Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ)

Corvinus University of Budapest Msc. Marketing in English

Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

Professor: Dr. Zita Kelemen Lecture: Consumption Theory and Consumer Behavior 2012.02.12.

Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

Table of Contents
I. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 2

II. Brand Communities A Theoretical Approach ........................................................ 3 III. Analyzing the Porsche Brand Community .............................................................. 7

III.1. The Porsche Brand Community ........................................................................... 7 III.2. Examine the Brand Community Building Process of Porsche............................. 8 III.3. The Porsche Contain Drive+ Platform ............................................................... 10 III.4. The Cayenne-scandal and its Impact on the Brand Community ........................ 13 IV. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 14

V. References ............................................................................................................... 15 VI. Appendix ............................................................................................................... 18

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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

I. Introduction
For each and every brand in the globe a common strategy has to be developing a valuable base of loyal customers. Due to the cutthroat competition, brand loyalty has become the Holy Grail for customer-focused companies. Creating brand-loyal customers is a fundamental purpose of all active branding processes. Thus the question is how to build up, maintain and improve these bases of loyalists? According to Porter [1990], in the era of competition, those firms which want to get success have to apply any of the three generic competitive strategies, namely the cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategy. 1 However a few international corporations, mainly in the high-tech sector, were able to reach ambidexterity differentiation and cost leadership approach at once [Hughes et al., 2010]. Unfortunately, to examine ambidexterity is not the aim of this paper. Differentiation strategy was followed by several local and internationalized brands and one step further, brand communities was initiated. These communities are not specific to particular product categories or industries, be it a vehicle brand as Porsche or Saab, a blue-chip like Apple, an FCG product, such as coffee and the brand Nespresso, or even a non-profit organization as Greenpeace. Evolving brand community for their brands was significantly emphasized by each and all. Through these communities they are capable of creating a strong bonding between their customers and brands in order to deepen further the brand loyalty. This paper studies the basic brand community theories and approaches emphasizing on management perspectives and try to give an outlook about Porsche brand community.

According to some academic sources there are four basic generic strategy, cost leadership, differentiation, cost focus and differentiation focus.

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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

II. Brand Communities A theoretical Approach

The immerse competition forced both marketers and academicians to examine the phenomenon of consumer relationship emphasizing on the view of retaining customers, in other words, firms focus more on getting closer to and retain customers while targeting their attitudes building loyalty towards the brand. On the other hand, customers once get the value for their money followed by satisfaction of the need because of a particular brand prefer to maintain a rational and emotional relationship with that brand or company. [Martesen and Gronholdt, 2004]. Moreover, the essence is not only this relation, but more importantly the feeling of pride to be associated with that particular brand. These satisfied customers related to the brand share their positive opinion and satisfaction with prospective and other existing consumers. The tendency of share let them come closer and be more enthusiastic to the brand; moreover, by this sharing approach the marketers lose control on the market, which control centers more and more in the hand of the customers (Appendix 1). Finally these sharing and communication between customers develop a community, which called brand community in the science of marketing. This process of sharing and emergence of customer commitment was described by Hans-Joachim Richter, Nespressos Director of Communications in a considerable way. All our consumers have the option to become Club Members. Through the Club we engage directly with thousands of consumers every day, but weve also seen something exciting happening beyond our control. Many of our members arent just consumers anymore, theyve become brand ambassadors. More than half of new Club Members experience Nespresso for the first time through existing members. You have to keep in mind that the brand community exists in the first place to serve the people in the community [Hans-Joachim Richter, cited by Coolbrands, 2012] In a 2001 an article titled "Brand Community" was published in the Journal of Consumer Research by Albert Muniz Jr. and Thomas C. O'Guinn. They defined the concept as "a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand" [Muniz and OGuinn, 2001, p. 1.]. Two brand communities were identified by that Muniz and OGuinn, the customers of Apple Computers and the drivers of Saab. Moreover the academics determined three main characteristics for brand communities: 1. Consciousness: a feeling of connection not only to the brand but also to other brand users. 2. Legitimacy: rituals and traditions used to differentiate between true members and marginal members. 3. Opposition: a sense of community based on opposition to competing brands, which creates a brand loyalty derived from a moral responsibility. [Franzen and Moriarty, 2009] According to Michael R. Solomon, the definition is a group of consumers who share a set of social relationships based on usage or interest in a product [Solomon, 2011, p. 412.]. On the other hand from a customer point of view McAlexander et al. determined the term as a brand community from a customer-experiential perspective is
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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

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 [McAlexander et al., 2002, p. 38.]. Returning to the first definition of Muniz and OGuinn, it is revealed that the phenomenon of brand community is a highly specialized structure. It is designed and/or managed and used by firms with valuable brands purposely to enhance retention of brand-loyal customers and initiate and emerge positive and effective word-of-mouth. These brands usually are having strong image and a rich and lengthy history for the customers form this kind of communities by themselves in order to strengthen the bonding. [Muniz and OGuinn, 2001] However, to take advantage of the benefits from brand communities formed by the customers, the management has to reach considerable efforts. At the same time some companies, whose customers are not aware of the concept of brand community, need to put significant effort to build and manage a community for their brand. A community usually builds around a common interest and a shared set of values. Companies use that social phenomenon to initiate communities that encourage interaction about their brands and to establish a link between their customers [Prykop and Heitmann, 2006, p. 302.]. As a remarkable example for brand communities Apple actively supports the formation of customer-run Macintosh user groups. Although, these groups are founded by volunteers and enthusiasts, the company encourages customers to join and participate in them through the Apple website, in mailings to registered customers, and by hosting events at conferences, such as MacWorld. By encouraging customers to join this community, Apple hopes to foster greater loyalty among its customers and thus enhance its bottom line [Thompson and Sinha, 2008, p. 65.]. Furthermore with the sharply increasing use of Internet, the scope of building brand communities among different countries has increased remarkably. [Prykop and Heitmann, 2006]. Information technology and mainly the Word Wide Web has created enormous opportunities for firms to build global brand communities. However, on the other hand, this uprise also provided remarkable opportunity to customers to form communities by themselves, which companies are not even aware of. In accordance to the literature of brand community theorem, there are two forms, i.e., customer initiated and managed and company initiated and managed brand communities. Thinking further the second aspect of the definition given by Muniz and OGuinn is that these kinds of communities are non-geographically bound. With the spread of information technology upcoming social sites such as Facebook are enabling customers around the world to share their opinions and by developing virtual network they are able to be part of the community wherever they are. It gives considerable emphasis for the
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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

companies to build brand communities globally by removing CAGE boundaries and distances 2. Stated by Hans-Joachim Richter, Nespressos Director of Communications, the Nespresso Facebook community has grown to more than 1.6 million fans. Each post on our page can receive thousands of Likes and hundreds of comments and shares. Thats an invaluable source of consumer feedback for us and a clear indication of the passion the brand inspires among coffee connoisseurs [Hans-Joachim Richter, cited by Coolbrands, 2012]. Starting from this thought given by Hans-Joachim Richter, more and more firms are recognizing the benefits of online communities, which allow to the organizations and give them the opportunity communicating effectively with customers and besides this, more importantly obtaining valuable thoughts, insights and ideas. These online brand communities include option for customers to get information from the brand and particular products, on the other hand more importantly, grant a platform to share opinions. These co-creation processes allow the companies to get to know expectations, insights and opinions of customers using this incredibly valuable information for product innovation and improvement in order to maximize consumer satisfaction and revenues and leverage on them. On the other hand by taking part in the creation of products or services customers become more enthusiastic and loyal for the brand and more importantly become more satisfied with the brand as a member of the community. Giving a practical example according to Hans-Joachim Richter, Nespressos Director of Communications: It was actually our Club Members who chose George Clooney as their ambassador in 2004. His charm and sophistication perfectly fit our brand identity, which is one of the reasons the campaign has been so successful. Its also another example of how we engage with and listen to our consumers [HansJoachim Richter, cited by Coolbrands, 2012]. Furthermore the third viewpoint of the description defines by Muniz and OGuinn argues that the brand community is a structured set of social relationships among admirers of a brand. Let it be a brand community in physical or an online brand community, the members use to share their views and thoughts about the brand they are associated. Related to this aspect, Schau and Muniz have argued the following. They are stories told by consumers to consumers, to remind themselves of the brand history, the brand meaning, and educate users on issues related to product use and community ethos. They infuse the brand community with focused, brand-related, product-oriented energy to thwart the stigma of using a now obsolete technological device and to defy the marketplace logics. They inspire users and codify the tenets of the brand community [Schau and Muniz, 2006, p. 32.].

The CAGE Distance Framework by Pankaj Ghemawat identifies Cultural, Administrative, Geographic and Economic differences or distances globally among countries, companies and customers

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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

Thinking further the members of the brand community consider the brand as a part of their lives. They develop an emotional bondage with the brand similar like a fan develops with a superstar whom he/she admires. [Martesen and Gronholdt, 2004] This social relationship forms the attitude of the community member by changing him/her from a loyal customer to a loyal admirer or enthusiast (Appendix 2). Of course there are numerous other definitions for this consumer behavior tendency in the related literature as well, which are using different approaches to describe and determine the phenomenon of brand community. Jang et al. determine brand communities as a community that consists of personal and institutional relationships between the members, their interactions, the atmosphere, the evolution of individual and collective identities, and last but not least, physical or virtual spaces for meeting [Jang et al., 2008, p. 58.]. Shang et al. describe differently the principle of brand community. They explained it as, the increasing number of people chatting in cyberspace may have potential social influences and create characteristics similar to traditional communities. [Shang et al., 2006, p. 398.].

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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

III. Analyzing the Porsche Brand Community

III.1. The Porsche Brand Community Typically for almost all vehicle brands, a specific bonding is generated among the product and brand, and the customer. By buying a vehicle the customer would unintentionally become a member of a brand community in this industry in order to communicate his/her opinion or passion about the brand. This car could be also even a Hummer, as we can see it in the study of Luedicke. Customers of Hummer communicate strength, superiority and decisive action by driving this vehicle, and more importantly the members of the Hummer brand community can identify with these characteristics and role in an easy and appropriate way [Luedicke, 2006]. As I mentioned already in the theoretical part, according to Muniz and OGuinn the traditions and rites are fundamental and crucial pillars of a well-structured brand community [Muniz and OGuinn, 2001]. This criterion is satisfied by the brand Porsche; just take into consideration the gloriole of the old timer classic Porsche products. Furthermore, based on the study of Muniz and OGuinn [2001], I can assume that for a car owner the most important opinion related to his/her vehicle is the argument of other owners, who own the same brand or same product. Furthermore, on the one hand, if an owner meets more other owner the opportunity to build up a community is higher. On the other hand it is crucial to create a unique core identificator for the brand, which services a base for the community. In case of the Porsche, these both elements are available in order to develop an enthusiastic community with strong bonding to the brand. Porsche are able to reach the mass using its positioning and recognition skills and its target customer basis, and on the other hand it has uniqueness which is fundamental to create a strong and considerable brand community [Muniz and OGuinn, 2001]. Porsches fundamental advertisement essence is as being like nothing else and thus as providing maximum distinctiveness. Functional distinctions are concerned with the functional utility of Porsche products. The distinctions based on the experience of driving, exclusiveness, sport, freedom, enjoy, technology superiority and safety as well as on the distinctive perception and immediate recognition of Porsche and its customers. Moreover trust in these characteristics is nevertheless frequently articulated. The Porsche-experience and the high recognition of the product as a status symbol co-create the distinctiveness the community is built upon. The brand community of Porsche co-operate in the reality and in the virtual word as well using by more different channels to communicate and discuss. The main channel in the virtual word is obviously the Facebook and the Twitter, but Porsche also have a company owned social platform to initiate, develop and leverage on the activities of the brand community. In case of this brand there are exists more brand communities simultaneously with weaker or stronger bonding. Considerable brand communities were organized around the Porsche brand. This is reflected by the official Facebook group of the company, which has 4.759.551
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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

members and 149.287 active posting members. 3 Porsche provide advices, photos, calls, appeals and applications (Panamera sound voyage app explore the sound of a Porsche; Timeline cover creator application create covers with Porsche photos) for members of the group, which are from all over the word, post on many different languages about experiences, advices, questions, conversations, technological details with pictures and videos about the brand, creating continuous interest and commitment for the product.

III.2. Examine the Brand Community Building Process of Porsche This kind of community affiliation is a pool-typed brand community. Differed from the Webs-typed (e.g. Facebook, Cancer Survivors Network) or the Hubs-typed (e.g. Oprah, Hannah Montana) ones, in this case people have a strong association with a shared activity or goal, or shared values, and loose associations with one another. The shared activity, goal, or values are the key to this community affiliation (Appendix 3) [Fourner and Lee 2009]. Porsche perfectly followed the four initial steps to build a strong, valuable and exclusive brand community. Firstly they created a strong brand story/myth: Brands in todays world are not mere inanimate things but thriving entities with identities and personalities that enable customers to express themselves through its consumption. Therefore to attract customers and to make them actively participate in varied branding activities, Porsche should apply a strong story or myth that customers can easily identify and relate to. These stories/myths about Porsche are not only providing authenticity but also allowing customers to express their sense of self through the consumption of the said brand. Secondly, Porsche created a need for collaboration among consumers. For a community to be actively adopted by the customers, it is crucial to feel a need to connect with other members. Such a need was created around the Porsche brand allowing customers to connect with other fellow brand users. The reasons of the emergence of this kind of need are the followings. Sharing of information Porsche brand community allows members to share information and more importantly the Porsche experience with others among and outside the group and also to learn many technical details easily. Validation Members of the Porsche brand community also looking for validation from fellow members about their choice of the brand, because of its usage situations and its superiority status over other automobile brands To express ones personality Members of the Porsche community feel a strong sense of expressing their unique personality associated to the

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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

brand personality of Porsche by embracing the usage and consumption of Porsche. Identify with a specific segment Members of the Porsche brand community are participate in the community because of their need to be identified as part of the global cool segment that is in tune with the perceived brand personality and characteristic of Porsche [Muniz and OGuinn, 2001].

Thirdly Porsche was able to create identifiable brand elements, because brand communities should be able to offer its members unique identifiable community elements in terms of terminologies, icons, logos, symbols, image and spokespersons. These elements are considerably given by Porsche and the Porsche brand community. These elements do not only help to distinguish the community from others, but also offers the members characteristics and tangible tools to identify themselves with the community, for example a tangible distinguish tool is the above mentioned Porsche Facebook cover creator application, which enables community members to design their own Facebook cover as an identificator using Porsche images and symbols. These community elements are of course in line with the brands underlying specific identity [Fourner and Lee, 2009]. Moreover, finally Porsche was also able to create a unique culture. One of the fundamental reasons for the growing popularity of brand communities, and for Porsche community as well, is that it offers companies real time feedback [Muniz and OGuinn, 2001]. On the other hand the Porsche brand communities create the opportunity for the firm to co-create value with customers on a permanent basis. Therefore Porsche had to create a culture that enables customers to interact with the brand and with other users and also with the company itself simultaneously. This environment more importantly allows community members to experience the Porsche brand in a memorable way due to the participation in the value creation process [Schau and Muniz 2006]. Communities differ based on the depth of involvement and the exclusiveness of membership. The types can be presented in a matrix using these two main differences as axes of the matrix [Sean Moffit, 2008].

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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

Exclusivity High Depth of Involvement Low Brand Network Brand Forums Low Fan Clubs Brand Meritocracy Ambassador Club Brand Nation Brand Cult Advisory Panel Influencer Group High

1. Table The 9 types of Brand Communities according to Depth of Involvement and Exclusivity, own designed, based on Sean Moffit, 2008,

Similarly to the classical example of brand communities, Harley Davidson, due to its expensive and high-involvement product and the distinctive and exclusive brand and differentiation strategy Porsche also has high depth of involvement and high exclusivity. Therefore the Porsche brand community is a Brand Cult. As I mentioned before, the Porsche-experience and the high recognition of the product as a status symbol co-create the distinctiveness the community is built upon. Moreover Porsche have managed to build cultlike followings (Brand Cult) have done so by being in order to reach distinctive brand and differentiation strategy. Porsche is self-consciously different from rivals It is bound by a set of clearly defined and rigorously enforced values And finally this brand fulfills a range of needs for their members, i.e., the customers

Porsche was not only able to reach its customers through distinctive brand community activities, but as a fast-growing community entity, it was also capable of creating an aura, an own attractive group identity. Conjure up an image of a Porsche driver and it evokes a set of personality characteristics as much as it evokes a product preference. Customers aiming to be part of the Porsche community experience. Porsches customers chat up the brand to their friends, set up Web sites and attend events, adore old timer vehicles of the brand and proudly identify themselves as fans and adherents of the brand. III.3. The Porsche Contain Drive+ Platform Moreover Porsche strives for success and perfection in this area as well; one of the most exciting, captivating and intriguing sports cars in the world, Porsche, desired an exclusive place where drivers and racers alike can personally connect and shape the Porsche story. Porsche created an own platform to strengthen the bonding of brand
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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

community members with the brand and on the one hand to provide exclusivity, on the other hand gather more insight and idea in terms of the product. The Contain platform is unlike most other social networks. It encourages Porsche enthusiasts to express themselves through their hobbies, listening to their favorite music, driving to their favorite restaurant and sharing their favorite Porsche moments with family and friends stated the Digital & Dialogue Marketing Manager of Porsche [contain.com, 2012, p. 1.] The plush Drive+ Community isn't an extension of Facebook or Twitter, rather it is a fully customized and integrated state-of-art social experience that looks, feels and behaves like the Porsche brand and the Porsche community. Besides of typical social media features this site is aiming to bring fun and memorable experience for the customers using interesting and continuously renewable editorial content and also usergenerated content in order to capture more insights and ideas form customers about the brand and the product. By this platform Porsche created a win-win situation, in which a permanent social conversation is created inside the brand community, which makes the customer feel both lavish and exclusive in order to deepen the commitment and loyalty and which provides up-to-date information to Porsche about market situation, insights and opinions. I have signed up for Porsche Drive+ brand community platform in order to examine the mechanism and functions of this social experience tool. According to the Contain site, the registration is just 3.4 seconds. For me it took more time, but it is not relevant anyway (Appendix 4). Fans want to feel involved and connected to the action, wherever they are. By offering a complete integration of both web and mobile, Drive+ helps Porsche fans embrace the brand's lifestyle. More than 90% of affluent users visit and follow luxury brands on social media simply because they love the brand and wanted to follow it [Sean Moffit, 2008]. Porsche enable customers just to follow the brand using this own social media suite. Drive+ community members can share their most treasured Porsche moments by posting updates, photos and videos using the website or the Drive+ iPhone and Android apps (Porsche Drive+ Community Mobile App). The mobile app makes it easy for the Porsche Community users to quickly capture and post memorable moments as they happen. The Drive+ Porsche Community platform and mobile app seamlessly integrated with Facebook and Twitter. It allows users to automatically share their Porsche Community updates with their friends on other popular social networks. Facebook and Twitter indicators let the users know if their update is set to broadcast to other networks and give instant access to auto-post settings for each update (Appendix 5). On the one hand this feature enables customer to immediately share their enthusiasm and
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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

commitment towards Porsche with their friends outside the Drive+ Club on Facebook or Twitter, on the other hand this option indicates a stronger and more effective Word of Mouth for Porsche around the virtual globe. In addition, 70% of WoM conversation has an impact on brand purchase [Keller Fay WoM and Internet Measurement Company, cited by Sean Moffit, 2008]. This project is a great multi-platform experience where not just the exclusive and distinctive own virtual online website, but the well designed and developed mobile app plays the key part in bringing together the Porsche Community online globally. Due to my registration to the site I could identify topics related to the Porsche experience, or for example the family experience using a car like Porsche (Appendix 6). Furthermore customers share their passion, and enthusiasm about the brand and more importantly about different product types and series creating small fan clubs mini brand communities inside the Drive+ community under the supervision of Porsche Company (Appendix 7). Customers follow friends, posts, communicate in these topics and sub-fan clubs and even get to the heart of Porsche on the origin and official place in order to increase enthusiasm. On the other hand admirers also creates technical and engineering groups, where they are able to discuss technical details or errors, which also helps Porsche to gathering information about the products in order to improve them (Appendix 8). Examining personally this platform and the brand community, to sum up the research, I was able to identify core direct benefits for Porsche brand: Better insight and quicker feedback Competitive launches/market introductions using brand community to generate WoM and increase consumptions Prepare launches/market introductions Effective tool for PR defense and crisis management Runaway and improve WoM Reduce customer support costs (engineering information) Lead the industry agenda and conversation Change in marketing and organization culture: organization-wide customercentricity Galvanize employees/vendors Superior innovations/solutions based on customer insights Favorable perceptions New distribution/advertising/selling/customization channel

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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

III.4. The Cayenne-scandal and its Impact on the Brand Community According to the study of Fournier and Lee [2008, 2011] it is just a myth, that brand communities should be lovefests for faithful brand advocates [Fournier and Lee, 2011. p. 4.]. The reality is that smart companies embrace the conicts that make communities thrive, as Porsche also did with the scandal of Cayenne SUV vehicle. Most companies prefer to avoid conicts. But communities are inherently political, and conict is normal. These brand community groups need other outsider groups, enemies against which to dene themselves. For example PlayStation gamers dismiss Xbox and Apple enthusiasts hate Microsoft and Dell. With this rivalry and conflict it is enable to separate the hardcore fans from the poseurs by the perceived degrees of passion and loyalty. The tension between high-status and lesser-status consumers was brought to the fore when Porsche launched its Cayenne SUV in 2002 [Fournier and Lee, 2008]. Owners of 911 models refused to accept the Cayenne as a real Porsche. Drivers who owned 911 coupes and Carerra roadsters were reluctant to acknowledge Cayenne. They argued that it did not have the requisite racing heritage and painted Cayenne drivers who did not and could not understand the brand (Appendix 9). They thought, Cayenne drivers, mainly soccer Moms in the communitys estimation, did not and could not know and respect the brand. Finally, the real Porsche drivers banned Cayenne owners from the discussion group, and cast them off to fend on their own [Fournier and Lee, 2008]. The company tried to correct the mistake and the scandal through a television campaign using the roaring engines of Cayenne as a metaphorical symbol, aimed to demonstrate Cayennes legitimate membership in the Porsche family. The enthusiastic and indignant community was not convinced. Positioning the Cayenne as a race car was just a marketing knack, which was not accepted by admirers and enthusiasts. A stretch that only delusional Porsche marketers could possibly attemptand a flat-out insult to every great Porsche sports car that has come before it [Fournier and Lee, 2011. p. 4.]. Although community politics are real and noteworthy, the solutions for dealing with them effectively often elude and would harm the brand. As a result and an edification for the future the scandal did not harm for the Porsche brand community, in contrast, it became stronger and more converging by highlighting and applying, and not erasing the boundaries that dene them.

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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

IV. Conclusion
When it is managed in an appropriate manner, brand communities could prove to be an elusive tool to tackle the ever growing cutthroat competition. Brand communities not only enables firms to collaborate and co-operate with customers in different phases of value creation, but also provides companies an effective platform through which they can engage customers and create loyalty and more importantly enthusiasm towards the brand. As the novelty of the concept begins to fade away, more and more companies would jump into this approach, but the successful ones would be those brand communities that are built and developed on strong fundamentals centered on the brand identity and that support the brand strategies in accordance with the theories of Muniz and OGuinn. To unlock the full potential of brand communities, marketers must consider ways to add value to the consumer experience, earning the consumers attention outside the context of the purchase or use of the brand. Focusing on Porsche, it can be stated, that the brand community of Porsche creates a well-organized and converging affiliation supervising by the Porsche Company itself. The increase of the number of members does not create impersonality among the community, in contrast it strengthen it. Members are curious each other, have a lot of conversation about the brand, the Porsche experience and about other marginal topics as well. They are kindly helping each other in case of a need for technical advice or route planning for example. As an outsider from the community I was surprised how developed and well-organized and effective this community is thanks mainly the own Porsche brand community platform, called Drive+. Thus I can assume that the Porsche brand community has a positive impact on the brand image of Porsche. Moreover and more importantly it is sure, that the community makes a useful work for Porsche both in generating feedbacks and insights about the product and creating WoM, which results a deepen effect and an expansion of the brand community through the global virtual network.

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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

V. References
Printed sources: 1. Blackwell, D. Roger and Miniard, W. Paul and Engel, F. James Consumer Behavior, 10th edition, 2006, Thomson South-Western 2. Hughes, Mathew and Martin, Silvia L. and Morgan, Robert E. and Robson, Matthew J. Realizing Product-Market Advantage in High-Technology International New Ventures: The Mediating Role of Ambidextrous Innovation, 2010, Journal of International Marketing, Vol. 18, No. 4, p. 1-21. 3. Solomon, R. Michael Consumer Behavior Buying, Having and Being, 9th edition, 2011, Pearson Education 4. Thompson, Scott A; Sinha, Rajiv K. Brand Communities and New Product Adoption: The Influence and Limits of Oppositional Loyalty, 2008, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 72 Issue 6, p. 65-80. Online Sources: 1. Drive+ Porsche Community Why Porsche Choose the Contain Platform, Anonymous, 2012 source: http://www.contain.com/casestudy-porsche.html download: 24.11.12. 14:42 2. Fournier, Susan and Lee, Lara Getting Brand Communities Right, 2009, Harvard Business Review, p. 105-111. source: http://content.ebscohost.com/pdf25_26/pdf/2009/HBR/01Apr09/370220 46.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=37022046&S=R&D=bth&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHX 8kSeqLI4zOX0OLCmr0qep7ZSsq24S7aWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMP Gns0uzqbNMuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA download: 24.11.12. 16:38 3. Fournier, Susan and Lee, Lara The Seven Deadly Sins of Brand Community Management, 2008, Boston University School of Management source: http://smgapps.bu.edu/smgnet/Personal/Faculty/Publication/pubUploads/ wp2008-6.pdf?did=756&Filename=wp2008-6.pdf dowload: 24.11.12. 18:15 4. Franzen, Giep and Moriarty, Sandra The Science and Art of Brandig, 2009, M.E. Sharp Inc., p. 303-312. source: http://books.google.hu/books?id=XrcqlxhzdHQC&printsec=frontcover& hl=hu&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false download: 24.11.12. 20:47 5. Jang Heehyoung, Olfman Lorne, K. O. Ilsang, Koh Joon and Kim Kyungtae The Influence of On-Line Brand Community Characteristics on Community

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Name: Adam Madacsi (HRYRTQ) Title: Brand Communities The Tool of Creating Loyalty through Passion

Commitment and Brand Loyalty, 2008, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 57-80. source: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&hid=105& sid=465d8622-7ea3-4e26-9c09-01f0724696c0%40sessionmgr112 download: 24.11.12. 18:47 6. Luedicke, Marius K. Brand Community Under Fire: The Role of Social Environments for the HUMMER Brand Community, 2006, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 33 Issue 1, p486-493. 8p. source: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/resultsadvanced?sid=9cd10b50-591a-414c82a39ab154c24fed%40sessionmgr113&vid=9&hid=105&bquery=Luedicke&bdata=J mRiPWJ0aCZkYj1hOWgmZGI9ZWNuJmRiPW5zbSZkYj1jbWVkbSZkYj1lc mljJmRiPWY1aCZkYj1uNWgmZGI9aHhoJmRiPWhjaCZkYj1seGgmZGI9OG doJmRiPWJ3aCZkYj1ubXImdHlwZT0xJnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3 d download: 24.11.12. 19:20 7. Martensen, Anne and Grnholdt, Lars A Brand Equity Measurement and Management System, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, 2004, source: http://www.aom-iaom.org/pdfs/jms/JSM-18-06_martensson.pdf download: 24.11.12. 21:23 8. McAlexander, James H. and Schouten, John W. and Koenig, Harold F. Building Brand Community, 2002, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 66, No. 1, pp. 3854. source: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&hid=105& sid=465d8622-7ea3-4e26-9c09-01f0724696c0%40sessionmgr112 download: 24.11.12. 16:23 9. Muniz, Jr. Albert M. and OGuinn, Thomas C. Brand Community, 2001, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 412-432. source: http://research3.bus.wisc.edu/file.php/157/papers/tom_brand_community .pdf download: 24.11.12. 20:27 10. Prykop, Catja and Heitmann, Mark Designing Mobile Brand Communities: Concept and Empirical Illustration, 2006, Journal of Organizational Computing & Electronic Commerce, Vol. 16 Issue 3/4, p301-323. source: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10919392.2006.9681205 download: 24.11.12. 17::16 11. Schau, Hope J. and and Muniz, Jr Albert M. A Tale of Tales: The Apple Newton Narratives, 2006, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Vol. 14, pp. 19-33. source: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&hid=105& sid=465d8622-7ea3-4e26-9c09-01f0724696c0%40sessionmgr112
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download: 24.11.12. 15:43 12. Sean Moffit It takes a Community to Raise a Brand, presentation, Agent Wildfire Inc., 2008 source: http://www.slideshare.net/agentwildfire/it-takes-acommunity-to-raise-a-brand-not-a-campaign-presentation#btnNext dowload: 25.11.12. 13:32 13. Shang R. and Chen Y. and Liao H. The Value of Participation in Virtual Communities on Brand Loyalty, 2006, Internet Research, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 398-418. source: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1567397 download: 24.11.12. 19:13

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VI. Appendix

Appendix 1 The market control centers more and more in the hand of the customers [Sean Moffit, 2008]

Appendix 2. A brand community model for marketing includes prospects considering a brand choice, non-committals who choose out of convenience or habit with no real preference, brand admirers who truly prefer a brand, and brand enthusiasts who both prefer and refer [Muniz and OGuinn, 2001]

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Appendix 3 Three Forms of Community Affiliation [Fourier and Lee, 2011]

Appendix 4 My registration to the Porsche Drive+ Community Platfrom

Appendix 5 Posts, Pictures, Conversations and be part of the community. The Integrated Facebook and Twitter feature is also seeable here.
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Appendix 6 Topics and Posts about the Porsche and the family experience

Appendix 7 Fan clubs and admirers posts and topics to express their enthusiasm and express also the Porsche heritage and sport characteristics

Appendix 8 Engineering and technology related topics, posts, advices on which Porsche can also leverage.
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Appendix 9 Porsche 911 versus the model Cayenne a different design a different approach and a different perception of the brand community

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