Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Dear Nicolas,

Walk with me out into the world of the real. Here, as we wander along the alleyways of problem and need, do we see e-communities and brand equity? Alas, we do not. Do we spy notions of “strengths” of communities and results with our little eye?

Nope. So what do we do? We forget about such things. Poof! They’re gone. See?

We put all the other elements of your argument in a box, we pop the lid on it, and we drench the box in gasoline. Then, we drop a match on it and we run.

From a safe vantage point we look deeply into the pretty colours. What do we see? (if you say “nothing” you risk being slapped).

Before we get all dewey-eyed about e-communities and brand equity and so on, let’s consider the roots of the problem. Before you can have a brand community, or its equity, there’s got to be a problem, a solution, and a mixed world of the two. It’s from this mix that the notion of a brand springs.

Academic analysis over complicates things because the end user is all too often one academic talking to another. Why turn yourself into a little clone of your professor?

Marketing is about helping people solve problems. This means being clear in the questions we ask and in the solutions we offer. To “sort this out” is going to take longer than a week because you’re ignoring one vital element.

The creation of lasting realtionships.

Without relationships you can theorize until the cows come home but you won’t have a brand (or anything else come to think of it).

Loyalty comes along as a result of a sustained, solution-driven relationship that’s developed over time. You don’t need to generate new knowledge. You just need to generate connections between your elements, which, from what I’ve read of your question, you appear to be ignoring or taking for granted.

None of this is an attack on you so please, don’t take it as such.

But before you get too deeply enmeshed, step back and ask yourself questions about needs, solutions, pain points, benefits, feelings, and emotions.

Meaning, the things that marketing embraces and supports and that in turn touch people’s lives. Consider being less left brain and more right. Then rephrase your question and push on.


I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

In response to your question: "...is it enough for us to know that BC's impact positively on brand equity components such as loyalty?"

Wouldn't it be important to point out that just as brand communities can offer the positive impact on loyalty you indicated in your question, they might also be designed to deter association with a brand that violates the principles of community members, often without necessarily assigning a particular alternate brand to the members themselves (e.g., WakeUpWalMart.com or boycottpandg.co.uk)?

In the case where Anti-BC's like the two above compete against corporate PR departments, ad campaigns, and the traditionally admiring (Muniz - O'Guinn) model BC's, how do you propose to measure the effects on overall BE?