Brand Communities

The last dimension that companies desire to fulfill is the sense of loyalty, attachment, engagement and community from consumer side.

The sense of community is the feeling of belonging and association with other people associated with the brand. This loyal customers that are part of the brand's community do more than just repeated purchases, they have proud of the brand and are engaged and willing to invest time in brand activities beyond the purchase and consumption of products.

Two renowned brands that have been building strong communities are Harley-Davidson, which we studied in class, and RedBull.

In my opinion, Harley-Davidson has ardent consumers organized around the freedom lifestyle that the brand provides for them. These consumers are like a family and have similar characteristics that are related with the character of the brand. Harley-Davidson gives people a sense of connection through the close to the customer strategy that implements. 

Harley-Davidson customers also have a responsibility towards the brand because the community is the entity who makes and guides the brand and is a strong part of the image and positioning of the brand.

Harley Davidson customers usually ride together and have frequent meetings to gather the community:

Red Bull community is built around the feelings of excitement and pushing the limits. Red Bull has been sponsoring a wide range of sport events and athletes that perform radical activities.

In my opinion, loyal customers of RedBull are not only fans of the drink but fans and aspirants to the lifestyle the company promotes.

Like Harley-Davidson, this brand has been creating a lot of events where the Red Bull community is gathered and where the customers can experience the feeling of danger and action.

One example of these events is the Red Bull flugtag where customers build their own flying machines and test them:

Both of the mentioned companies serve and understand the community members lifes and assigns to each consumer a valuable role in the brand.