  43. why brand communities don’t exist. really interesting discussion going on here. http://bit.ly/3p8uVA

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  44. Interesting blog post – “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist.” – http://ow.ly/w7qd (via @jtwinsor @conradlisco)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  45. Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://ow.ly/w7He

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  46. @elsekramer RT @madebymany Interesting blog post – “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist.” – http://ow.ly/w7qd (via @jtwinsor @conradlisco)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  47. RT @madebymany Interesting blog post – “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist.” – http://ow.ly/w7qd (via @jtwinsor @conradlisco)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  48. Reading: Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist | emergence marketing http://bit.ly/O5RNu

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  49. RT @PembaServes: Reading: Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/O5RNu (good info for business types)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  50. Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://ow.ly/waby

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  51. Interesting discussion started by @Fgossieaux at Emergence Marketing blog on whether or not Brand Communities exist. (http://bit.ly/265XED)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  52. “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist.” http://ow.ly/w7qd (via @jtwinsor, @conradlisco, @madebymany)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  53. Valeria – Thank you for highlighting this example. Two things really excite me about what they are doing:

    1. Investors are largely an "underserved" audience when it comes to social media. The conversations around social media, and the solid case studies that we have to learn from are almost exclusively marketing focused. This presents a cool way that companies can interact with investors.

    2. Along the same lines, we don’t have many B2B and social media case studies to learn from. NASDAQ presents another good learning opporunity in that regard.

    Since some of my job is directly related to investor relations, I can’t wait to see how this community site unfolds. Thanks for highlighting again!

    This comment was originally posted on Conversation Agent

  54. Commented on Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://j.mp/UgXCg, by @fgossieaux

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  55. Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/3v4HPo

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  56. Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/1Hy8qg Good post by Francois Gossieaux. Interesting discussion in comments.

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  57. RT @BillFanning: Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/1Hy8qg Good post by Francois Gossieaux. [agreed - very thought-provoking]

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  58. Chuck,

    Indeed, B2B and social media, although they go very well together, are still either not documented or just in the case of a couple of very large organizations, in some areas. It will be interesting to see what develops. I used to be more involved with financial services and markets and will be keeping an eye on the NASDAQ Community.

    This comment was originally posted on Conversation Agent

  59. Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/Atff9

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  60. Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/1JuDy6

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  61. “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist” from @fgossieaux http://bit.ly/3Wn1lZ What do you think? I am still thinking about this one…

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  62. RT @BethHarte: “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist” from @fgossieaux http://bit.ly/3Wn1lZ What do you think?

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  63. hmm, changes on interp. of “Brand Communities”, IMO RT @BethHarte: “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist”- @fgossieaux http://bit.ly/3Wn1lZ

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  64. RT @BethHarte: “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist” via @fgossieaux http://bit.ly/3Wn1lZ What do you think?

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  65. RT @BethHarte “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist” from @fgossieaux http://bit.ly/3Wn1lZ What do you think? {I heartily agree.}

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  66. @BethHarte Your question abt. @fgossieaux’;s http://bit.ly/3Wn1lZ wd make a good MarketingProfs group discussion prompt, dontcha think?

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  67. RT @TomOB: RT @BethHarte “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist” from @fgossieaux http://bit.ly/3Wn1lZ What do you think?

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  68. The best networks are built around a person’s needs/problems-a Brand isn’t enough http://bit.ly/O5RNu Thanks @jtwinsor for the link

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  69. Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/Atff9

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  70. I partially disagree. Added my thoughts in comments “Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist” from @fgossieaux http://bit.ly/3p8uVA

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  71. Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist, thought provoking piece that we tend to agree with http://bit.ly/Atff9

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  72. “The brand isn’t enough” RT @sbendt: best networks are built around a person’s needs/problems http://bit.ly/O5RNu (via @jtwinsor)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  73. rt @sbendt: The best networks are built around a person’s needs/problems-a Brand isn’t enough http://bit.ly/O5RNu

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  74. RT @chrisflanagan Hmmm… From @fgossieaux : Why Brand Communities Don’t Exist http://bit.ly/Atff9

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  75. I think using social media sites isn’t as easy or cheap as many people think. In fact, the major sites aren’t necessarily the best places for a business owner. Some of the most avid users of Facebook and MySpace are pimply adolescents and goth teenagers.

    This comment was originally posted on Citizen Marketer 2.1

  76. Does B2B exist? @ConversationAge writes of implementing a B2B strategy http://bit.ly/z81uP but @fgossieaux contrasts http://bit.ly/Atff9

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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