Brand Communities in Sports - Essay Example

Brand community, according to Muniz, Albert and O’Guinn (2001) is a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand. Brand is an icon of modernity and is most certainly a modern invention. Brand community has also been defined as “a fabric of relationships in which the customer is situated. Crucial relationships include those between the customer and the brand, between the customer and the firm, between the customer and the product in use, and among fellow customers” (McAlexander, Schouten, & Koenig, ctd by Seo, Green, Ko, Lee & Schenewark, 2007). Brand community is a set of individuals who relate to each other for their interest in some brand or product (Flavián & Guinalíu, 2005). Such brand communities have become the focus of attention for marketers of all products and services. Sports and particularly football has become big business, drawing the attention to brand communities. The brands communities, according to Seo et al., are not bound by personal relations but are based on looser, more impersonal links. The strength of the community and the members’ identification with the community are associated with consumers’ consumption of the core product or product augmentations or brand extensions. The members of the community feel an intrinsic connection with one another which Muniz, Albert and O’Guinn describe as ‘consciousness of kind’ – a shared consciousness, a way of thinking about things that is more than shared attitudes. Such communities also share rituals and traditions and they have a sense of moral responsibility to the community as a whole and to the individual members. This sense of morality can in times of threat, protect the community and produce collective action. A community forms because of certain shared traditions, rituals, behavior patterns or values. According to Muniz and Schau (2005) religious affiliation are vital to brand communities. Consumer behavior thus depends on the individual society and its characteristics. The character and structure of the communities are further affected by the commercial and mass-mediated ethos. Brand communities are different from subcultures although they may have some commonalities. The meaning that sub-cultures create stand in opposition or indifference to the meanings that is generally accepted. Brand communities are united by their commonalities and they are communities of limited liability (Muniz, Albert and O’Guinn). They are legitimate forms of community but they belong to a particular time. Such communities may form around any brand but are most likely to form around any brand that has a strong image, a rich and long history and threatening competition. Things that are publicly consumed have a higher chance of a brand community that those that are privately consumed. Today because of the internet such communities transcend the barriers of location and area. Brand communities can be geographically dispersed or concentrated in one area and often have a virtual component. The internet has become a powerful medium for the creation, maintenance and linking of these communities (Seo et al.,). It is very easy to locate others on the net that have similar brand preferences and they can interact about the product features, their experiences and preferences. Through such interactions the members learn to identify with the community and to express their community membership. Cohesion among the members of a brand community give rise to a particular behavior and this assists the marketers in branding and making offers. Brand communities have a positive impact on brand involvement and loyalty. However, research suggests that members of a brand community are likely to engage in “dark” behaviours such as inter-group stereotyping, “trash talking” rival brand communities (Hickman & Ward, 2007). They may also derive sadistic pleasure when the competitive brands fail or their brand community is negatively affected. Muniz and Schau observe that groups define themselves not only in terms of who they are but also in terms of who they are not (Hickman & Ward, 2007). Each community or fans of a brand classify themselves not only different but even as better than the rivals. Muniz and Schau (2005) suggest that such feelings can give rise to inter-group rivalry and thereby lead to hostile views towards the out-group. Rival fans taunt each other with suggestion, say Bridgewater and Stray, (2002). The theoretical framework for the study by Hickman and Ward (2007) was the social identification theory. Social identification is defined as the individual’s knowledge that he belongs to certain social groups together with some emotional and value significance to him of the group membership. When individuals identify themselves with a social group, they adopt that identity. This motivates them to think of themselves as positively distinct from other groups. If a consumer identifies himself as a member of a brand community, he will attempt to seek information that discriminates positively his group from others (Hickman & Ward, 2007). Within such a community, inter-group stereotyping is quite likely where they emphasize the negative aspects of the out-groups. In the case of brand communities, it is quite likely consumers of one brand seek to eliminate the weaker brands from the market. In the case of sports fans rivalry over which team will win the game and proceed to become the champions, can give rise to inter-community hostility. Social identification theory further suggests that group members have a strong motivation to portray their group in a positive light (Hickman & Ward, 2007). When the group tries to be cohesive, they are motivated to repeat and develop shared negative beliefs about out-groups. Repeating such negative beliefs about others helps the group to develop a positive differentiation from other groups and this in turn promotes intra-group cohesion. Schadenfreude has been defined as the malicious pleasure that members of a group derive at the failure of an important out-group. It may be directed at others but it is borne out of self-identity. In the field of sports, it has been found that the Dutch soccer fans with a higher interest with sport experienced schadenfreude at the failures of German soccer than those fans that had lower interest in the sport. Such communities engage in inter-group stereotyping. They engage in trash-talking and it can lead to active derogation of the out-group. Such members experience schadenfreude at the failures of rival brand communities. A brand is a differentiating asset for a company. A brand has both commercial and accounting value (Couvelaere & Richelieu, 2005). In the field of accounting, it enhances the asset valuation for balance sheet, mergers and acquisitions and divestiture purposes. On the commercial front, a strong brand translates into additional sales due to brand awareness and recognition as well as the quality that customers associate a brand with. Marketers need to better understand their consumers so as to formulate their marketing strategies efficient. This has become necessary in the face of higher costs, tougher competition and flattening demand. In the field of sports too, some teams have gone beyond their status as mere teams and established themselves as brands. Professional sports have emerged as lucrative business (Madichie, 2009) and they are able to draws millions of fans every year (Bristow & Sebastian, 2001). The sports business managers are adopting the marketing concept as it has evolved from merely providing entertainment to a product that can be sold (Madichie, 2009). The managers are taking care of the “voice of the customer” and through total quality management are focusing on satisfying the customer while meeting the organizational objectives (Bristow & Sebastian, 2001). This has heightened the importance of understanding the customer/team relationship. In practically all professional sports – be it baseball, basketball, football, hockey, or soccer – some support the winning team while some are with the teams with losing records. The managers thus have a challenge to develop, maintain and grow fan loyalty to sports teams with losing records. Ferrand and Pages (1999) wanted to study how image can create value for sport organizations. They found that image can contribute to the enhancement of the brand equity and bring about changes in consumer behaviour. Sport organizations or events have become brand in themselves and they also run competitive brand marketing strategies. Image is a form of current social knowledge shared by a group of people which can direct behaviour and communication activity because a common vision of reality is established within a given social or cultural group. Thus brand communities are formed because image influences fan behaviour. Dale, Iwaarden, Wiele and Williams (2005) studied the service quality perceptions among spectators of sports events. This is essential because satisfaction at such events leads to higher number of fans and supporters and results in higher revenues. They studied the findings of various researchers which suggest that attendance at football league matches have declined over a period of time but the club revenues have grown because of higher prices and income from other products. The study concluded that there are different types of fans and different strategies are needed for different types of fans. It has also been found that the more years one attends the sports events the more pleasure and value is linked to the experience. This is the identity salience model and in another econometric model home game attendance was used as a primary indicator to measure a team’s management success. Attendance reflects the attractiveness of the game and higher revenues through sales. Involving superstars has also been found to be important for generating revenues. Fans are more likely to buy products if their identification with the team increases. Thus the pricing of the tickets and other products at the venue have to be priced sensitively. A professional sports team has the potential to bind its fans together by capitalizing on emotional relationship it shares with its fans (Couvelaere & Richelieu, 2005). Sports teams are able to generate an emotional response from their fans. If the brand is strong, the team can develop and nurture the loyalty of fans, which brings in additional revenue through the sale of variety of goods and services. Financial resources and winning are sufficient for building a brand and leveraging a brand but a team must know how to take advantage of winning and increasing the fans’ loyalty and attachment to the team. Going through a rebuilding process for the team can be tough. Fans starts distancing themselves when they find that the actual product on the field is not coherent with what the team used to stand for. This makes it necessary for switching the mindset from building a fan base to building a team’s brand community that transcends gender, age, social class and geographical boundaries. Football as a brand, through a unifying, holistic and coherent offering should be able to develop a community that is loyal and has trust in the team. Sport earlier was all about strength, athleticism, prowess and camaraderie but today it is a business of building a company’s brand. In South Africa (SA), there are more fans for the Pretorias Blue Bulls, Durbans Sharks and even Cape Towns Stormers than for the local Lions Rugby. The process of brand building starts with the team and the location. The Lions are located at Ellis Park and they are unable to draw support from the community they are located in. If the stadium is empty it affects sponsorship and the brand image. This in turn also affects the teams’ ability to attract and retain top players and personalities. Today sport requires the association of a brand personality and a team that communicates with the community. However, SA realizes the impact that brand communities has on sports. Domestic rugby in SA has been suffering because of what is happening internationally in football or soccer (Sampson, 2008). This has promoted SA to become more innovative and now every domestic tournament competes with international events for TV coverage as well as live attendance. Domestic soccer has also been suffering compared to English football. Efforts are being made to globalize the SA teams so that the brand can be taken overseas. The global brands realize that the business of sport is much more than what’s happening on the field. The SA fans become agitated when there are more foreign than local players in the team. They are keener to develop local talent rather than exploiting fans as a business but for the marketers brand communities are important to market their products and services. In the UK, football is no more just a beautiful game but lucrative business in which customers are intensely loyal to their chosen brand (Bridgewater & Stray, 2002). The size of the sports industry in the UK is valued at 3% of the GDP with the English Premier League generating € 2 billion in 2005-2006. Certain brand values bring the football fans together under one club or umbrella and they form a brand community. Brands are important to sports clubs because brands build loyalty and providing the guiding principles. Fans tend to be more loyal to teams that are successful possibly due to higher self-esteem due to supporting teams that are successful. Others argue that emotions influence the association with the Club. Sports brands have the capacity to facilitate the development of brand communities. Website can be a key medium for the expression of brand community. With the proliferation of internet the sports clubs and teams have also taken advantage of this of using the website to keep in touch with the fans (Seo et al). Marketers need to understand the psychological constructs underlying web users’ behaviour. Insight into this can help the marketers to develop a relationship strategy by using technology. The marketers well understand that positive consumer experience can result in customer loyalty and repeat business. In the area of sports, how fans consume professional sport is connected to their experiences as a part of the community fans. A community requires interaction to define itself and members of fans committees establish their identity through interaction with others. Since fanship can lead to increased consumption of sport media and sports products, marketers try to capitalize on such communities because this would translate into enhanced loyalty and customer retention. Virtual communities exhibit cohesion and the more committed to the website they are, the more likely are they to use the website. The authors contend that sports brands have the capacity to facilitate the development of brand communities. Flavián and Guinalíu (2005) studied the benefits that online virtual communities have in the success and distribution of products. They found that it is possible to achieve greater brand awareness and better market segmentation. People are able to locate others with similar problems and experiences which they are able to share with each other. Thus a virtual community can be developed around a brand and produce a virtual brand community. Virtual communities help to increase intangible and emotional attributes associated with the product. Barclays Premier League (BPL) is the world’s most watched sporting league and Manchester United are the current champions. Today European League Football has foreign players, managers and owners thereby signaling big business (Madichie, 2009). Manchester United has a virtual community and it uses the internet to enhance its relationship with its fans. Members of such communities that have emotional attachment are willing to spend high amount of money on tickets to see their team. Manchester United has been able to find new source of revenue generation and reduce costs. Fan loyalty does not wane contend Bristow & Sebastian (2001) if the team under performs as it would in the case of a product that was found to be of inferior quality. Today brand loyalty cannot be measured merely by only attitude or only consumer behaviour. Brand loyal consumers have a very strong positive attitude towards the brand. Thus even a professional team that has been losing, there is hope for building a brand community and thereby hope for the marketers. It is possible for teams far removed from world championship to enjoy strong fan support and loyalty. Thus the literature review suggests that a study of the brand communities has gained importance as it can help the marketers to define their marketing strategy. Football too ahs become big business and marketers are taking advantage of this. Brand communities have been formed around football teams. Brand communities are imagined communities and they can also emit negative signals to rivals. They can engage in trash talking as well. The studies of Muniz and Schau suggest that religious affiliations along with culture and values influence the norms of a community. However, today there are members within a community from diverse backgrounds and so are the players from different nationalities and religious. Online virtual communities have enhanced the importance of such groups. Gap in the literature Bridgewater and Stray (2002) contend that team success matters to football fans and has an emotional impact because of which they are willing to spend high amount of money on tickets to see their team (Madichie, 2009). Nikolychuk and Sturgess (2007) argue that generations of family members and friends support the same club and switching loyalty is rare. Bristow and Sebastian (2001) suggest that fan loyalty does not wane even if the team underperforms. Today, in any football team and particularly in the UK, foreign players are more than the local players. Under the circumstances, to what extent the fans or the members of the brand community are influenced about their decision to remain with the same brand. This has not been studied by any of the researchers possible because it is a recent phenomenon. This study would undertake to research on this issue of how heterogeneity among the team members influences the decision to remain with the same brand or the same fan club or the same football club. This is especially important in view of the finding by Muniz and Schau who find a connection between religion, culture and values and the brand communities. The study would be based on the social identification theory in which group members have a strong motivation to portray their group in a positive light. To what extent they would be willing to do this despite different religious and cultural backgrounds. Research Methodology In-depth interview would be conducted of members from different communities from the English Premier League. Those that have experienced changes/additions to the members’ profile would be focused on. In-depth interview allow the researcher to have prolonged contact with the subjects of study and helps to reveal complexities. Reference: Bridgewater, S & Stray, S 2002, Brand Values and a Typology of Premiership Football Fans, retrieved online 10 July 2009, from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/research_finds_eager/premier_league_fan_research_2002a.pdf Bristow, DN & Sebastian, RJ 2001, Holy cow! Wait til next year! 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