Brand Community

When defined loosely, Brand Communities have existed for as long as humans were able to converse with others about a particular item or philosophy. For example, somewhere in the prehistoric heart of Europe, a Neanderthal discovered a new technique in creating stone tools. Through word of mouth, open conversation and instruction, the Levallois technique spread to other tool makers and came to define the depth of Neanderthal skill as well as the geographic boundaries of their culture.

Like a brand of stone tool creation, many of the major Brands in today's marketplace have attracted loyal and enthusiastic fans who have not only made their chosen Brand an integral part of their everyday lives but have also chosen to actively seek out and interact with others who share the same interests as well as those who may have been unaware of the Brand's benefits. The community that arises from the consistent conversation and interactions among these peers is what we call a Brand Community, or as defined by Smack Inc, people interacting with other people for no other reason than the love a particular brand.

In a landmark 2001 study, Albert M. Muniz, Jr. and Thomas C. O'Guinn, set out to give a modern definition to the term Brand Community as well as a description of the common characteristics inherent in Brand Communities. In the study, Muniz and O'Guinn compare traditional definitions and characteristics of geographically bound communities with their findings on non-geographically bound Brand Communities that arose without the assistance of a parent company. In studying the Brand Communities pertaining to the Ford Bronco, Macintosh, and Saab, Muniz and O'Guinn detail three main characteristics found in Brand Communities that are also shared with traditional communities.

1) Consciousness of a Kind - the intrinsic connection that members feel toward one another, and the collective sense of difference from others not in the community. It is a shared knowing of belonging.

2) Shared Rituals and Traditions - Rituals and traditions perpetuate the community's shared history, culture, and consciousness.

3) Moral Responsibility - a sense of moral responsibility, which is felt as a sense of duty or obligation to the community as a whole, and to its individual members. The sense of moral responsibility is what produces, in times of threat to the community, collective action.

Membership into a Brand Community is like a membership to an exclusive club. Members are insiders who have just the right amount of information, just the right amount of knowledge to claim ownership over the Brand. When part of a Brand Community, consumers are not only fiercely loyal and protective of the Brand, they are also superb disseminators of the Brand's story and superior benefits as well as recruiters of new consumers.

To a marketer, the benefits of creating and enhancing a loyal group of consumers is an enticing proposition. And considering the current needs of consumers, it should be a natural choice for marketers to pursue a strategy that will seed and nurture their very own Brand Community.

With the exception of a few rare instances, such as Jones Soda, Brand Communities are created as a result of brand enthusiasts actively seeking contact with others with similar interests, with little or no guidance from the company who produced the Brand. "Building Brand Communities" is about laying the foundation whereby the interaction among enthusiasts of a brand, as well as new arrivals to a community, is based on transparency, honesty and integrity.