ABSTRACT

This chapter offers insights into the assumptions, key theoretical elements and methods of the community approach and finishes off by providing the managerial guidelines. The idea of the brand community was inspired by subcultures of consumption, was immediately compelling and soon gathered its own research community and thereby established a new school of thought within brand management. The community approach adds groups of consumers to the picture, which changes the basic premise of the ‘brand–consumer exchange’. Community consumers are extremely loyal and enthusiastic consumers, but at the same time, communities of consumers are also autonomous consumers capable of collectively rejecting marketing actions. The social brand perspective put forward in the community approach draws on the scientific tradition of ethnography. The community approach hence represents a social brand perspective and is associated with the scientific tradition of ethnography. The brand community theory is also inspired and influenced by research into subcultures of consumptions.