Iconic brand is a new topic in the field of branding that has started to attract researchers’ attentions; yet, it is still mostly discussed in the non-academic field. Brand community is also an evolving topic in marketing. These two new concepts are the focuses of this research. The main subject of this research is to explore the componential factors of iconic brand and brand community and the influences of the former ones on the latter ones. Even though there are few books and articles related to iconic brand, so far no quantitative research has been conducted. Thus, in this study, quantitative method is used to explore the componential factors of iconic brand. The same method is applied to brand community as well to explore the impacts of iconic brand on brand community. This research also accounts for a fact that cultural differences of the three countries (Sweden, Taiwan, and Vietnam) may affect respondents’ perceptions on the factors of iconic brand and brand community, as well as the impact levels between them. This study starts with examining the relevant literatures of branding, iconic brand, brand community, and cultural aspects of branding. Then, the hypotheses and research model are proposed based on theories. Questionnaires are distributed to Swedish, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese respondents in accordance with convenience sampling and snowball sampling. A total collection of 486 accepted questionnaires (which includes 171 questionnaires from Sweden, 163 ones from Taiwan, and 152 ones from Vietnam) is coded and analyzed by using SPSS and AMOS. Factor Analysis (EFA and CFA) and Cronbach’s Alpha are used to test the measurement reliability and consistency. Together with them, other statistical techniques, such as ANOVA and SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) are employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Semi-structured interviews are then conducted, based on the results of quantitative analysis, with six dynamic consumers from the three countries to explore further the cultural differences for the topic in Sweden, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The results show that iconic brand has three componential factors: brand personality, brand myth, and brand storytelling, while brand community has two factors: brand loyalty and emotional attachment to brand community. Also, the findings reveal that brand personality has the most positive impacts on brand loyalty while brand storytelling has the lowest positive impact on brand loyalty. Other impacts of iconic brand’s factors on brand community’s factors are positively moderate. Furthermore, both quantitative and qualitative results confirm the hypotheses of cultural differences in respondents’ perceptions (in the three countries) on iconic brand’s factors, brand community’s factors, and the positive impact levels between them.

Purpose The aim of the paper is to improve the understanding of effects caused by involvement of brand community members in communication with a brand owning company. The research has been conducted in Moscow, Russia. It examines brand values associated with Audi by Audi Club Moscow members, and those ones perceived by non-community members, and beside this, the degree of involvement in communication with the company of both. Research Method Numerous in-depth interviews have been processed among brand community members, people outside the community and the Audi AG employees. Results Through the analysis of primary data it was found that thanks to active communication with Audi brand community members associate with the brand values, similar to the brand holder’s ones. However, people outside the community, who do not actively communicate with the company, have the tendency to perceive brand values, controversial to brand owner’s ones. Research limitations/implications Due to the time and resources limits only one Audi brand community was chosen to represent Russia’s market. The investigation of communication channels between a brand and brand communities could be the direction of further studies. Practical implications The results of the study might have value for practical implementation in business; they could be used for building up and managing communication between a company and brand communities. Originality/value This study supplies the contribution to the existing literature and companies’ managers disclosing a field not analyzed before

The professional sport market and its established teams offer consumers a service and experience that is typically high in social identification, emotional involvement (Underwood, Bond & Baer, 2001) and a sense of community or social belonging (Heere & James, in press). The strong social attachment to a sports organisation and its brand is proposed here to closely resemble the concept of a brand community (Muñiz Jr & O'Guinn, 2001). For newly-established teams without a considerable history, along with having to compete with their established competitors, there is generally a lack of consumer identification or emotional investment in the team.This study aimed to investigate newly-established teams within the New Zealand sports market with two specific research questions: 1) What issues affect the development of a new sports team brand, and 2) Do managers of new sports teams use antecedents of brand community or social identification in their branding strategies, and if so, how?A qualitative, case study approach was used; featuring both interviews with managers of three newly-established New Zealand sports teams and direct observations of their stadiums. Findings suggested that the managers believed that existing image and awareness, audience nature, win-loss record, quality of the team or competition, and a lack of history were the main issues affecting the development of their brands. Respondents largely considered the antecedents of a brand community as important, with the exception of history. Promotion of these antecedents was largely absent from each of the team's branding strategies. Along with providing a detailed review of brand community literature, this thesis provides recommendations for managers of new teams on how to develop and position branding strategy toward the long-term goal of creating a community around their team brand.

Digital platforms have established new ways within marketing for consumers and brands to interact. This has called for a paradigm shift denoting a phenomenon of shifting consumer and company roles, creating opportunities for interaction and value creation. Nike – the worlds biggest sports apparel company – has succeeded in embracing these new conditions with their digital service application Nike+ and the related brand community. This case study of Nike+ sets out to investigate how these new structural conditions of digital platforms have affected the interactions between consumer and firm at the level of the brand. Ten semi- structured interviews with users of the Nike+ application were conducted together with a netnography of the Nike Running forum on Facebook. The data revealed how firms with the use of digital platforms, independent of locational boundaries, can form a synergy that allows for interaction and value creation for both brand and consumer. Consumers are given flexibility in the creation of brand experience, through the resources facilitated by the brand, hence having the opportunity to create and co-create useful value. From the process of this synergy brands are given a “second life” in the digitized sphere. A “second life” where consumer and brand process cooperate in order to influence each other’s processes as well as being a way to claim a central place in the everyday life of the consumer.

Social media is an important part of today's society and Facebook has become a place where more and more companies are being seen. With this, Facebook Brand Communities (BC) has become more common and a part of this phenomenon means that members use of electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) has become important for the consumers and also for the company. In this paper, we investigate how and why eWOM are being used on Fredagspoddens vänner, a BC on Facebook that can be connected to several brands, such as Daisy Grace and Perfect Day Media, and that today has over 10 000 members. The investigation is based on the eight factors for motivating eWOM among users that Hennig-Yhuraus et al. (2004) describes in their article. These are: platform assistance, ventilating negative feelings, concern for other users, positive self-improvement, social benefits, economic driving force, helping the company and seeking advice. Theories on posters and lurkers are also being used, as user behavior is shown to depend on the type of user being investigated. In order to answer the question, a case study has been conducted containing three methods: observation, questionnaire and interview. Respondents for all methods have been members of the community. The result shows that members of the community can not only be divided into user groups of posters and lurkers, but that another user group, likers, are required to define the members that are somewhere between these two completely different user groups. It also emerged that connection between members is important for the members of the community and that eWOM is commonplace, both in terms of negative and positive parts of the community.

L’avènement des communautés virtuelles de marque (VBC) bouleverse les relations avec les consommateurs et pousse les annonceurs à adopter une véritable Orientation Clients. Or, la littérature a mis en exergue certains avantages induits sans pour autant offrir une analyse holistique des bénéfices et impacts des plateformes d’engagement communautaires. Tel est donc l’objet de cette recherche qui tente d’apporter une première modélisation des bénéfices qualitatifs et quantitatifs des VBC. Le cadre théorique de notre recherche s’inscrit dans celui des théories relationnelles et de l’engagement des consommateurs. L’exploration conceptuelle de la littérature nous a permis de mieux appréhender les enjeux des VBC pour le champ du comportement du consommateur et le management du Marketing, avant de dresser une typologie des bénéfices induits. Aussi, compte tenu du faible nombre de VBC et de l’aspect stratégique de notre problématique, nous avons opté pour des entretiens semi-directifs avec des experts ou Dirigeants Marketing. Cette recherche hypothético-déductive nous a permis de mettre en lumière des catégories de bénéfices, avec notamment les impacts sur la Connaissance Clients, la Relation Clients, l’innovation participative, le crowd sourcing ou encore la gouvernance et le management. La phase exploratoire a validé les propositions de recherche avec des nuances récurrentes, notamment pour ce qui est de la représentativité relative des membres. Les principaux apports de cette recherche sont la mise en avant des facteurs d’optimisation de l’engagement des membres au sein des VBC, ainsi que l’impact sur le retour sur investissement. Ce travail ouvre de nouvelles perspectives de recherche du fait de son aspect pluridisciplinaire et des enjeux pour le management du Marketing, de la Relation Clients et des marques. / The advent of Virtual Brand Communities (VBC) is changing customer relationships and pushing advertisers to adopt a true Customer Driven Strategy. The literature has highlighted some of the benefits that have been gained, without providing a holistic analysis of the benefits and impacts of community engagement platforms. It is therefore the object of this research that attempts to provide a first modelization of the qualitative and quantitative benefits of VBC. The theoretical framework of our research is in line with relational theories and consumer engagement. The conceptual exploration of literature allowed us to better understand the stakes of the VBCs for the field of consumer behavior and marketing management, before drawing up a typology of the profits induced. Also, given the low number of VBCs and the strategic aspect of our research, we have opted for semi-directive interviews with experts or marketing executives. This hypothetico deductive research has allowed us to highlight families of benefits, with impacts on Customer Knowledge, Customer Relationship, participative innovation, crowd sourcing, governance and management. The exploratory phase validated the research proposals with recurring nuances, in particular with regard to the relative representativeness of the members. The main contributions of this research are the optimization of the factors of member’s engagement within the VBC, as well as the impact on the return on investment. This work opens new research perspectives, because of its multidisciplinary aspect and the stakes for Marketing management, Customer Relations and brands.

Bakgrund: I dagens samhälle ligger inte fokus bara på den fysiska produkten utan även på konsumentbeteendet och värdet av ett varumärke. Varumärken bär på symboliska värden som konsumenter använder sig av för att identifiera sig själva och skapa gemenskaper, även kallat Brand communities. Idag påverkas konsumenter mindre av reklam och produktplaceringar och marknadsförare arbetar därför ständigt med  att tolka konsumenter och vad som motiverar deras konsumentbeteende. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka bakomliggande faktorer som motiverar konsumenter till att välja en smartphone. Frågeställningar: Vilka faktorer är motiverande för kunden när de väljer att köpa en smartphone? Vilken av dessa faktorer är dominerande för kunden? Hur påverkar den dominerande faktorn konsumenten? Metod: Studien baseras på en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi. Uppsatsens metodologiska ansatser utgör ett förhållande mellan teori och praktik och fortsättningsvis har forskningsstrategin utgått från en deduktiv ansats. Studien har tillämpat källtriangulering via två fokusgruppsintervjuer med åtta personer och kompletterats med tre telefonintervjuer med tre olika försäljare. Slutsats: Slutsatsen visar att samtliga kulturella, sociala och psykologiska faktorer motiverar konsumenter till att välja en smartphone, dock är den främsta påverkande faktorn konsumentens vänner som tillhör kategorin för de sociala faktorerna. Konsumentens vänner introducerar konsumenten för nya produkter, varumärken och trender. Tillhörande de sociala faktorerna finner vi även status och roller. Smartphones associeras med vissa värden såsom exklusivitet och kan bli ett hjälpmedel för att att uppnå en viss status eller leva upp till en viss roll. Detta skapar sedan preferenser och associationer hos konsumenten som driver den till att välja en smartphone. / Background: In today's society, not only is the focus on the physical product but also on the behavior of the consumer and the value of a brand. Brands carry symbolic values ​​that consumers use to identify themselves and create communities, also known as Brand communities. Today, consumers are less affected by advertising and product placements and as a result, marketers are constantly working to interpret consumers and what motivates the consumer behavior. Purpose: The aim of the study is to investigate the underlying factors which motivate consumers to choose a smartphone. Issues: What factors motivate the customer when they choose to buy a smartphone? Which of these factors are dominant for the customer? How does the dominant factor affect the consumer? Method: The study is based on a qualitative research strategy. The methodological approaches of the study constitutes a relationship between theory and practice and, as a consequence, the deductive approach has been selected. The study has applied source triangulation through two interviews with a focus group consisting of eight people and supplemented with three telephone interviews with different sales representatives. Conclusions: The conclusion shows that all cultural, social and psychological factors motivate consumers to choose a smartphone. However, the main influencing factor is consumers friends who belong to the category of social factors. Consumer friends introduce the consumer for new products, brands and trends. Among the social factors we also find status and roles. The smartphone is associated with certain values ​​as exclusivity and can be a tool for achieving a certain status or living up to a certain role. This then creates preferences and associations of the consumer that drives it to choose a smartphone.

There has been much enthusiasm over the power of online brand communities (OBCs). Ensuring that OBCs achieve their potential, however, is a challenge. Adopting the view that an OBC is a social entity at its core, this study examines consumers’ perceptions of OBCs and how consumers manage the continuous tension between social-related and brand-related aspects of OBCs through brand-related and non-brand-related social practices. The researcher took a symbolic interactionist approach and qualitative data were collected using ethnography and in-depth interviews from OBC participants in South Korea. The study was divided into two phases: the exploratory phase and the main study. In the first stage the researcher inspected OBCs and focused on understanding the social context by investigating four OBCs in the fashion and digital camera categories. Evidence of an OBC as a virtual third place (VTP) in the consumer’s mind was revealed. A typology was developed and social practices were revealed and defined. In the main study the researcher developed the framework of brand meaning negotiation and revealed how consumers symbolically interact and negotiate brand meaning through social practices. The tension between social-related and the brand-related aspects during this process was illustrated. The key contributions of this research are as follows. Firstly, the study reveals that an OBC has a strong VTP quality, whereby consumers hate to leave. Second, the study extends our understanding of an OBC by categorising consumers’ different perceptions of OBCs according to their attachment to the brand, the OBC and other participants. Third, the study reveals underlying social practices within OBCs that show the characteristics of a collectivistic culture. The study also fills the research gap by examining the brand meaning negotiation process and suggesting a framework that shows how underlying practices link brand and social-related aspects of an OBC together, which was formerly a “black box”. Lastly, it demonstrates that social bonds, regardless of their importance for making an OBC thrive, can be a double-edged sword and should be balanced carefully with brand-related practice.

A strong brand community is characterized by its value co-creation practices and brand community consumer relationships. Although previous brand community literature explains the contribution of brand community entities through these practices and relationships separately, no identified research has focused on how these practices are connected to the consumer relationships. In short, this body of literature has neglected to describe what practice corresponds to which consumer relationship. Therefore, the purpose of this study sought to describe the value co-creation practices within brand communities in relation to its consumer relationships. A comparative multiple case study of two Adidas Runners communities was applied to address this. The findings suggest that the higher level of brand community entity involvement in value-co creation practices, the stronger brand community consumer relationships. Furthermore, the study details the connections between the different value co-creation practices and their corresponding consumer relationships. Specifically, these connections are as follows; social networking and community engagement practices connected to the consumer-other consumers and consumer-marketer relationships, impression management practices connected to the consumer-brand relationship, and brand use practices connected to the consumer-product and consumer-marketer relationships. In addition, the findings suggest the practice of socializing to be added to the set of value cocreation practices.

Studiens syfte är att bidra med ökad kunskap kring varför medlemmarna i Oatlys brand community engagerar sig i communityn och hur de värderar information som kommer från Oatlykontra från externa källor. Studien syftar även till att undersöka om medlemmarnas konsumtionsbeteenden påverkas av negativ information de får om Oatly. Det empiriska materialet bygger på medlemmar i Oatlys brand community på Instagram och samlades in genom två fokusgruppsdiskussioner. Studien har visat att medlemmarna engagerar sig i communityn för att tillfredsställa behov av gemenskap, identitet, och information samt att medlemmarna värderar information från Oatly som pålitlig och positiv medan de värderar externa källors informationsom felaktig och opålitlig. Ännu en av slutsatserna från studien är att deltagarna i communityntolkar budskap utifrån en gemensam tolkningsram. Vidare visade studien att mer lojala medlemmar uppgav att de ökade sin konsumtion i mötet av negativ information om Oatly.