Brand Management: Research, theory and practice

community definition. Brand communities exist in face-to-face clubs as well as in
virtual environments facilitated where ‘imagined others’ share their passion for a
certain brand. A brand community is therefore not restricted by geography, unlike
the traditional perception of the community being a geographically bound entity.
The community in a brand context relates to a common understanding of a shared
identity. The internet is of course an important vehicle in the formation of commu-
nities based on the sense of a shared identity with ‘imagined others’.
As regards the first marker of a community: ‘consciousness of kind’ findings in
the research suggest that ‘Members feel an important connection to the brand, but
more importantly, they feel a stronger connection toward one another. Members
feel that they ‘sort of know each other’ at some level, even if they have never met’
(Muñiz and O’Guinn 2001, p. 418).

188 Seven brand approaches

Geographically bound or dispersed

Conscious-

ness of kind;

Legitimacy:

e.g. new

Saab drivers

are met with

scepticism

Oppositional

brandloyalty:

e.g. a shared

opposition

to Volvo

Shared

rituals and

traditions;

Rituals:

e.g. Saab

greeting ritual

Storytelling:

e.g. the Saab

aircraft

connection

A sense of

moral re-

sponsibility;

Integrating/

retaining

members

Assistance in

the use of the

brand:

e.g. Saab

assistance on

the highway

Brand Community

Figure 9.5Brand community construct (with examples from the Saab community) as
conceptualized by Muñiz and O’Guinn, ‘Brand community’, Journal of Consumer
Research, 27 (2001), pp. 412–31