The Value of Community-Brands

The success of brands and branding over the past 100 years is a strong sign for the value adding function and benefits of brands. However, seen from an evolutionary perspective, the value brands provide can only be understood in relation to both, time and place. Brands survive and are of value, because they fulfill a certain function in consumers lives. This value however is subject to change just as consumer behavior changes, and thus brands as well are forced to adapt and review their value adding function.The postmodern consumer is different! Heavily facilitated through technology, most notably the Internet, the postmodern consumer is not a silent consumer at the end of the chain anymore. Rather he wants to be respected, heard and integrated in the value creation process. He is willing to invest time and money, but he expects authenticity and respect in exchange. As a response new concepts in marketing arise, which help us to better understand not only the new consumer but also the producer-consumer relationship. Similarly brands will not be remain unaffected. The benefits brands provided might not only decrease in importance or even become obsolete, but besides the consumer demands more from brands than a few decades ago.The phenomenon of community-brands provides valuable insights into what consumers value and expect in regard of brands. It has been argued that brands will become an experience under the new service-dominant logic of marketing and indeed a lot of exciting opportunities arise from taking an experiential and community-centered view on brands and branding. Compared to traditional brands, community brands provide some unique and valuable benefits to consumers. The fact that there is a community, which constitutes the basis of every community brand, does not only distinguish it from many other, traditional brands but furthermore accounts for a large part of its value. There lies huge social capital in the social relations of community member which is transformed into benefits. Community brands enable their members to learn, develop, connect and actively co-create. Besides these communities of passion inspire people and in many cases give meaning to peoples lives. Benefits that many traditional, corporate brands are not willing or are not able to provide.The Apache brand constitutes an impressive example of such a community brand. The Apache community not only managed to survive and grow, while many other open source communities faced troubles or even disappeared, but furthermore Apache has become a real institution and is well-known and respected within the IT area. As a community brand, Apache offers many of the benefits described above. Community members do not only respond with high loyalty towards the brand, but furthermore serve as passionate brand evangelists.