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Master Thesis, 15 credits, for the degree of Master of Science in Business Administration specializing in International Business and Marketing

Spring Semester 2018

How do influencer marketers affect brand

associations?

A semiotic Instagram study in the sports

fashion industry

Linus Juhlin & Miretta Soini

School of Health and Society

2

ABSTRACT

Author

Linus Juhlin & Miretta Soini

Title How do influencer marketers affect brand associations?

Supervisor

Christian Koch

Examiner

Timurs Umans & Jens Hultman

Abstract

Influencer marketing is an impor tant tool to change and rei nforce consumers br and associations.

Influencers post content that is trying to create intended brand associations. The consumers' reactions

then decide what the realized brand associations are. The purpose of this study is to explore through

semiotic and netnographic Instagram analysis how influencer marketing affects brand associations in the sports fashion industry. This research has a qualitative methodology and has used semiotic and netnographic analysis to explore the case of Gymshark. The research consists of 100 analyzed posts

from Instagram influencers related to Gymshark. It was found that influencers' personal brands affect

the realized brand associations. Also, gender has an affecting role on both, intended and realized brand

associations.

Keywords

Influencer Marketing, Word of Mouth, Brand Associations, Signaling Theory, Tribal Marketing, Social

Media, Instagram, Sport's Fashion Industry

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to express our gratitude towards the people involved in the process of writing this paper. We would l ike to thank Timurs Umans for his input on the topic of our research and methodological decision making. We would also like to thank Chri stian Koch, for hi s continuous feedback and advice during the writing process. Lastly, we would like to thank Jens Hultman for his guidance and examination of the paper. Our gratitude also goes to our families and friends for encouragement and dealing with our stress. We would also like to thank each other for the constant support, engagement, and making the writing process enjoyable.

Thank you!

Kristianstad, May 31

st 2018
________________________ _________________________

Linus Juhlin Miretta Soini

4

TABLE OF CONTENT

1 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................7

1.1 Background ..................................................................................................................7

1.2 Problematization ...........................................................................................................9

1.3 Research purpose ........................................................................................................ 10

1.4 Research question ....................................................................................................... 11

1.5 Focus of the study ....................................................................................................... 11

1.6 Outline ........................................................................................................................ 11

2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..................................................................................... 13

2.1 Brand Associations ..................................................................................................... 13

2.1.1 Attributes ............................................................................................................. 14

2.1.2 Benefits ................................................................................................................ 14

2.2 Signaling theory .......................................................................................................... 15

2.3 Tribal marketing ......................................................................................................... 17

2.4 Word of mouth & eWOM ........................................................................................... 19

2.5 Influencer Marketing .................................................................................................. 20

2.5.1 Social Media & Instagram .................................................................................... 21

2.6 Theoretical model ....................................................................................................... 22

3 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................ 24

3.1 Research approach ...................................................................................................... 24

3.2 Choice of methodology ............................................................................................... 24

3.3 Time horizon .............................................................................................................. 25

3.4 Research strategy ........................................................................................................ 26

3.4.1 Case selection ...................................................................................................... 26

3.5 Data collection ............................................................................................................ 27

5

3.6 Sample selection ......................................................................................................... 27

3.7 Data analysis............................................................................................................... 29

3.7.1 Semiotic analysis ................................................................................................. 29

3.7.2 Netnographic analysis .......................................................................................... 30

3.7.3 Process of analysis ............................................................................................... 31

3.8 Trustworthiness .......................................................................................................... 33

3.9 Ethical consideration ................................................................................................... 35

4 ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION ........................................................................................... 36

4.1 Influencer content ....................................................................................................... 36

4.1.1 Intended association categories ............................................................................ 36

4.1.2 Found intended associations ................................................................................. 45

4.2 Consumer content ....................................................................................................... 47

4.2.1 Realized associations ........................................................................................... 48

4.2.2 Positive realized associations ............................................................................... 51

4.2.2 Negative realized associations .............................................................................. 52

5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 56

5.1 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 56

5.2 Theoretical contributions ............................................................................................ 57

5.3 Methodological contributions...................................................................................... 58

5.4 Managerial implications .............................................................................................. 59

5.5 Limitations and future research suggestions ................................................................ 60

REFERENCE LIST .............................................................................................................. 61

APPENDIX .......................................................................................................................... 68

Analyzed content .............................................................................................................. 68

6

List of figures

Figure 1. Theoretical model ................................................................................................. 23

Figure 2. Analysis of influencer content ................................................................................ 32

Figure 3. Analysis of consumer content ................................................................................ 33

Figure 4. Non-product related attributes (price), female ....................................................... 38

Figure 5. Non-product related attributes (price), male ......................................................... 38

Figure 6. Non-product related attributes (user imagery), female .......................................... 39

Figure 7. Non-product related attributes (user imagery), male ............................................. 39

Figure 8. Non-product related attributes (usage imagery), female ........................................ 40

Figure 9. Non-product related attributes (usage imagery), male ........................................... 40

Figure 10. Product related attributes (design & color), female ............................................. 42

Figure 11. Product related attributes (design & color), male ................................................ 42

Figure 12. Product related attributes (size), female .............................................................. 43

Figure 13. Benefits (functional), female ................................................................................ 44

Figure 14. Benefits (functional), male ................................................................................... 44

Figure 15. Benefits (symbolic), female .................................................................................. 45

Figure 16. Benefits (symbolic), male ..................................................................................... 45

List of tables

Table 1. Eight E's of e-tribes (Hamilton & Hewer, 2010) ..................................................... 18

Table 2. Influencer sample for analysis................................................................................. 29

Table 3. Brand association categories (Keller, 1993) ........................................................... 32

Table 4. Research trustworthiness (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 290) ...................................... 34

Table 5. Found intended association categories ................................................................... 37

Table 6. Most found intended associations ............................................................................ 46

Table 7. Most found intended associations based on gender ................................................. 47

Table 8. Most found realized associations ............................................................................ 48

Table 9. Most found positive realized associations based on gender ..................................... 51

Table 10. Found negative realized associations based on gender .......................................... 53

7

1 INTRODUCTION

This section introduces the concept of influencer marketing and its importance to companies. The section continues with a problem formulation. Later the research purpose and research question are formulated and the focus of the study is explained. This section ends with a short outline of the research paper.

1.1 Background

Influencer marketing has been used for many years, but lately it has become an important part of many companies' marketing strategies (Dada, 2017). Influencers are often described as people with many social followe rs on platforms like Instagram, YouTube or Twitter (De Veirman, Cauberghe & Hudders, 2017). Having many followe rs is not enough to be an influencer. To be an influencer, one has to have the power to influence the perception of others in some way. When it comes to influencer marketing, this power can, for example, be used by the influencer to help a company sell more of their products (Dada, 2017). According to Contestabile (2015), even though many companies have implemented influencer marketing into their marketing strategies, 41% are still spending less than 5% of their budget on influencer marketing. Traditional advertising and marketing on TV, print and desktop ads are becoming less effective (Contestabile, 2015). Marketers are turning their efforts to social media platform influencer campaigns as ad-blockers and paywalls are becoming more popular (Contestabile, 2015). Between 2015 and 2017 "influencer marketing" as a search term on Google Trends went up by 400% (Todisco, 2017). This can be interpreted as companies and desiring social media influencers having realized the power of building relationships with each other. Arli and Dietrich (2017) explain the rapid growth of social media through a comparison. It took radio 38 years and TV 13 years to reach 50 million people, while it took only four years for Facebook to reach more than 500 million users worldwide (Arli & Dietrich, 2017). Furthermore, throughout the past decade, different social media platforms have become an important aspect of everyday life, changing the way people communicate with businesses, co- workers, family members and friends (Arli & Dietrich, 2017), and many of the platforms are 8 also actively used for seeking information (Penni, 2016). At the same time, the world of consumption has shifted from looking at companies to looking at fellow consumers to inform purchasing decisions through word of mouth (from here on WOM) (De Veirman et al., 2017). Consumers are now looking at each other and their favorite personalities who have large number of followers on different social media platforms (De Veirman et al., 2017). Therefore, influencer marketing opens up new channels for brands to connect with consume rs more directly, organically and at a bigger scale (Talavera, 2015). With influe ncer marke ting, companies can create greater content through consumers' point of view, earn credibility, and gain exposure through influencers' network (Todisco, 2017). By creating branded content with social media influencers, brands can increase the effect of their message while persuading their target audience (De Veirman et al., 2017). This has made it crucial for companies to have a presence on these platforms to be able to understand and control the consumers' perception of their brand (Varma, 2016). With the help of influencers and influencer marketing, companies are able to spread the brand image they wish to have, and change the consumers' perception of the brand (De Veirman et al., 2017). But if a brand does not do this in a proper way, influencer marketing could become a dangerous expense. Traditional media has mostly been based on one-way communication, while social media makes it possible to engage and interact with consumers in a new way (Singhal, 2016). Social media is also a very effective marketing channel, in the sense that the marketing message does not need to be repeated as frequently as in other medias to get noticed (Dahlén & Lange, 2009). However, marketing managers are still learning how to use social media and its potential for communication and engagement with their target audience (Arli & Dietrich, 2017). Therefore, it is important to understand how people perceive social media campaigns (Arli & Dietrich,

2017), and lear n how inf luencer marketers af fect br and associations positively and/or

negatively. According to Penni (2016), picture sharing social media platforms, like Instagram, have made it possible to communicate with a large number of users at once through images. Instagram

allows its users to send pictures in real time to the system (Silva et al., 2013), while additionally

allowing picture manipulation and sharing on other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter (Penni, 2016). With a user base of over 800 million monthly users (Instagram, 2018) 9 and producing 1,2 billion likes per day (Penni, 2016), communicating via Instagram makes it possible to reach large numbers of consumers. The popularity of Instagram is due to the possibility to add captions, hashtags and symbols to describe pictures and videos before posting them (Manikonda et al., 2014). Another advantageous feature of Instagram is allowing the posted content to have a longer shelf life compared to other social media platforms (Penni,

2016). This means that the posted content does not disappear and one can easily go back to the

first ever posted picture or video as each profile showcases the posted content chronologically. Instagram also gives the users the ability to like, comment, tag and follow content on the feed, which enhances picture sharing communication through social interaction (Penni, 2016).

1.2 Problematization

Consumers' brand associations can be affected in many ways, one being by the effects of WOM between consumers (De Veirman et al., 2017). It is well-documented that WOM has a stronger effect on a consumer's decision-making than other traditional advertising techniques (Cheung, Lee & Rabjohn, 2008). The message is perceived to be more believable and reliable when it is coming from another consumer instead of from a company (De Veirman et al., 2017). With the growth of social media, this effect has become even more important for companies today since social media makes it easier than ever for consumers to spread their opinions to others (De Veirman et al., 2017). The growing use of the internet has made it possible for consumers to be more informed and create online communities in which they can share experiences and opinions about different brands (Litterio, Nantes, Larrosa & Gomez, 2017). Consumers can create and share content and spread their brand preferences and perceptions in a way that was not possible before social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook existed (De Veirman et al.,

2017). Therefore, companies today need to take advantage of this, and one way to do so is with

the help of influencer marketing (Litterio et al., 2017). Influencers are individuals who have a large number of social media followers and who can influence the buying behavior of large numbers of people (Litterio et al., 2017). By leveraging the influencers' reach and relationship with their followers, it is possible for a company to get a bette r effect on their ma rketing (De Veirman et al., 2017). Influencers and influencer 10 marketing are relatively new, but important tools for marketers, and can be used to change consumers' brand perceptions and associations, which in turn will influence the company's brand image (De Veirman et al., 2017). When working with an influencer, a company also needs to be aware that the influencer's own brand image may transfer to the company's brand image in some ways (De Veirman et al., 2017). Influencers are also able to not only affect their own followers, but the sharing nature of social media means that the followers will also spread the content to their own followers (De Veirman et al., 2017). This network effect makes it possible to spread content very fast in a large scale, and potentially impact a company's brand associations. Brand associations is a big part of the concept of brand image. It can be said that brand image is about consumers' perceptions about a brand, which are reflected by the brand associations held in the consumers' memory (Keller, 1993). These associations can be of several different types, such as attributes and benefits (Keller, 1993). Attributes are descriptive features, either connected to the physical product or external aspects such as price (Keller, 1993). Benefits consist of the personal value a product can give a consumer (Keller, 1993). This can be about anything from problem solving to a need for social approval (Keller, 1993). All of this in combination is what makes up the consumers' total brand associations. Having positive brand associations can give a company a great competitive advantage (Keller, 1993). In our paper, we talk about intended and realized brand associations. When an influencer posts content regarding a brand, they are trying to create brand associations, which can be called intended brand associations. The consumers' reaction to this content will then decide which brand associa tions are actually created or reali zed. Relevance of content and customers' emotional reaction to the content (Botha & Reyneke, 2013) can be argued to be linked either positively or negatively to the brand associations.

1.3 Research purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore through semiotic and netnographic Instagram analysis how influencer marketing affects brand associations in the sports fashion industry. 11

1.4 Research question

How do intended brand associations created by influencer marketers affect the realized brand associations of the consumers? a) What type of positive associations can be realized? b) What type of negative associations can be realized?

1.5 Focus of the study

This study will focus on exploring the positive and negative effects of influencer marketing on Instagram in the sports fashion industry. We will focus our research on the company Gymshark. Gymshark has based its marketing strategy largely on the use of social media influencers. This is one of the reasons behind their rapid growth reaching a revenue of $50 million in 2017 and expecting a revenue of $120 million in 2018 (Forbes, 2018). As Gymshark has been able to successfully use influencer marketing to create their brand and grow their business, we have decided to focus on them in this study as the best practice case. The research was conducted through semiotic analysis of Instagram influencers' content about Gymshark to find out what type of content is being published. Netnographic analysis was then done on the comments of this content to find out the possible effect the content has on the brand associations related to

Gymshark.

1.6 Outline

This research paper has been structured into five chapters, which are briefly introduced below. Chapter 1: In the first chapter the subject is introduced as well as problematized. The purpose, research question, and focus of the study are also presented. Chapter 2: In the second chapter the theoretical framework is presented. It consists of theories such as brand associations, tribal marketing, signaling theory, WOM, and influencer marketing. The chapter ends with presenting the theoretical model used for this paper. 12 Chapter 3: In the third chapter the methodology of this research paper is presented. Research strategy, data collection, sample selection, and analysis process et cetera are presented. Chapter 4: The fourth chapter consists of the analysis of the collected data and discussion of the results. Both the influencer content and consumer content are discussed to discover the intended and realized brand associations. Chapter 5: The fifth chapter presents the conclusions of this research paper, as well as the theoretical and methodological contributions. The managerial implications of the paper are then presented before finishing with the limitations and future research suggestions. 13

2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This section presents the theoretical framework used in the research. The framework has been built on existing research and knowledge. First, the section starts by introducing the concept of brand associations, which is followed by two relevant theories, signaling theory and tribal marketing, which explain interpretations and online communities. The section continues by explaining the concept of word of mouth and influencer marketing, before ending with an introduction to social media and Instagram.

2.1 Brand Associations

Brand associations are recognized as an important part of the concept of brand image by most researchers (Herzog, 1963; Keller, 1993; Ne wman, 1957), and is of great importance f or companies (Keller, 1993). Brand associations can be defined as consumers' different beliefs and judgments about a brand (Keller, 1993). Brand associations have been shown to have an effect on consumers' brand considera tion and buying decisions. Moreove r, the brand associations will also make it easier for consumers to choose a product that will fulfill their needs, since they might already have some pre-existing knowledge about the brand (Romaniuk & Nenycz -Thiel, 2013). The creati on of brand associa tions is based on two parts. First, marketing managers need to specify which associations they want to create. Secondly, the consumers need to learn these associations in some way (Koll & von Wallpach, 2014). This relationship between intended and realized brand associations will be a central concept of this paper. Different brand associations are often analyzed by the dimensions favorability, strength, and uniqueness (Keller, 1993). Brand associations can be both positive and negative, which means that a company needs to analyze the favorability of the brand associations (Keller, 1993). The strength of a brand association can be affected by the quantity or quality of information that the association is based on (Keller, 1993). For example, if a consumer knows very little about one aspect of a product, the strength of that association will be low. The uniqueness of an association is determined by how common it is amongst competing brands. Being able to be different from 14 other brands is a necessity to support a price premium (Aaker, 1996). Having unique and positive associations can give a company a great competitive advantage (Keller, 1993). Brand associati ons can be of many different kinds, and there i s not a generally accepted definition (Keller, 1993). But based on theories by Keller (1993) and Aaker (1996), two main categories of associations will be used in this paper and they are described below.

2.1.1 Attributes

The first type of association is an attribute. Attributes are descriptive features and can be either product related or non-product related (Keller, 1993). Product related attributes are mostly physical features of the product such as color, design, and fit. They are related to the physical composition of the product (Keller, 1993). Non-product related attributes are external aspects such as price, user imagery, and usage imagery (Keller, 1993). User imagery is about what type of person is using the product, while usage imagery is about in what situations and in what places the product is used. Other non-product related attributes can be brand personality attributes, such as rugged or exciting (Aaker, 1996). Brand personalities can be especially important when it comes to products with very minor differences, like for instance spirits. Most people cannot tell the difference in taste between high quality spirits, so then other attributes become more important (Aaker, 1996).

2.1.2 Benefits

The second type of association is a benefit and it consists of the personal value a product or service can give a consumer (Keller, 1993). If the brand does not have a good value proposition, it will be more difficult to compete with other competitors (Aaker, 1996). This value can be either functional, experiential or symbolic. Functional benefits are usually about basic problem solving and are often related to basic physical needs (Keller, 1993). They are often related to the product related attributes (Keller, 1993). Experiential benefits are about the way it feels to use the product and are meant to satisfy needs such as cognitive stimulation (Keller, 1993). Symbolic benefits are often related to different needs for social approval or personal expression (Keller, 1993). They often relate to non-product related attributes and are often connected to status, prestige and exclusivity (Keller, 1993). 15

2.2 Signaling theory

According to Ashuri and Ber-Ilan (2017), signaling theory (Rynes, 1991) was first developed in the middle of 1970s by zoologist Amontz Zahavi, who aimed to explain how animals manage to expose their characteristics to another by specific signals. At the same time, Michael Spence used signaling theory to explain interaction among humans in information asymmetry situations (Ashuri & Ber-Ilani, 2017). Signaling theory can be divided into two different classes of signals. The first class of signals are assessment signals (Donath, 2008). Assessment signals are very reliable, as producing the signal requires owning the indicated quality (Donath, 2008). For instance, lifting a heavy weight is a trustworthy signal of strength as a weaker person simply cannot do the same (Donath,

2008). As opposed to the latter example, an owner of an expensive car can use the car as a

signal of wealth or attractiveness, but the high price can only guarantee that the owner is wealthy and therefore, the car is only an unreliable indicator of attractiveness (Donath, 2008). The second class of signals are conventional signals (Donath, 2008). In this class of signals the link between signal and quality is inconsistent (Donath, 2008). Self-descriptions in online profiles can be described as conventional signals because it is very easy to type 25 or 35 as one's age or choose male or female as one's gender (Donath, 2008). Between laws and social mores, conventional signals are kept honest (Donath, 2008). For instance, anyone can buy a siren and use it to speed through traffic, but only an official emergency vehicle is legally allowed to do so (Donath, 2008). Signaling theory has been applied in various areas of research but it is commonly used in explaining applicant attraction to recruiting organizations (Celani & Singh, 2011). An applicant can be influenced by different sources of information and signals about a company's typical features revealed during recruitment processes (Celani & Singh, 2011). The applicants are recognized to explain several recruitment process related activities and information as signals of unfamiliar organizational attributes (Celani & Singh, 2011), and characteristics and behavior of recruiters (Rynes, 1991). In marketing, signaling theory has been used to study companies' signaling to consumers and business-to-business signaling (Erdem & Swait, 1998). Most studies related to companies' signaling to consumers have examined marketing mix features such as advertising, certificates, 16 and retailer choice as signals of quality (Erdem and Swait,1998; Erdem, Swait & Valenzuaela,

2006). Consumer researchers have also studied the impact of brand name on consumers'

perceptions of quality (Erdem & Swait, 1998). Signaling theory may be use d in situations w here informa tion is irregular or asymm etric (Spence, 2002). Signaling theory can be applied both face-to-face and online (Donath, 2008). In face-to-face situations, for instance, much of what people want to know about others is not always directly noticeable (Donath, 2008). Instead, people have to rely on signals, which are observable features and actions that express the presence of hidden characteristics (Donath,

2008). One cannot directly observe others' beliefs, experiences and their opinions, however,

one can rely on signals such as facial expressions, statements they make on their online profiles, and consumption patterns in order to interpret these qualities (Donath, 2008). According to Donath (2008), signaling theory aims to explain what keeps communication honest. In our study, the inform ation irre gularities occur within the intended brand associations and the realized brand associations as consumers may perceive the intended associations differently, or they may see something completely new. Donath (2008) used signaling theory to online social networks and studied the ways in which people send truthful signals online. She showed how Facebook user's home page serves as a place for exchange of signals. D onath (2008) claimed tha t one's visible Facebook friend network signals characteristics related to sociability because a person who lacks friends would not want to keep that information public. Similarly, one can argue that public Instagram profile is a sign for sociability, and therefore attractive for brands to work with. The signal, signaler, and the signal receiver play the main role within signaling theory. According to Conelly, Certo, Ireland & Reutzel (2011), the signaler is in the role of acquiring information about hidden quality, which is not openly available to the other parties in the situation. In our study the role of signaler belongs to the influencer, and the role of signal receiver belongs to the consumer. According to Conelly et al. (2011), signals can also be seen as observable actions or information

that aims to signify certain, usually positive, qualities that cannot be seen but are meant to affect

the signal receivers' decisions. For instance, influencer marketers may use some symbolic signals (e.g. colors, s tanding position or product placement) that expres s their preferenc e 17 towards some aspects of the marketed brand and its products in order to raise the interest of specific categories of stakeholders and therefore affect their decision to buy. In this study, influencers repeatedly bring forward certain features and symbols in their Instagram content in order to make certain attributes more noticeable by the signal receiver. Moreover, signaling theory and research related to it show that all signals are not equally effective (Celani & Singh, 2011). However, it is possible that signals may be evenly effective but the us efulness may be more releva nt in different stages (Celani & Singh, 2011) . For instance, instrumental attributes (Celani & Singh, 2011) highlighted in an Instagram image of an influencer (e.g. free delivery or extra discount) may get more interest but symbolic meanings (Celani & Singh, 2011), like influencer's characteristics and behavior, may actually help to "close the deal".

2.3 Tribal marketing

According to Hamilton and Hewer (2010), the concept of tribes arose from the work of the French social theorist Michael Maffesoli in the middle of 1990s. Contemporary culture is best explained as a period in which mass culture has become tribalized into a collage of fragmentary social groupings (Hamilton & Hewer, 2010). "These neo-tribes are inherently unstable, small scale, affectual and not fixed by any of the established parameters of modern society; instead they can be he ld together through sha red emotions, s tyles of life, new mor al beliefs a nd consumption practices." (Hamilton & Hewer, 2010, p. 273). Hamilton and Hewer (2010) argue that with this statement in mind, it is not surprising that such tribes are making a meaningful addition on the Internet, as Web 2.0 facilitates aforementioned participation. The world of networks, thus, has the power to gather communities of like-minded people, overcome usual geo-demographic segmentation and link consumers who share a passion for similar products, activities, or celebrities (Hamilton & Hewer, 2010, Pathak & Pathak-Shelat, 2017). Social media are the most effective channels for tribal marketing, as they provide range of information that consumers share in online communities, for instance reasons for their engagement with the brand (Pathak & Pathak-Shelat, 2017). 18 E-tribes or virtual communities of consumption can be distinguished by three core features of traditional community - shared consciousness, rituals and traditions, and a sense of obligation to the c ommunity and me mbers (Hamilton & He wer, 2010) . Therefore, e-tribes provide consumers with a complex and broad socio-cultural environment from which to draw resources and the openness to mediate the riskiness of exploring new ways of thinking, doing, and being (Hamilton & Hewer, 2010). Table 1 below explains the eight concepts of e-tribes. Table 1. Eight E's of e-tribes (Hamilton & Hewer, 2010) Brand communities have become important in marketing. Marketers should concentrate on recreating and supporting relationships between themselves and consumers, which is also the core of tribal marketing approach (Chanavat & Bodet, 2014). Cova and White (2010) argue that many marketing and consumer-behavior commentators believe that brands have found tools to collaborate with their most loyal consumers and co-create value for the brand. This value means a surplus that belongs to brands that have established a community of enthusiast consumers, as opposed to the b rands tha t have not (C ova & White, 2010). C onsumers that bel ong to communities become naturally enabled in their relationships with companies that manage their favorite brands (Cova & White, 2010). This has led these consumers not only to collaborate with those brands, but also to produce their own interpretations of meanings and strategies Electronic E-tribes communicate via the medium of the Internet EnculturatingE-tribe members learn and adopt the language, practices, rituals, and values of the community EmotiveE-tribes generate a high level of emotional involvement from members ExpressiveE-tribe members engage in creative, product work EmpoweredE-tribe members gain great satisfaction from the agentic potential of their practices EvangelicalE-tribe membership can be compared with a quasi-religious or spiritual experience EmergentE-tribes are self-generated, emerging on their own rather than under the control of a company

EntangledNetwork boundaries overlap and merge

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