Albert M. Muñiz

TL;DR: In this article, the authors reveal the process of collective value creation within brand communities and identify 12 common practices across brand communities, organized by four thematic aggregates, through which consumers realize value beyond that which the firm creates or anticipates.

TL;DR: This paper explored the characteristics, processes, and particularities of three brand communities (those centered on Ford Bronco, Macintosh, and Saab) and found that these brand communities exhibit three traditional markers of community: shared consciousness, rituals and traditions, and a sense of moral responsibility.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the Apple Newton brand community and reveal important properties of brand communities and, at a deeper level, speak to the communal nature of religion and the enduring human need for religious affiliation.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate consumer-generated, commercially relevant artifacts by examining the brand community centered on the Apple Newton, a brand that was (along with its supporting advertising) discontinued in 1998, and reveal that consumers can be quite skilled in the creation of brand-relevant communications, applying the styles, logics, and grammar of advertising.

TL;DR: For instance, the authors describes an investigation of the American Girl brand that provides a more complete and holistic understanding of sociocultural branding, arguing that an emotionally powerful brand is best understood as the product of a complex system, or gestalt, whose component parts are in continuous interp...