Muniz and OGuinn Theory of Brand Community - Coursework Example

Name: Student number: Unit code: Tutor's name: Tutorial time: Date: 9th May 2014 Word count: 3001 Executive summary The concept of branding and brand management are very vital for the survival of businesses in the current era of market competition. This arises from the fact that almost everything we purchase today belongs to one brand or another. However, this field is under researched though few theories have been forwarded to explain the concept of branding as it is. This paper highlights two of these theories that also try to account for the different strategies that organizations apply in brand management. A case study from the film industry has been used to evaluate the relationship between brand management and brand performance in the market. The paper links the theory of brand community and the consumer based brand equity to the brand management strategies applied in our case study, in a bid to provide answers to how a brand is maintained in the market. The importance of building strong relationships with consumers in a bid to strengthen brand loyalty is explored. Additionally, the strategy of product combination and association is explored in relation to strengthening a brand. Most importantly we review the impact of creating a strong brand essence which is very dynamic in giving identity to a brand. However in the whole paper, emphasis is laid on the importance of consumers in the entire concept of brand management, whereby the consumer is viewed as taking the central role in the entire process. This is because brands have to be designed and developed with the consumer needs and purchasing patterns in mind. Table of Contents Introduction The concept of branding has become very popular today such that companies are increasingly inclined to brand their products and services before placing them in the market. Kwortnik (2011) asserts that the process of building a brand today has become very sophisticated and a lot of research in marketing has been dedicated to this concept. As a result, branding in the last couple of years has become priority for managers upon the realization that a strong brand is a very priceless asset to the company that owns and manages it (Keller & Lehmann 2005). A brand plays many roles in the market today both for the business and the consumers. Keller & Lehmann (2005) argues that a brand plays the function of mirroring a consumers experience with a particular product or service. In respect to businesses and companies, brands are very significant in communicating how effective the efforts placed in marketing the products are. On the other hand Keller (2001) believes that a strong brand presents a company or business with many financial benefits. Therefore, brand managers have an important role to play in ensuring that their brand is well received by consumers. Davis & Dunn (2002) explore the relevance of brands today, and they define three important strategic objectives that brand managers should consider in while formulating their brand strategies. These strategies are; raising their consumer loyalty, establishing themselves as market leaders and setting themselves apart from the competition. This approach is very relevant to the focus of this paper which is the aspect of brand management in regards to the film industry. Specific focus is given to brand strategy management in regards to the Twilight Saga collection, which enjoyed excellent financial performance in the market. To introduce and maintain a brand in the market, creativity is required in marketing the brand. The most important aspect of the brand management strategy is creating and maintaining a strong brand relationship with the consumers (Carlson, 2005). With this insight this paper begins by examining the brand community theory and the consumer based brand equity model in order to understand the implications of brand management on the performance of a brand in the market. Muniz and O’Guinn theory of brand community Managers are faced with the important task of creating a strong customer base that is committed to their brand, yet this can be a very challenging task to execute (Carlson, 2005). However their work is made easier by the inherent need that individuals have to belong to group that is relevant to satisfy their needs. Therefore, the brand community comes in handy to provide the information and interactions that a consumer may desire. According to Muniz & O’Guinn (2001), a brand community comes with the characteristics that are present in other communities such as common traditions and a moral sense of responsibility. Brand community represents a community that is specialized, is not limited by geographical boundary and is built on a set of relationships which are represented by people who admire brand (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001). Komaromi (2003) believes that every brand has an identity that is unique to it, which consumers associate and identify with. Brand communities are mainly upheld by consumers but companies can play a role in encouraging their maintenance. Since these communities are socially constructed, they provide an excellent channel for communication between consumers and marketers. Feldstein (2007) argues that brand communities create a platform for peer support and influence, which in turn serves to strengthen a consumer’s loyalty to the brand. Muniz & O’Guinn (2001) argue that brand communities can exist for any brand, but they are most likely to exist for a brand whose image is very, whose competition is non- threatening and its history is lengthy and rich. In addition brands that are open for consumption by the public stand a higher chance of having communities affiliated with them. The beauty of these communities is that they possess a degree of stability, while at the same time the members of the community display a commitment to the group and the brand. On the other hand the consumer gains a voice and is able to grow brand loyalty deeper (Bushelow 2012). In this community the team behind the brand is able to provide information concerning the brand and also offer customer care services to the community members. This becomes a very good platform to advance the advertising campaign for the brand, and the existing consumers act as advocates for the brand and help in attracting new consumers into brand loyalty (Carlson 2005). In addition the brand community is a platform where individuals use their time and generate ideas that are helpful to the organization/business. In return, the business implements these ideas to satisfy the consumer’s needs and it gains by generating more profit (Martineau 2012). According to Brodie, Ilic, Juric & Hollebeek (2011), brand communities allow brands to actively engage consumers, a process that plays an important role in the brands ability to retain competitive advantage in the market. This also becomes a forum where an organization engages consumers by offering information about upcoming events related to the brand and even offers incentives to the consumers such as discounts. Carlson (2005) in his paper highlights an aspect of belonging to a community that is known as the psychological sense of community. This represents the situation where one belongs to a community (especially the virtual brand community) for the sake of identifying with the community and experiencing a sense of belongingness. The elements hat members identify with are such as brand logos colours and the behaviour associated with the brand. These elements further serve as a uniting factor for the community. The Consumer Based Brand Equity Model (CBBE) Brand equity has received researcher’s attention since the late 1980s. Brand equity is simply viewed as the outcomes associated with marketing a brand name while compared to the results that would be realized if the product/service did not bear that brand name. Today, a lot of efforts are being dedicated to the concept of brand equity because companies realize that a brand is a worthy asset to their success (Moisescu, 2005). Aaker’s model of consumer based brand equity views brand equity as the perception a consumer has about a brand in relation to its superiority when compared with other brands (Fayrene & Lee 2011). On the other hand, the perspective by Keller views brand equity in relation to the consumer’s response to the brand. It highlights the importance of building brand loyalty by influencing consumer’s thoughts and feelings towards the brand. In this case brand equity is only possible when the consumers display familiarity with the brand, and they have positive a positive association and attitude towards the brand. A product that has achieved high brand equity is associated with a high level of market share, and profitability. As a result it is easy to expand its market and venture into new categories of products or services with the same brand name (Zhu 2009). In a nutshell companies look for ways of measuring their brand’s equity and the best way is to focus on the basic foundations of brand equity which are; the consumers brand awareness, association, attitude, loyalty and attachment. Keller (2003) highlights a consumer based brand equity model that focuses on six key factors which are; brand salience, performance, image, judgements, feelings held towards the brand and finally brand resonance. Both models identify the importance of consumer perceptions of a brand such that he/she is willing to pay a price to acquire the brand (Taylor, Hunter & Lindberg 2007). In applying this model to achieve results, marketers have to critically research on the market in order to understand consumers needs, and identify the market segments that they can exploit. This is because the model provides an important link between a brands current and future performance. Therefore a business benefits from CBBE by analyzing the past outcomes of its marketing strategies and learns from them such that they become the guide in developing marketing strategies for the future. In relation to the focus of this paper, Desai & Basuroy (2005) assert that the success of a film in the entertainment industry to a large extent is reliant on whether the actor are stars who are brands in themselves, and whether their brands have strong equity. This is best attributed to the fact that consumers attach the label of low quality to films that have stars with low brand equity, and this consequently affect the performance of the film(as a business) in the market. Brands with existing high brand equity find it easy to expand into new categories as highlighted earlier. This introduces us to the concept of brand extension (Keller 2003). This concept enables companies to cut down on the costs involved in launching a new product to the market. The underlying assumption here is that the brands’ equity is high, therefore customers are in awareness of the brand name and they trust that the brand delivers quality. In addition to this, they gladly like to associate with the brand name, which means that brand loyalty is on an all time high. On the other hand, consumers tend to transfer their knowledge about the parent brand onto the new product (extension), and they expect that its performance will be as superior as the parent brand (Joshi & Mao 2010). Introduction to the case study (Twilight saga) The twilight saga collection represents a series of films developed from a book series into a movie series that won the hearts of many across the world, thus making it a blockbuster. It is a phenomenal product that speaks to its female customers especially the teens, with the romantic appeal of its storyline. The first of the twilight saga series was released into the market in the month of November 2008 in the United States of America. During its opening day, the film managed to gain a position for itself worldwide by becoming a big hit in the film industry in that year. The other series were released into the market in the years 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively. What kept this brands performance at the top of the charts is of interest to many businesses. Mortimer (2009) argues that the twilight saga as a brand became a huge enterprise right from when it was released into the market, thus becoming an example that other brands would definitely like to copy. The beauty about this collection is that most of the major stakeholders involved in its creation did benefit from the success the series attained. On the other hand, the twilight collection was able to position itself as a leading brand, which left its fans and consumers wanting for more. The twilight saga brand is produced and marketed by summit entertainment, and they have been able to penetrate the market in many ways. This shows that they understand the value of brand management at all levels. Therefore in the following sections this paper will highlight at least two brand strategies that were of use in thrusting this brand into success. Brand strategy 1: Partnerships with social media networks to provide avenues for brand community creation Brand strategy 2: brand extension In the first brand strategy, the twilight saga movie franchise enabled the creation of brand communities which are literally virtual communities since they exist online. A very practical example is the partnership between Summit Entertainment and Habboi just before the release of the twilight series: new moon. In doing so, the twilight saga franchise sought to expand its marketing arm to more a larger audience. This virtual community is supported by the idea of consumption communities highlighted by Muniz & O’Guinn (2001). This community increased the level of interactions with the fan base and target market of the movie series which is composed of teenagers. Other communities that exist include the face bookii fan page which has over 45million fans, the twilight websiteiii, twitter and MySpace just to mention a few. These communities have seen the growth of other sub-communities in support of the different actors who are a representation of the brand. According to the brands’ manager says that the creation of these communities allowed the fans (consumers) to meet and interact with the stars (Quan, 2013). According to Carlson (2005) virtual communities encourage active participation of the members and this is also important in providing feedback to the team behind the brand. In regard to the twilight saga franchise, the brand manager acknowledges that Summit Entertainment1 took the time to listen to the consumers in the virtual communities. As such the brand management team was able to know their audience and understand their needs in regards to the film (Quan, 2013). Another important element of this strategy is that summit entertainment encouraged participation in the online brand communities by offering contest that had an appealing gift for the winners. In conceptualizing the concept of brand communities, the twilight saga team understood the concept of influencing the thoughts, emotions and feelings of their customers, who in turn identified with the almost every aspect of the brand especially the logo. This can be linked to the brand community concept of psychological sense of community. However, the pitfall of this strategy is that there are high chances that not all members join the communities because they are interested in or are loyal to the brand, thus creating a false image of brand commitment. On the other hand some people join virtual communities because they are looking for validation (Carlson 2005). Believing that what they see and hear is the reality while this may not actually be true and this can be misleading. The second brand strategy is the concept of brand extension from the consumer based brand equity model. This is a concept that the twilight saga franchise actively dived into while promoting the release of their series. Partnering with other companies to come up with twilight branded products such targeting specific market segments. Kolenc (2011) highlights the move by twilight saga franchise to partner with the designer Helen of Troyiv giving the later the rights to market twilight branded hair appliances such as brushes. This was done just before the launch of the twilight saga: breaking dawn part 1 series. This is a very well cultivated move that banks on selling to the core consumers who associate with the trends presented by the actors represent the brand. Another key example of brand extension is the partnership between Summit Entertainment and Jamba Juicev Company, to provide a smoothie labelled Berry Bitten® for a limited period of time(October and November 2012) prior to the release of the Twilight saga: Breaking dawn part 2 (Jamba Juice 2012). Despite the high brand equity of the twilight brand, the management saw it fit to provide extension products that were consumer based. This product extension also involved incentives for consumers who would get a twilight branded bracelet on upon buying a certain quantity of the juice. This strategy clearly highlights the perspective of the CBBE model where businesses analyze their past marketing outcomes and they draw lessons from future marketing strategies. It is evident that brand extension just before the release of a new series brought about very pleasant results. Therefore, the team behind the twilight saga franchise reciprocated these strategies and the always worked. We like to believe that the brand image and brand equity also had a major contribution to this success. On the flip side this brand extension strategy is likely to leave out numerous consumers who do not have access to the products on offer for the moment. However in comparing the two brand strategies highlighted, the brand extension seems to work better in the brand marketing strategy. The brand extensions create a financial pool that translates to the performance of the brand during the actual release of the movie. From here, consumers are inspired to create various virtual communities in addition to the ones that are run by the brand. Recommendations Drawing from the insight gained in researching on branding and brand strategy management, we believe that brand managers have an important and challenging task ahead of them. Therefore we recommend that brand managers should hold go beyond group interactions and seek to define a way of approaching individual consumers starting from the existing communities. Exhaustive as it may seem, obtaining real information from different consumers in different market segments, provides information that is relevant and constructive to the brand management strategy. Secondly, it is important that brand managers consider the option of applying a customer to customer brand management strategy. Here the customers will be acknowledged and rewarded for their contribution towards promoting the brand. On the other hand they can keep the marketing simple and create one major attribute that consumers feel proud to attribute and associate with concerning the brand (such as excellent customer service). Finally it is important for brand and marketing managers to maintain a focus on their initial customers. Continue providing products and services that are tailored to meet their needs. Cultivate and maintain a strong brand relationship with them, and this way their market share is assured and the consumers will play a big role in attracting new consumers. This largely depends on how satisfied the existing consumer feels with brand and the service provision. Conclusion It is evident that brand management should be well strategized in order to achieve competitive advantage. Creativity and innovation is necessary for the success of a brand. However the most important factor to remember is the role of the consumer in defining the performance of the brand in the market. Therefore, it is important for every brand to come up with ways of including the consumer in the brand development and management process. Learning from our case study we feel it that the field of brand management strategy in relation to the entertainment industry is under researched, and this provides an excellent opportunity for researchers and academicians. Reference List Brodie, R. J., Ilic, A., Juric, B. & Hollebeek, L., 2011, Consumer engagement in a virtual brand community: An exploratory analysis, Journal of Business Research, Bushelow, E. B., 2012, Facebook Pages and benefits to Brands, Elon Journal of Undergraduate research in Communications, 3(2),1-4 Carlson, B. 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N. S., 2013, MM13 : Lara Hoefs on Twilights transmedia evolution. Viewed 9 May 2014, from http://playbackonline.ca/2013/11/07/mm13-lara-hoefs-on-twilights-transmedia-evolution Taylor, S. A., Hunter, G. L. & Lindberg, D. L., 2007, Understanding (customer-based) brand equity in financial services, Journal of Services Marketing, 2(4), 241-252 Zhu J. J.2009. "Three essays on brand equity", PhD dissertation, University of Iowa Appendix i. Habbo ii. Face book Fan page iii. Twilight saga Website iv. Helen of troy v. Jamba Juice Read More