This essay has 3 objectives: (1) to gain a better understanding of Harry Potter Fans as a strong brand community; (2) to discover the process Harry Potter Fans create value; (3) to explore the link between value creation and brand community.

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Harry Potter Fans Community and Value Creation

Introduction

Harry Potter has enjoyed immense popularity over the last thirteen years. Nearly all people are aware of the wizard boy’s name--- Harry Potter, even those who have not ever read the books or watch the films. Harry Potter has grown into a powerful brand quickly, which provides consumers with functional, social and experiential values that they can ‘experience it, relate to it, rely upon it and talk about it’ (Gunelius, 2008). To date, there have been seven series of books published, 7 fantasy adventure films in the 8 series released, and approximately 400 official products available as well as the amazing wizard theme park newly opened etc. It universally appeals to both children and adults who made up of the strong brand community calls Harry Potter Fans. They share opinions and understanding within community members, based on the strongly emotional association with Harry Potter brand.

According to Brown (2002), the main secret of Harry Potter’s success is media hype. Fans are encouraged by marketers to involve in branding activities (Sicilia and Palazo´n, 2008), such as book launch party. Given the increased interactions and communications, there has been a corresponding shift from consumers as individual recipients to consumers as collective creators (Deshpandé 1983). In fact, Harry Potter fans actively contribute to collaborative value creation through practices (Schau, Muniz, and Arnould, 2009), including fan-collection, fan-fiction, and Quidditch World Cup. O’Hern and Rindfleisch (2007) claims that “the role of brand communities as a catalyst for co-creation is an intriguing topic for research.” Therefore, fans collective value creation is an issue that deserves much more attention as it ensures Harry Potter to develop into a cult sustainable brand, instead of a short term fad (Gunelius, 2008).

This essay has 3 objectives: (1) to gain a better understanding of Harry Potter Fans as a strong brand community; (2) to discover the process Harry Potter Fans create value; (3) to explore the link between value creation and brand community. An enhanced understanding of how Harry Potter Fans create brand value will aid an enhanced understanding of brand community. In addition, it will help marketers “build and nurture brand community and enhance collaborative value creation between and among consumers and firms” (Schau, Muniz, and Arnould, 2009).

The essay is organised as follows. Firstly, I will review literature on brand community and value creation. Then I study Harry Porter Fans to explore how it creates value for Harry Porter brand. Finally, I will discuss the managerial implications of brand community value creation.

Literature review

What is brand community?

Community is a critical construct in modernity. Then it develops into a social phenomenon that researchers call subculture of consumption. It is characterised by shared ethos of core values, hierarchy social structure and unique expression (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995). In their research of the group of Harley-Davidson riders, bikers represent their identities, ethos and status through consuming the brand products, including motorcycles, official clothing and accessories. Entering into postmodern era, brand community has become the core construct in marketing and consumption. It is slightly different from subculture of consumption, as brand community is “socially negotiated, rather than delivered unaltered and in toto from context to context, consumer to consumer” (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001). The same authors define that “brand community is a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relationships among admirers of a brand.” (1) Consciousness of kind; members feel strong emotional attachment with each other, but differentiate themselves from others not in the community. It can be represented in 2 social processes: membership identification and oppositional brand loyalty. (2) Rituals and traditions; celebrating the history of the brand and sharing brand experiences both support to construct culture value of the brand. (3) Moral obligation; sharing sense of commitment can help to integrate and retain members and assist brand members using the brand properly.

Given the development of information technology, brand community goes beyond geographical boundaries (Shang et al., 2006) and establishes their own website to share thoughts. It allows consumers to develop virtual communities (Arora, 2009). It is not limited in time or space and allows communication revolving around a common interest (Kim et al, 2008). On the internet, community members take part in various activities and pose brand-related discussion topics, such as product/role preferences, recent developments and anecdotes etc. Through this collective intelligence, community members expand a community’s knowledge because no individual fan can acknowledge fully brand information (Jenkins, 2003a). Indeed, brand-based online communication forms social networks (Kim et al, 2008), which extends the relationships between consumers and brand. And more importantly, it encourages a solid emotional connection among members (Sicilia and Palazo´n, 2008).

What is value creation?

Value creation is an experience-based process that involves consumers to construct value (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004). As highlighted by Lusch and Vargo (2006) “the customer is always a value co-creator”. It is a consumer-centred concept which focuses on conceptualizing collaborative imagination and creativity. Previous studies concentrate more on creating individual value as individual consumer plays a key role in constructing creation experience. It emphasises participation and involvement of individual consumer instead of collective community power. For example, Holt’s (1995) research on value gaining through taking part in sporting activities is only limited on individual consumer. Recent researchers have shifted attention to the collaborative force because of their immense influence on shaping brand value. Schau, Muniz, and Arnould (2009) examined 9 brand communities to study collective value creation through involving and engaging in practices.

How brand community create value?

Value creation is accomplished through behaviours, including practical activities, performances and representations (Duguid, 2005; Wade, 2005; Muniz, and Arnould, 2009). Bonnemaizon and Batat (2010) also argue that value creation emerges when using, consuming or experiencing and is so called “value-in-use”. Schatzki (1996) states that practices are linked with community and self-identity. Clearly, members express shared values and identify competencies to differentiate themselves from others who are outside the community.

Schau, Muniz, and Arnould (2009) study the process of value creation (Figure 1) in brand communities. (1) Social networking--- sustaining emotional connection within community members ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

How brand community create value?

Schau, Muniz, and Arnould (2009) study the process of value creation (Figure 1) in brand communities. (1) Social networking--- sustaining emotional connection within community members through 3 main ways, including welcoming, empathizing, and governing. (2) Impression management--- consisting of evangelizing and justifying for promoting great impression of the brand. (3) Community engagement--- encouraging members to involve in the practices which include staking, milestoning, badging and documenting. (4)Brand use--- enhanced using of the brand. It consists of three interrelated parts: grooming, customizing and commoditizing.

Figure 1 The process of collective value creation in brand communities

Source: Schau, Muniz, and Arnould (2009)

Harry Potter community

It comes as no surprise to find that the Harry Potter fan community is “enormous, enthusiastic and evangelical” (Brown, 2007). It meets all the characteristics of “brand community”--- conscious of kind, rituals and traditions, and moral obligation (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001). In terms of “conscious of kind”, fans community try to “demonstrate members’ true devotion to the brand” (Muñiz and Schau, 2007) by voting for the “fan of the year”.

Fan of the Year is represented by the best of the best, the craziest of the crazy, and the, well, Potter-est of the Potters. These fans were voted here by you, the MuggleNet readers!

()

Also members assert themselves being distinctive and special, differentiating them from other community. As can be seen from a great deal of debates on “Harry Potter” and “Twilight”, Harry Potter fans defend the unique value of their brand and regard criticism as attacks on their identities and life style choice.

I've been in the Harry Potter fandom for a long time now and I'd do anything to defend it.

1. We actually have good characters that are well developed and that we can relate to.
2. Harry Potter teaches us about friends and family while Twilight teaches us about how important it is to have a boyfriend.
3. JKR can actually write well. Have you read Twilight? It's horrible. It's like bad written fanfiction.

(Posted on Yahoo Answers by in 2010)

Harry Potter brand community is host to a variety of rituals and traditions. Book launch party is the site of much general ritualized behaviour: crazy fans queuing up outside the book stores for hours, from wearing magical costumes, to taking sacred wands and brooms. There is no denying that internet based virtual community contribute to the great success of Harry Potter. Unlike other brand communities, there is no official website. A number of fan sites equipped with fruitful forums were launched across the world like Mugglenet, Harry Potter Fan Zone, HPANA etc. Outstanding ones for creative and inventive touches would get “Fan Site Award” from J.K. Rowling. There are a wide range of activities within the sites, including “manifold role-playing games; any amount of fan art, including images aplenty of Draco Malfoy in bondage gear, to say nothing of video mash-ups, Potter podcasts, photo galleries, discussion groups , trivia quizzes interview archives” (Brown, 2007). Despite of the different shapes and forms, they indeed establish platforms for fans to share, discuss, entertain, and consume.

Harry Potter community create value

Brown and Patterson (2010) state that “If ever a brand was co created, it is Harry Potter.” Countless millions of crazy hard-core consumers have contributed to the happy Harry experience. According to Lanier (2007) and Schau (2006), co creation is a process that consumers “extend, modify, and/or alter” the established product’s uses or meaning. Harry Potter Fans community are co creators. They form and grow based on the share interest of the fiction figure. They reproduce, alter and extend the brand meaning and value through engaging in a wide range of practices like fan-fiction, fan art, role-playing games, wizard rock and a series of conventions. It follows Schau, Muniz, and Arnould’s (2009) framework of collective value creation.

Social networking

Social networking which represents through on-line fan sites is the first stage of community value creation. It helps brand community to maintain and enhance 2 types of relationships (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001; Sicilia and Palazo´n, 2008). One emerges between the brand and the fans. And the other establishes among fans community members. The emotional association of Harry Potter and its fans and the connection between fans are strengthened by means of welcoming, empathizing and governing.

Welcoming---When new members get into the Harry Potter community, they feel warm welcomed and be valued.

We’re glad you made it here, and please look around!

Congrats, and welcome to the club!

(http://immeritus.org/ForumsPro/viewtopic/t=5275.html)

There is usually a post on the index page to explicitly account of the forums of the website, because new members lack of information. As a result, fans can easily get involved and turn into loyalty members rapidly. ‘Fan of the Week/Year’ is a new way for welcoming introduced by Mugglenet, where members are chosen to be the host speakers of the week to share their individual Harry Potter experience.

Empathizing--- members within the brand community offer physical and emotional support to each other. Harry Potter on-line community develops quickly by launching fans sites, which aid the meteoric growth of Harry Potter’s influence in both virtual and real world. Through a series of conventions like “Nimbus 2003 in Orlando, Nimbus 2005 in Salem, Accio 2005 in Reading and Lumos 2006 in Las Vegas”, fans congregate together from across the world, tell stories, share experience, purchase spin-offs, and discuss phenomenon from an academic perspective (Brown, 2007). Fans get involved into the new ways of socialisation and make friends with each other (Rogozińska, 2007).

Governing--- fans assert the behavioural expectations. Harry Potter fans promote a positive environment and keep the criticisms constructive. It is commonly available to see the guidelines when fans access to the Harry Potter magazines (so called fanzines).

I suppose I have to make some sort of rules so... here goes:
1. No spamming
2. Please post adult content under a labeled cut.
3. Respect others
4. Please tag entries

(Posted on Harry Potter Fanzines by moderator on 13th Aug, 2007)

Even facing with the disagreement or criticism, true Harry Potter fans generally commit to the rule, accept it and move on.

Don't pester your too much. If one of them or an acquaintance bashes Harry Potter try not to .

(Posted on Harry Potter book series message board by on 26th Jan, 2011)

Impression management

Building a favourable impression of Harry Potter within and beyond brand community, impression management practices are adopted. These consist of (1) evangelizing: fans inform the positive information about the brand, which may also consist of some negative comparisons with other competitors; and (2) justifying: members articulate benefits or values to outsiders and marginal members. The immense impact of Harry Potter should attribute to word-of-mouth and personal recommendation. Harry Potter fans act as ambassadors promoting distinctive benefits of the brand and posting positive comment on line.

I personally have recommended to friends having troubles their lives or are just feeling down that they should try reading the Harry Potter series. The uplifting story, the good morals, and the wonderful camaraderie between all of the good characters could significantly improve their attitude and mood.

(Stoyanoff, 2003)

In off-line life, enthusiastic fans who dedicate to make the world a better place established Harry Potter Alliance (HPA) in 2005. It is a non-profit organisation, working for “human rights, equality, and a better world just as Harry and his friends did throughout the books” (HPA mission statement). Fans create a favourable impression to people who are not in the community, showing the world the larger meaning of Harry Potter. More importantly, marginal fans and people outside the community get involved in contribution. Impression management encourages deeper community engagement (Schau, Muniz, and Arnould, 2009).

Community engagement

Fans achieve more social capital in escalating commitment to Harry Potter brand. Community engagement practices play vital role in brand value creation.

Staking---it is a way to identify intragroup distinction and similarity. Within the Harry Potter community, fans can distinguish themselves with four different houses of Holgwarts School, including Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Each school has its distinctive blazon, ghost, uniform, and characteristics. Gryffindor House, for instance, is characterised by courage and chivalry and thus its members are perceived as brave. Fans are generally required to register and take test before they become the true members of the houses. For these memberships, fans need to demonstrate their knowledge and related traits with those schools.

In terms of milestoning, badging, and documenting, fans emphasize their outstanding or memorable brand experience and mark and note the process at the same time. The typical practice is collecting the Harry Potter merchandise, which contains jewelry, pins, wands, and coins etc. All of these collections are served as milestones, badging and documenting fans’ distinctive brand experience.

Brand use

The meaning of Harry Potter is expanded by brand use (grooming, customising, and commoditising). Consumers’ collective creativity and imagination contribute to the added brand value (Vargo and Lusch, 2004) and building a brand more suitable to community and individual desire. Fans preserving Harry Potter’s series of books provide evidence of grooming. Numerous subjects of practices in a way of customising offer unique benefit for enthusiastic fans.

Grooming--- fans cherish the brand or systematizing optimal use patterns. Since the huge success of Harry Potter after the release of 4th book, the first edition of ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ increase in value and has set the new record for £19,700 (Anonymous, 2007). Because this book was only read once and kept in excellent condition. More and more fans take their Harry Potter book series as collections and they always share “tips on how to store signed or first-run copies” (Schau, Muniz, and Arnould, 2009).

Customizing--- Members devote time and effort to make Harry Potter suitable for community and individual level. It follows the rule “for fans, by fans” (Rogozińska, 2007). This is the core construct of Harry Potter community value creation, which represents through the numerous influential activities: fan-fiction contests, role-playing games, Qudditch, wizard rock. Fan-fiction, a co-creative process (Lanier and Schau, 2007), encourages fans to recreate the story through character development, added chapters, rewritten scenes and alternative endings. According to Jenkins’ (2006a) notes, “writers are constructing a range of different interpretations that get expressed through stories”. Lanier and Schau (2007) argue that fans actively engage in the process to display their individual and communal desires. Role-playing is virtual life experience based on Harry Potter story scenes where fans design and play fantasy plots on themselves. It is a dynamic of collective action which participants construct meanings and identities in social worlds (Fine, 1983). Quidditch game is an important dimension of Harry Potter customizing which deserves more attention. Unlike the fantasy match in books or films with flying broomsticks and magic snitch, muggle quidditch in real life play firmly earth-bound. Team players hold broomsticks between their legs. A young man who replaces the golden snitch sprints across the field. The game integrates rugby, dodge ball and soccer (Wilson, 2007), inspiring creativity and competition. More importantly, it translates the magic and imaginable scene into reality that all fans can play in a customised way.

"Quidditch is one of the most creative things that came out of the books. We were able to create that here, follow all the rules, except the ability to fly. It just caught on."

(Interview excerpt from Wilson, 2007)

Commoditising--- There are about 400 official Harry Potter products available in the market (Gunelius, 2008). Harry Potter fans pursue commoditising through collecting spin-offs, including toys, clothing, household goods, and furniture etc. Consumers frame their products collecting as a contest, demonstrating they are die-hard fans. Youtube user HarryPotterHimself revels in the competitive game of beating out other fans to be ‘the America’s biggest Harry Potter fan’. This kind of all-consuming devotion to merchandises pushes the development of Harry Potter brand.

Conclusion

Members of Harry Potter Fans community have something in common. They hold a strong emotional attachment with the brand. Diversity rituals and traditions are hold to support and maintain this connection. Shared sense of moral responsibility “leads to community-oriented actions” (Thompson and Sinha, 2008) and foster a strong brand feeling (Hoppe et al., 2007).

It is Harry Potter Fans community which plays a central role in creating brand value. It leads the researcher to understand deeply about the way fans community engage in the creation process. Establishing an intimacy social networking is a good starting point to engage fans’ interest in becoming a member of the community. Fans feel a sense of involvement and a social identity “through self awareness of one’s membership in a group and the emotional and evaluative significance of this membership” (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2002). Harry Potter community applies impression management to further spread its impact across the world. It inspires marginal fans or outsiders to join in and participate in practices. Brand use enables members turn into devotees, designing, delivering and creation of a happy Harry Potter experience. Harry Potter is not limited in a magical or wizard figure. A set of customizing activities extend or alter the original meaning of Harry Potter, making it more fantasy, commonly applicable.

As Amine and Sitz (2004) claim, “the brand community presents a special interest both for the marketing researchers and brand managers.” In other words, the sheer consumer enthusiasm and evangelism of Harry Potter fans community deserve scholars’ attention. Also fans community provides many practical lessons for marketers. Corporations can better serve customers when they gain understanding of the community (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995) and the process of their value creation. Relationship can be adopted to foster and nurture brand communities because of their loyalty. Marketers need to offer resources and opportunities for brand community to develop their emotional involvement with the brand. Thereby they can collectively build a stronger brand community and powerful brand.

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This essay has 3 objectives: (1) to gain a better understanding of Harry Potter Fans as a strong brand community; (2) to discover the process Harry Potter Fans create value; (3) to explore the link between value creation and brand community.

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