Brand communities

With the booming of digital marketing and social media, building brand communities has become a truly strategic tool for companies. In this article, we’ll first define the notion of brand community as well as the challenges it implies in terms of strategic brand management. Then, we’ll focus on Michel et Augustin and Bonne Maman examples, that are really different. 

According to Albert Muniz Jr. and Thomas C. O’Guinn (Brand community, Journal of Consumer Research, 2011) brand community is “a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand”. Generally speaking, the concept is often used to talk about the customers, fans and advocates of a brand. The more the community is strong and loyal, the more it is likely to turn a small brand into a successful one. “The people out in the marketplace who embrace the values of the brands, as customers and/or purchase influencers, are the brand’s true owners” wrote ad agency Blade Creative Branding. 

Actually, brand communities have a great power, as they become promoters of the brands, but they are also groups that marketers are interested in as they reduce the costs of communication (by sharing their enthusiasm about the brand by word of mouth) and they provide potential new buyers by inviting their friends into the community. Moreover, brand communities are a way to add value to the customer experience as it gets people closer to the brand they love, it is hence really important to develop and feed the interest of the customers by providing them an animated and nice community.

Retrieved from How brand communities create value (HJ Schau, 2009)

Now that we have seen how important brand communities are, let’s focus on Michel et Augustin and Bonne Maman. 

Michel et Augustin really focuses on its customers and often tries to surprise them with new events and giveaways. A lot of communication is done through their official Facebook page, which totalizes 66,502 likes. They communicate about special events like the open-house days of la Bananeraie or their special meetings (the next “Boire une vache avec…” will be on January 13 with special guests Pierre Hermé and Charles Znaty). They often invite customers to taste their products or propose new recipes and the current special giveaway “Les 4 vaches en or” prize is a trip to La Réunion with the whole Michel et Augustin team to discover more about vanilla. The brand really wants to imply the customer and this objective can be seen through their close, friendly tone. 

Bonne Maman's brand community doesn’t really exist. Of course the brand has it fans but there is no official animated brand community. Even though Bonne Maman sometimes organizes events such as cooking workshops, the brand isn’t involved at all on social media and it doesn’t seem that it’s interested in developing its proper community. Some might think that the brand might want to keep the mystery and tradition that characterize it by keeping a certain distance with the customer but nowadays it’s primordial that brands get involved deeper with their customers to benefit from the advantages of the community…

By Vanille

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_community
http://www.micheletaugustin.com/missionlareunion/programme/
Brand communities, marketing and media, DM Kalman (2009)
How brand communities create value, HJ Schau (2009)

Pictures:
http://newcarnetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/social-media-community-300x244.jpg
How brand communities create value, HJ Schau (2009)