What are Brand Communities all about?

What are brand communities and why are they so effective?

1. Describe

In week five of the Sociology of Fashion module, we discussed the topic of brand communities. We learned that they provide a place where individuals can come together to share values and common interests, seek interaction and a sense of belonging, usually formed around a product/service which the individual feels a connection to. In other words, social relationships among admirers of a brand are formed by people who enjoy the same brands, they come together in these communities and discuss making genuine connections surrounding their values and interests. A community is formed by people who invest more in the brand than just what is on offer to buy. In joining the brand community, the individual feels they may be able to form a bond with others who feel the same way.

2. Interpret

Cova (1997), an academic that determined the early principles of the brand community, in relation to the links between community and consumption stated that, often the product or service is used in order to identify and form links with others. This determines that the link is generally more important than the thing itself, allowing and helping people to interact and feel a part of something broader. I think this resonates with me, as I would appreciate a product to a certain extent for its face value and my own opinion of it. However, I would feel a bigger connection to a product that held more meaning for me such as bringing me closer to like-minded people and

We see how these brand communities thrive online, and in this post modern society this means communities are not restricted by location, allowing consumers to create bonds with like minded people all across the globe. This stands out to me in today’s COVID world more than ever, we recognise that technology can play an extremely strong part in society and sustain connections, whether established physically or not. I think this may not have been exactly the case when postmodernity and individualism first came around, as in person connections suffered at the expense of the digital age, however this is something that I feel has now reset and most now appreciate the human connection over anything, whether physically or virtually.

We have seen that brand communities can also be extremely beneficial to brands themselves in how these communities generate hype, and a love for the product or service builds expanding communities of loyal consumers, increasing sales and growing the brands reputation. This happens because society itself determines the meaningful value of the product as opposed to the producer (Cova, 1997). I do agree that this is something which is very clearly seen in society in the way of influence.

Let us take Gymshark as an example, a sportswear brand that has had incredible growth since its launch in 2012. I think that Gymshark has had such resounding success because they focus completely on building their brand by providing a space for their community to interact and engage online around their products and also their values. I find this online presence can also help people outside the community to learn more about the brand and make it easier for them to invest and join in themselves. This allows each individual to be influenced by one another, allowing the love for the brand to grow bigger. In my opinion this is an extremely successful strategy for a brand, promoting from the consumer, to the consumer, with Gymshark reaping the rewards and having little to no involvement in how that community evolves.

Links between a traditional community and a brand community were later drawn on (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001), highlighting that both have similar defining characteristics - including a large sense of belonging, a moral obligation to others within the community and also sharing rituals and traditions.

This can be seen within Gymsharks community, sharing training goals, achievements, and motivating each other to keep moving - in particular in 2020, throughout lockdowns Gymshark’s own staff were posting using the companies hashtags to show their appreciation for the NHS, promoting their #NHSSweatySelfie’s on social media and urging their community to join in and do the same. They donated to the NHS for each selfie posted but these activities also align with their values and stimulate new conversation and inspiration throughout their community. This widened their community to include others wanting to get involved and doing something to aid the NHS and also showed that Gymshark staff are just as much a part of the community as anyone else, by training at home between zoom calls, while wearing their Gymshark gear, almost like a ‘behind-the-scenes’. As a fan of Gymshark clothing, their online humour, and their efforts to give back to their staff, this also inspired me to take up running during the first lockdown, I wanted to join in and take part in the challenge to keep active.

3. Evaluate

I find the concept of the brand community extremely interesting and am glad to be able to identify that this is something that comes naturally to me within my everyday interactions. Since being introduced to this topic, I recognise some of the characteristics when online and find myself engaging with certain brand communities without a second thought, through social media by liking and commenting on brand posts or friends posting about certain brands. When thinking about this further, something I found particularly interesting is the act tagging on social media, an interesting thing about interacting with brand communities like this is that individuals will tag friends in specific posts for their attention, even when the individual is not a part of the specific community themselves. This, as Cova (1997) explained refers to the connection linking the individuals together – although in this case not from within a community. I found this extremely interesting as this means we are highly aware of brand communities that we do not even directly belong to.

I also began to wonder if we insert ourselves in these brand communities based on perceptions of social interaction and through the ‘looking glass self’ how we wish to be seen by those around us. Maybe this, along with brand community characteristics that are engrained throughout our everyday actions force us to reflect the perceptions. We interact almost daily without realising due to social media and marketing campaigns infiltrating and influencing society. “Brands have become the dominant blueprint that fundamentally shapes the way we live our lives'' (Kornberger, 2010) and vice versa, making communities just as beneficial to brands.

4. Plan

Moving forward, I will continue to recognise my part in engaging with brand communities and their characteristics by identifying and keeping these in mind as I go about my day-to-day.

I would also like to read more about brand rituals and traditions as I find these characteristics and the role they play in engaging the community very interesting and would like to explore the why they have such an impact within communities further. Identifying where theory shows influence and how brands interacting or building rituals can specifically benefit the brand.

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Bibliography:

Cova, B. (1997). Community and consumption: Towards a definition of the “linking value” of product or services. European Journal of Marketing, 31(3/4), 297-316.

Muniz Jr., A. M., & O’Guinn, T. C. (2001). Brand community. Journal of Consumer Research, Inc., 27,412-432.

Kornberger, M. (2010). Brand society: How brands transform management and lifestyle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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