The Opportunities for Solutions That Can Strengthen a Brand Community - Essay Example

?Running Head: INDIVIDUAL, RELATIONAL, AND COLLECTIVE MARKETING Diversity and tension in collectives and the opportunities for solutions that can strengthen a brand community Name University Class Diversity and tension in collectives and the opportunities for solutions that can strengthen a brand community Introduction In thinking about the needs of consumers through brand identity the relational and collective needs should be addressed with the individual needs in order to more fully find solutions. Creating a diversity of products that address each part of the consumer journey will allow a company to better serve the consumer while competing in the market. Rather than understanding only the individual in the consumer decision process, a company should examine the needs of the collective, finding integrated solutions that fulfill needs across relational goals. A brand community will include consciousness of kind in which connections within the community define them in contrast to those outside of the community, rituals and traditions which will support the history, culture, and consciousness of the community, and a sense of duty or obligation in which both the needs of the community and the needs of the individual are integrated (Cova, Kozinets, & Shankar, 2007). In understanding the differences and tensions within a collective, a business can find ways to create integrated solutions that will expand the experience of a consumer as they are making their choices so that individual needs are fulfilled, as well as collective goals. Package Solutions In the search for ways in which to connect to consumers, often times it is best to approach the needs through provisions of solutions that can create many outcomes. This concept, as suggested by Epp and Price (2011) develops an experience through mass product and service production for the individual that can be integrated to fit a group of needs. Each need is addressed in order to make the whole experience satisfactory. As an example, Epp and Price (2011) quote from Sawhney (2006) for the way in which Kodak has approached the changing market and the needs of their customers. Instead of focusing on just providing digital camera solutions, they have approached a spectrum of needs through image software, photo printing at home, and the need to utilize the photographs for keeping memories. Through the concept of collectivity, the goods and services that a company provides being diverse enough that a customer can examine what they want from their product and put together a package of items that is unique and suits all of their needs. Epp and Price (2011) suggest that a company should “account not only for individual goals but also for relational and collective goals” (p. 36). In order to do this, integration is the format that will give a great deal of success for a company. Epp and Price (2011) state that “ The term ‘integration’ refers to the processes of bringing together potentially diverse products and services in a way that creates value” (p. 36). In other words, in order to serve customers, Kodak would not seek out a way to combine their digital cameras with a good frozen fish product. The purpose of integration is to take related concepts and put them together so that a personalized ‘package’ can be created. Integration is the key to providing value to a customer in promoting new products from the point of associations that have been made to a brand. In creating the ‘package’ of products for a consumer, brand loyalty often follows, assuring that the consumer uses the products that fit together in a meaningful way that adds value to their experience. This type of affective commitment serves the interests of a firm in that the consumer will not feel satisfaction when a substitute product is used, bringing them back towards the brand where they have placed loyalty. The connection that is made between the emotional and the cognitive process when making choices towards a ’package’ of goods and services from a brand is trust. Brand loyalty can be powerful and is supported through consumer trust that is then balanced out with distrust of an unknown outcome from using a competing brand (Rousseau, 2000). People like to have faith for a company in which they invest their money. Understanding the Collective According to Epp and Price (2011), co-constructing identities across groups can help a company to understand the motivations and goals of a collective towards providing goods and services that will meet those needs. According to Belk (2006), “brand meaning is thought to be produced through a one way communication process in which sets of neatly constructed brand identities are decoded into corresponding brand images” (p. 83). Brand meaning informs the identity through associating the consumer with an identity that is defined by a collective. Within that collective is an association to certain ideals that the group likely shares. The brand identity informs the consumer on the values that using that brand will become part the consumer. An example of this can be seen through the use of baby food. One baby food might emphasize the use of organic foods, identifying the user with a collective who agrees that this is the best approach to food use. Another brand might emphasize technologically created baby food that is fortified with vitamins and minerals. Each group has a distinctive set of values that are adhered to through the choice of using this brand or another. One mistake that a company can make when attempting to create a brand identity for which to attract consumer attention through personal identity is in trying to force an identity onto a group rather than provide information that brings that group to the brand through a desire to associate with it. Without addressing the diversity within a group as they are defined by the group itself, a company will miss opportunities to exploit existing needs through creative solutions. According to Southerton Cappells, and Vliet (2004), a firm will sometimes divide their potential consumers and identify them with certain demographics in a belief that this is how their buying habits are experienced. This can be a mistake if the demographics do not explain all of the reasons for why a group will make its choices. Understanding the group means understanding their motivations without making assumptions about their drives. One of the primary ideas behind a marketplace that is in constant change in goods and services is that the consumer is liberated from following one course and can “creatively produce new self images” through the idea of choice (Dunn, 1998, p. 68). The Nietzschean idea of experimental self creation provides a framework through which the consumer approaches their buying habits (Dunn, 1998). Identity is created through a variety of selections that support both the conscious and unconscious needs that a product or group of products will fulfill. However, because others become a part of that choice group, no one person’s choices make them entirely individual as others will make the same choices and belong to the same type of identity group. Therefore, in understanding how a collective group is formed, a business can more deeply penetrate their needs and find ways in which to fulfill them. One can go back to the example of Kodak. Kodak saw their product as one component of a group of needs that had a beginning and an end, which represented a long stream of ways in which to extend their product line to fulfill needs. The digital camera fulfilled one point of experience in that group of needs, where photo printing fulfilled another. In providing all of the consumer needs that became a part of the experience of photographic memory keeping, Kodak attached the use of their product to the sentiment of memory. The group for which they targeted the use of their products can then be seen as a collective who share this interest (Wiegandt, 2009). Where Kodak did not impose upon them their identity, they instead defined them by how they observed their own use of the experience of photographic memory keeping and then offered products to further enhance that experience (Epp & Price, 2011). Embracing Distinctions According to Cova, Kosinets, and Shakar (2007), consumer groups can be seen as consumer tribes and describes these groups as “a group of individuals who are not necessarily homogenous (in terms of objective social characteristics), but are interlinked by the same subjectivity, the same emotions (affectual tribes), and capable of taking collective action, short-lived, but intense” (p. 277). A consumer tribe has a great deal of power. Their choices, when combined, become a force that will change the path of the success of a brand. The ways in which the tribe will work is through individual, relational, and collective identities (Epp & Price, 2011). The power is gained through their collective identities, but their distinctions will provide them with context in which to use the products and services. Choice provides the individual the ability to remain within the collective, while making an individual journey through the use of their product choices. In providing this type of diversity, a brand needs to address the consumer journey and relate products to the expected experience that the consumer will have, as well as the outcome of the use. Even where groups are tightly knit, such as in a family setting, Epp and Price (2011) indicate that it is still individuals who will influence the decision making process. The consumer journey framework defines the choices that a consumer makes through the experiences that are part of the use of a particular product. In relating the experiences of the use of the product to the expected outcomes, the journey should be defined through reaching multiple goals across relational lines (Pradeep, 2010). Multiple goals and the way in which choices will fulfill multiple goals across relational and collective needsm will then support decision making processes towards the goals that a brand is attempting to reach. Relational marketing is seen where a product or set of products serve needs across integrated need fulfillment (Hennig-Thurau & Hansen, 2000). Diversity within the group creates opportunities in which a brand can then prove of its use across multiple goals. Tensions within the group provide opportunities in which solutions can be found to alleviate those tensions (Gudeman, 2008). An example of this can be seen in the purchase of a chair. In attempting to create a homey atmosphere, a chair might provide the right style, have a solution of comfort at the appropriate level, and have durability. Therefore the chair provides different solutions to different people (McCracken 2005). In the diverse tensions in which the needs have different goal outcomes, a single product or service must be assessed for its ability to provide a diversity of solutions. Conclusion Using integrated solutions to approach diversity and tensions in the needs of consumers provides a broader market advantage (Payne 1998). In studying the needs of the collective across relational goals, individuals can utilize a product to solve problems across multiple levels of fulfillment. As in the example used through Kodak, in studying the ways in which the digital camera is used from the beginning of the process of making memories to the end of finding ways to use those products to edit and display the memories, the company expanded their product line to include integrated solutions for those needs. The way in which the individual becomes a part of the collective and supports their self-creation of identity through the use of a brand, allows for participation in that community to extend and inform the identity through both individual choice and association to others who use a brand. In understanding the consumer journey the company can expand its product line towards a more diverse set of solutions. The health of a collective is supported through its internal diversities through common, but differing identities that are created in support of both individuality and community. In recognizing the tensions and diversity within a collective, goals and needs are addressed, the market share is increased, and the individual choices become associated to the multiple fulfillment of needs across relational goals. Resources Belk, R. W. (2006). Handbook of qualitative research methods in marketing. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Cova, B., Kozinets, R. V., & Shankar, A. (2007). Consumer tribes. 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Oxford: Oxford University Press. Southerton, D., Chappells, H., & Vliet, B. . (2004). Sustainable consumption: The implications of changing infrastructures of provision. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Wiegandt, P. (2009). Value creation of firm-established brand communities. Wiesbaden: Gabler. Read More