Brand Communities
Abstract
A brand community is a coconsuming group of people who have a common interest in a specific brand and create a parallel social universe, nongeographically bound, that abounds with its own myths, values, rituals, vocabulary, and hierarchy. Brand enthusiasts play a dynamic role by cocreating experiences for themselves, for brand communities, and for organizations. Such brand volunteers are committed to providing unpaid work for the exclusive benefit of the brand they love. On a sociological level, brand communities herald new forms of collectives emerging in contemporary society: rather than communities creating symbols, they form around symbols.