Brand communities can successfully be facilitated around low-involvement
products. In the case of these not-so-obvious brands, a community should be
based on a deep understanding of the consumption context rather than the brand
itself (the consumption context meaning the psychological and social concerns of
young girls in the Libresse case). Active selling like in other communities, should
not be attempted here, but providing a platform for social interaction may work
well both as a retention tool and also as a way for new users of the product to
become familiar with and trust that specific brand. The brand community
platform helps the consumer discuss and solve some of the more emotional issues
linked with the consumption of the product, which works as very good trust
creating mechanism.
Summary
Marketers can benefit from a brand community in many ways. The marketer can
reap benefits either by observing brand communities and extracting brand
meaning or by facilitating consumer interaction through a brand community. Both
roads to obtaining the benefits of a brand community require the discretion of the
marketer who should adopt a ‘behind the scenes’ presence. Neither selling nor the
recruitment of new consumers should be attempted. Managerial discretion is key
in the community approach. The focus should be on facilitating the sharing of
consumption experiences between consumers. High-involvement brands with a
Box 9.8 Libresse: the community principles applied to fast-moving
consumer goods
A line of feminine hygiene products is marketed by Swedish paper product
giant SCA. The products are marketed as Libresse (globally), BodyForm
(UK), Nana (France), Nuvenia (Italy), Libra (Australia), Nosotras (Spain)
and Saba (Mexico and Central America). SCA has successfully managed to
apply the principles of the community approach to an FMCG in an inno-
vative marketing effort customized for the youngest of their target audience.
These web sites resemble youth magazines and are devoted more to
emotional subjects and the bodily changes of young teenage girls rather
than to the marketed products. They offer space for interaction about health
and beauty issues, boyfriends, sexuality and puberty, to name a few. Advice
about love, bodily issues and self-esteem is given, chat rooms are open and
horoscopes are provided. Great insight into the psychology of the target
audience has facilitated an innovative platform for brand loyalty. The
Australian website is one of the most innovative ones, encouraging the user
to be a ‘Libra girl’, get a ‘Libra nickname’ and thereby access to an
otherwise restricted area of chat rooms, e-diaries and horoscopes.
Sourceswww.libresse.com; http://www.libragirl.com.au202 Seven brand approaches