Brand Management: Research, theory and practice

consumption subculture (being formal or informal) is more demanding than the
membership of a brand community. A subculture tends to define itself in oppo-
sition to the broader culture, which is not the case with brand communities. ‘Brand
communities do not typically reject aspects of the surrounding culture’s ideology.
They embrace them’ (Muñiz and O’Guinn 2001, p. 414).
In the subculture the brand has a socially fixed meaning. In brand communities,
brand meaning is socially negotiated rather than delivered unaltered from
consumer to consumer. The subculture study is more individually focused on the
transformation of self where the brand community approach departs in a social
constructionist perspective.

Summary

The brand community concept is rooted in the sociological notion of community
and the idea of subcultures of consumption. Three markers characterize a brand
community: ‘consciousness of kind’, ‘rituals and traditions’ and a ‘sense of moral
responsibility’. Brand communities can be geographically bound as well as
dispersed. The brand community concept expands into different variations;
marketer-facilitated brandfests, typical brand communities run by enthusiasts, and
community brands where the community becomes the marketer. A brand
community does not define itself in opposition to the surrounding society, as
opposed to a subculture of consumption.
Having described the key theoretical building blocks of the community
approach, the next section provides guidelines for how one can build a research
design to explore a brand community. This research is necessary if the aim is to

The community approach 191

Theory

Assumptions

Methods and data

Managerial implications

Figure 9.6Theoretical building blocks of the community approach