Marketing Analysis : Brand Community

A brand is a portfolio of qualities associated with a name, which in turn invokes certain images to individuals and hold values beyond the benefits of a product (Iacobucci, 2018). Brand association occurs when customers make a cognitive or emotional association with a particular brand. For instance, when a customer sees a certain color, symbol, logo, or name they automatically can make a connection to a particular brand. Brands start with a name that conveys information, suggest their benefits, or can even be named after their founders (Iacobucci, 2018). In the marketing perspective marketers can control the brand which they are marketing by using catching logos, colors, slogans, or even the products shape and appearance. In marketing a marketer can control the message they are trying to convey but cannot really have control over an individual’s association with that particular brand. Once a customer has an association with a particular brand they may favor the brand based on a past experience or even that individual’s sense of style or they may dislike a brand because of an association they

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition”. However, as Keller highlights, a brand is also “something that has actually created a certain amount of awareness, reputation, prominence, and so on in the marketplace”. Therefore, a brand is an identity created to differentiate itself from the competitors and to be remembered in consumer’s mind.

Since an increasing number of people focus on brand names instead of product, brands become important elements for customers to choose products (Carroll, 2008). When customers trust the brand, the benefits for the manufactures are generated. In the first place, brands can be used by products as the tool to identify and differentiate themselves from various products. Secondly, brands are helpful for companies to build a competitive advantage (Bick, 2009). Therefore, organisations take more attention to branding.

Holt (2004, 2006) tells that brands are cultural symbol expressing the identity (rituals, language and iconic activities) of consumers. Brand is described by a symbol or name that people use to discuss about particular service or product. Brand symbol is very significant for giving a unique image to any type of brand. The author recommended the classification of brand community as very difficult and complex fact. This makes the whole article more complicated to understand. Schau et al. (2009) have defined 12 practices related with brand communities. These practices are distinguished into impression management, community engagement, brand use and social networking. However, It is not easy task to separate the brand communities from other communities because of their broadness and complexity in characteristics. The authors have written about one characteristic that make brand community different from other type of community- to make a brand as the surpassing all other association. Firstly, “brand” is a central point of brand community which is shown by symbol (linguistic marker, visual marker and

In society today, everything has a name for it. If the product doesn’t have a well-known name, it goes by name that a well-known product that is similar goes by. Branding has made its impact on society and it’s never going to go away. In this situation, all we can do from here is analyze more and more until we fully understand its presence in society and its effects. Branding has its biggest effects on consumerism, which makes us question consumerisms power in society. Has our society become one big, replicated consumer or can a consumer or even a person still be unique and individual? Branding creates competition amongst companies throughout the world and creates a competition for the consumers. Not only, it also creates issues, creates

In lean economic time nowadays, only a few firms comprehend and execute approaches to stir customer loyalty towards a brand, achieve marketing efficiency, and brand credibility provided by that solid communities (Fournier and Lee, 2009). For whisky communities play critical roles in local whisky industry, new approaches for increasing their impacts are suggested.

Brands, their veneration as a part of Brand Communities and how they are differed from all other communities is basically what discussed in this paper .Brand Communities can be defined as a group of people who are having liking for a particular brand. According to Muniz et o ' Guinn (20014), brand communities offer their members various kinds of experiences and culture with specific rituals, traditions and behavioral expectations. The participation of a person may be based on the fact that he/she is interested in particular fantasy literature,

The article, “When totems beget clans: The brand symbol as the defining marker of brand communities” by Greg Stratton and Jeremy Northcote discussed the differences of brand community with other type of communities. The next important thing is brand symbol which leads the reputation of brand community is not including just in totemic fashion and it raise the number of consumers. It also shows the brands and branded products’ market with new social trends. It is claimed that there are some precise features which set boundaries for a brand community to make it apart from other community structures and it has also a unique set of dynamics. The authors of totem beget clan paper discussed in it, about brand community’s expansion, characteristics, implications and marketing strategies. They explained it with some other writers’ views (Muniz O’Guinn (2001), Anthony Cohen (1985), O’Reilly (2012), Carlson (2008), Cova and Pace (2006), Burgh Govan (2007), Schau (2009), Holt (2004-2006)) and a number of examples such as Apple, BMW and Harley Davidson motorcycles which clearly defines all the views. In conclusion, they raise its importance and overlap it with other social figurations.

The Design Phase is what brings the user experience to life. It’s a process of structured brainstorming to answer the critical questions around design, prototyping, and testing new ideas. Creating an amazing experience consists of simple functionality, powerful usability, and creative thoughtfulness.

A recent debate on brand management seems to suggest that cultural brands have the ability to instill a contradictory system of values. A key argument in Holt’s (2004) How Brands Become Icons is that brands become iconic because they perform a myth that addresses acute contradictions in the society. Brown et al. (2003) also claim that the paradoxical ‘soul’ of brands provides an opportunity for consumers to involve emotionally with the brands and thereby create the subtle connections that lead to loyalty. Drawing upon several well-known brands, Heilbrunn (2006) shows that strong brands promote an utopian model based on a series of inherent contradictions and paradoxes, which brands are able to reconcile through a narrative program. The contradictory principles, according to the author, coexist in any brand’s discourse. Schultz and Hatch (2006) also refer to four cultural paradoxes and argue that these paradoxes or contradictions may exist in

The meaning of “brand” has evolved over time, and different individuals have different interpretations for “brand”. This essay will firstly brief the meaning of brand and explain an idea that “brand” could be seen as a friend with an application of “Maslow 's Hierarchy of Needs”. Next, to have a better understanding of how “brand” has changed, the interviews for generation X and Y were conducted. The research has found that Gen X still find it difficult to define “brand” and they regard brand as a guarantee of product quality. Meanwhile, Gen Y have lots of ideas about “brand” and take it as normal experiences in life.

Brand community is considered to be a community of brand followers and customers, fastened together by similar behavioural attachment towards the brand. As drastic innovation on the leading platforms reduces down, marketers become progressively limited in their influence, brands are requiring to move laterally to lodge their customer-centred needs. Brands are considering onlookers connected by the synchronization of their brand interest, rather than the unity of their social "real world" connections. The communities are trained on social media which bid amusing new opportunities to squeeze brand sensibility. Taking the commitment of the brand to a fully preserved community makes comprehensive sense in a customer-centred strategy. Marketers can build up brand communities by assisting in shared consumer experiences and strengthening the trustworthiness to the brand as an amalgamation towards the brand (McAlexander, Schouten, & Koenig, 2002). In the emerging consumer culture fuelled by industrial revolution, the sense of community and interpersonal bonds and unimagined fellowship is necessary for the growth of the brand and the manufacturers (McAlexander, Schouten, & Koenig, 2002).

The dawn of 20th century is the initiation of production of goods and services which were consumer focussed, instead of the usual trend of mass production. Due to economic growth and diversified consumerism, there arises a need for the manufacturers to give additional products of to the market for their survival while still retaining their so called “BRAND” name. Knowledge of the brand communities assists manufacturers preceding the launch of new products so as to retain the positive attitude towards the product and brand as a whole. The influence of brand has grown to the extent that even in accounting there is value allotted for intangibles like goodwill of a company, which mostly contributes to the brand name. Consumers are happy to pay more to get more sophisticated products to blend in the community than left aloof. More brand oriented groups are evident; credit goes to the social media which is prevalent and influential around the globe and contributes to the growing consumer base of reputed brands like Apple, Microsoft, Harvey Davidson motorcycle, etc. (Stratton & Northcote, 2014)

Brand community has been a theme of enthusiasm for late years. These days, consumers don 't only select items; additionally select the brands that they perceive. The securely attached "relationship" in the middle of consumers and brands has been constantly advancing and this paper concentrates on such relationship. Partaking in a brand community and interfacing with different individuals inside it will lead a purchaser to change his feeling of having a place, his distinguishment of the brand, and, to a certain degree, his perceptual danger.

The basic assumption that ongoing interactions help consumers form deep attachment to brands, fails to address both the intrinsic and extrinsic factors impacting consumer choice and preference, and the multi-dimensional context in which consumers and humans operate. Today, brand meanings are no longer created unilaterally, under the sole control of a firms marketing efforts, rather, it is the active role of multiple stakeholders in conveying the essence of the brand (Berthon, Pitt and Campbell 2009).