Brand Rivalry In Online Brand Communities

Litterature Review

The nethnographic research I was interested in carrying out was the rivalry between two online brand communities, taking a closer look at this in context of Samsung and Apple in the smartphone industry. So the literature relates to online communities, consumer’s connection to online brand communities, the infatuated brand loyalty and the extent of brand rivalry. Looking into this literature gave me a deeper understanding of why consumers engage in brand rivalry in online communities.

Online Brand Communities

“Online communities are not virtual. The people that we meet online are not virtual. They are real communities populated with real people, which is why so many end up meeting in the flesh” (Robert V Kozinets, 2010)

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Hur, Ahn, and Kim (2011) conducted a study and their results indicated that brand communities contributed to brand loyalty. Another study backs this up further by Stokburger (2010) says that a strong brand community can also effect brand satisfaction and consumer advocacy and overall are an instrument that helps strengthen the consumer brand relationship. It is clear that brands play a vital role in developing the identity of these groups (Swaminathan 2007). Members therefore have a stronger connection to the brand. This connection to the brand and brand community can often lead to behaviour that shows the devotion and loyalty to the

As I mentioned in the already members unite to oppose threats from the competition (Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001). In Muniz and O’Guinn’s (2001) study they looked into the oppositional brand loyalty in a number of brand communities.

For example one Apple brand communities members had photo shopped a devil onto Bill Gates face. Also when I was researching other Mac communities I found ‘Team MacSucks’; so this PC community defined themselves by demeaning the competition.

Thompson and Sinha (2008) say that that brand communities are not only used to illustrate the passion for a brand, but also used to express your feeling towards another brand. Ewing illustrates that oppositional brand loyalty is common within brand communities; it is a means of differentiating your brand community. Oppositional brand loyalty can develop quickly into brand rivalries especially in highly completive markets (Ewing 2013). Ewing also describes brand rivalries as the interaction between competing brand communities. The dialogue context that contains the rivalry has been defined as “trashtalking”