Mediating influences in intracommunity brand engagement: The performance of brand faces and brand heroes on the brand stage

Abstract

This thesis explores the relationship that forms between brand communities and those faces and heroes that represent the brand organisation. Previous research has focused on the direct relationships that individuals form with celebrities in the form of imagined parasocial or pseudo-relationships. The marketing literature has focused on the influence those celebrities external to the organisation have in endorsing brands, considering endorser credibility, attractiveness and meanings. However, for brand communities, the brand faces and heroes are drawn from within the organisation and their importance lies in their contribution to the brand. In order to explore this mediated relationship, where the brand is the focus of worship between brand communities and brand faces / heroes, two ethnographic studies were conducted. The first study was on the Discworld community, which is a fantasy / comedy book series with a single brand hero: the author, Terry Pratchett. The second was the Brumbies rugby union team based in Canberra Australia, which has multiple brand faces and heroes in the players, coaches and managers. Data collection followed the ethnographic style of researcher embeddedness and data analysis followed the procedures outlined in grounded theory. To triangulate the results of the qualitative studies, quantitative surveys were also conducted in each community. The findings from these studies suggest three main thematic conclusions. The first is the confirmation of the brand as the mediator in the relationship between brand communities and brand faces / heroes. In this situation, a brand face is only considered heroic when they demonstrate their contribution to the brand and their willingness to uphold the same brand values that are important to the community. The second conclusion lies in the nature of brand hero authenticity, where consumers are active participants in the market system but seek brand value over commercial success. This is a constant tension between brand communities and brand organisations. However, brand heroes are those faces that are willing to forgo commercial concerns in order to advance key brand values. The final conclusion concerns the development of the brand community theatre model, which outlines the various roles that brand faces enact with the brand community in a constant negotiation of brand values! in a performance metaphor. The first contribution that this thesis makes to marketing theory is the brand face / hero concept, where relationships are formed via a brand proxy. An additional contribution is the confirmation that brand authenticity is based on a perceived distance from the market system. For brand communities, genuine sacredness exists within the brand rather than within the market. Marketers need to be seen to be advancing brand values rather than simply achieving commercial success. Finally, a new model of brand meaning negotiation is developed using a performance metaphor that extends beyond the individual levels outlined in McAlexander et al.'s (2002) model. The model proposed in this thesis includes group level negotiation between organisations and brand communities and allows individuals to become increasingly active in brand value negotiation.