Working consumers: Co-creation of brand identity, consumer identity and brand community identity

Abstract

The creation of identity, in terms of both consumer identity and brand identity, is a core topic in marketing theory. Based on participant ethnography of Yes Edinburgh North & Leith, part of Yes Scotland, the national referendum campaign supporting Scottish independence, this paper explores identity co-creation among three entities: the brand, the individual consumer, and the brand community. The findings suggest that the interactions among these entities co-create their identity, primarily through the actions of highly motivated working consumers. This paper identifies the main dialectic relationships and shows how the effects move beyond the dyads to affect the other entities, including the symbols used in the process of co-creation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for brands, individual consumers, and brand communities.

A Marketing Approach to a Psychological Problem: Problematic Smartphone Use on Adolescents

“…These concerns arise out of the degree and type of engagement between the brand and consumers due to the highly engaging gamified experience. Deep sense of participatory engagement in gamification can also be compared to co-creation marketing [46,47] in which consumers' co-produce products by actively engaging in the design process [48]. However, gamification can have subversive results.…”

Business strategy and business environment: The impact of virtual communities on value creation

“…We also illustrate that in addition to the co‐creation of product (Antorini & Muniz, ; Füller, Bartl, Ernst, & Mühlbacher, ; Verona, Prandelli, & Sawhney, ), brand community members can also act as co‐creators of brand content (Brown, Sherry Jr., & Kozinets, ; Muniz & Schau, ). Members can also contribute in a very meaningful way to the brand in terms of it's a community identity (Black & Veloutsou, ). In this respect, it is interesting to note that consumers are adept at appropriating the styles and themes of marketing communications for their own use where they cleverly utilize Web 2.0 tools and effectively create and disseminate their own content.…”

Tensions between Value Capture and Value Slippage: The Case of Brand Communities

“…In addition, brand communities can push the development of brand activities in a different direction than the firm expects and thus destroy value for the firm (Cova & White, 2010). It is not uncommon for community members to exchange messages that create confusion and even threaten a brand's positioning and reputation (Black & Veloutsou, 2017).…”