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Building Brand Community
Journal
Journal of Marketing: JM
ISSN
0022-2429
ISSN-Digital
1547-7185
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2002-01-01
Author(s)
Abstract
A brand community from a customer-experiential perspective is a fabric of relationships in which the customer is situated. Crucial relationships include those between the customer and the brand, between the customer and the firm, between the customer and the product in use, and among fellow customers. The authors delve ethnographically into a brand community and test key findings through quantitative methods. Conceptually, the study reveals insights that differ from prior research in four important ways: First, it expands the definition of a brand community to entities and relationships neglected by previous research. Second, it treats vital characteristics of brand communities, such as geotemporal concentrations and the richness of social context, as dynamic rather than static phenomena. Third, it demonstrates that marketers can strengthen brand communities by facilitating shared customer experiences in ways that alter those dynamic characteristics. Fourth, it yields a new and richer conceptualization of customer loyalty as integration in a brand community.
Language
English
Keywords
brand community
ethnography
loyalty
Jeep Jamboree
brandfests
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Publisher
Publications Group of the American Marketing Association
Publisher place
Chicago, Ill.
Volume
66
Number
1
Start page
38
End page
54
Pages
17
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
227774