Brands like Apple, Oprah, Harley-Davidson, Ikea and Southwest Airlines have made their competition irrelevant through brand communities they have helped nurture over the years. But why do brand communities form? And what can we learn about them?

Psychologist Jenny Lee, a brand consultant at The Cult Branding Company, explores the social and psychological motivators that fuel the development of brand communities in a compelling new white paper.

The white paper titled, “Why We Join: A Sociological and Psychological Analysis of Brand Communities,” along with an illustrative presentation can be downloaded freely here.

Here are seven steps to take in order to create a cult brand:

1. Determine how customers are emotionally connected with your brand
2. Determine what your brand symbolizes in the minds of your best customers
3. Support the community so that it reinforces psychological attraction customers have towards your brand
4. Whenever possible create a space where your customers can meet and interact with one another – either in person or online
5. Sponsor social events that reflect your brand’s mission
6. Set up conditions for a fun, playful environment where friendships can be made
7. Don’t control community. Instead participate as a co-creator

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Here is a checklist of 23 brand health criterias as presented in Peter Cheverton’s excellent book Understanding Brands (Creating Success):

1. is based on a proposition of genuine substance and value to the target customer
2. communicates a clear and powerful brand definition
3. communicates a clear ‘emotional charge’
4. communicates an attractive and relevant personality
5. wins, builds and retains customer loyalty
6. is well known by the target customer
7. is held in high esteem by the target customer
8. communicates and evidences a unique match between the company’s capabilities and the customer’s needs
9. is a source of competitive advantage
10. is an investment of increasing value that others will want to own
11. maintains its relevance over time by evolving in response to changing customer expectations and perceptions
12. increases the profitability of the business is consistent with the business strategy
13. makes sense within the business’s brand architecture
14. provides a protective ‘halo’ for growth strategies
15. provides a barrier to entry for new entrants or substitutes
16. is uniquely positioned in the market and creates a relevant space in the customer’s mind
17. communicates and demonstrates a clear sense of value
18. interacts consistently with the customer on as many fronts and on as many occasions as possible
19. cements the brand definition into the customer’s mind through interactions and positive associations
20. is managed and supported consistently over time
21. has values that can be applied consistently and successfully to all parts of the marketing
22. mix and through all promotional media
23. makes people want to get their hands on it

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1. An emphasis on “engagement.”
Inserting itself between traditional marketing activities and an increasing demand for return on investment assessments, engagement will become the Holy Grail for marketers and advertisers. Defined as the outcome of ad and marketing activities that substantively increases a brand’s strength in the eyes of the consumers, engagement will be used more and more to allocate marketing budgets.

2. Using technology to better meet consumer expectations.
Consumer expectations in all categories will continue to grow. Expectations have increased more than 26% in the past five years while brands have kept up with these expectations by only 8%! Watch for smart marketers to take advantage of unfulfilled expectations via such values as “convenience” and “customization.” More and more marketers will rely upon Web sites and high-tech capabilities to accommodate these values and differentiate themselves from the competition. Professional services and other non-traditional brands will probably take advantage of the new technologies and start build up brands for themselves.

3. Expanding the potential of Websites and blogs
Engagement concerns and attempts to meet or exceed customer expectations will fuse and be most observed online, particularly on blogs. Watch for increased development of blogs and Websites in general beyond propaganda, information, and use as an electronic cash register toward the creation of “communities of ones.”

4. “Recombinant” experiences.
Disney and Vegas: Oil and water? Consumer values indicate a bipolar continuum for recombinant experiences. Watch for this to reveal itself in more online gaming, especially for adults. Interactive gaming with more and more players being able to compete at once will become table stakes for online games. Marketers concerned with engagement will close their eyes to “appropriateness” and leverage online gaming as a more acceptable venue for virtually every brand.

5. More branded entertainment.
Popular culture, with its rabid consumption of music and technology, will see market and brand leaders leverage plugging-in as a method for customizing entertainment and selling products. For instance, music-related paraphernalia such as T-shirts, posters, and artist-related merchandise will infringe more and more on the dominance of bricks-and mortar retail.

Read full article here.

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The functions of a brand for consumers

• Brands play a role in terms of communication and identification. They offer guidance, convey an expectation of quality and so offer help and support to those making purchase decisions. Brands make it easier for consumers to interpret and digest information on products.
• The perceived purchasing risk is thus minimized, which in turn helps cultivate a trust-based relationship.
• A brand can also serve as a social business card, expressing membership in a certain group. Premium brands, for instance, can even engender a sense of distinction and prestige.
• Consuming certain brands is also a means of communicating certain values. By opting for particular brands, a consumer demonstrates that he or she embraces particular values; the brand becomes a tool of identity formation.

The functions of brands from a company’s perspective

• A brand fosters brand and customer loyalty. Particularly strong brands can establish the prevalence of premium prices on the market and soften consumer reactions to price changes. Specifically brand-oriented buyers – who are more concerned with brands than prices – are more resilient when it comes to changes in the competitive scenario. This decreased sensitivity to price changes makes them more valuable as customers.
• The reduction in perceived purchasing risk lays the groundwork for a relationship of trust, giving brands a role to play in lashing customers to a company.
• Brands can counter the swelling ranks of trade because dealers stock their shelves and fill their order lists with products explicitly requested by consumers. Strong brands in particular keep sales levels and market share constant and considerably lessen dependence on short-term special promotions.
• A brand unlocks great potential in terms of licensing opportunities as well, helping companies achieve plans for international expansion.
• Finally, brands also offer companies potential for honing a clear profile and overshadowing the competition. Strong brands in particular can reduce the risk that new product launches will flop and can be used as platforms for successful brand stretching (also in terms of launches in completely new product segments and sectors)

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