Brand Management: Research, theory and practice

The assumptions of the community approach fall into two categories. First, the
‘brand triad’ notion implies changes in the way the ‘brand–consumer exchange’ is
perceived. Second, the community approach adds a social brand perspective to
brand management. The methods used to research brand communities borrow
from the scientific tradition of ethnography. These methods reflect the new
assumptions in the context of brand management, since the ethnographic research
tradition builds on a socio-cultural rather than individualistic perception of man
(or in brand management, the consumer).

The ‘brand–consumer exchange’

[brands] are social entities experienced, shaped, and changed in communities.

Therefore, although brand meaning might be ascribed and communicated to

consumers by marketers, consumers in turn uncover and activate their own

brand meanings, which is communicated back to the marketers and the asso-

ciated brand community.

(Brown et al. 2003, p. 31)

The community approach adds groupsof consumers to the picture, which changes
the basic premises of the ‘brand–consumer exchange’. In the continuous
brand–consumer dialogue shaping the brand, the marketer no longer finds himself
having a dialogue with only one consumer, but with potentially millions of
consumers. These consumers are likely to continue the brand dialogue long after
the marketer believes the meeting is over. New rules of the game apply to the
management of a brand, when countless consumers are able to share good and bad
experiences, their roaring enthusiasm, and incredible rumours in face-to-face
settings as well as on the internet.

Consumer Consumer

Brand

Figure 9.1The ‘brand triad’: a brand community exists onlywhen there is interaction
between at least two consumers

The community approach 183