I believe that brand communities like Harley-Davidson have in fact been greatly involved with the brand, and the reason being is that the more they are around the Harley-Davidson brand, the more it is discussed and new products will be desired by these communities no matter what. For instance, when a new android phone hits the market, the first people who order it are usually those loyal fans that have been talking about it on the forums or web pages of the internet community. I think that the fact that the Posse Ride is not regulated by the company employees but the riders themselves automatically gives a sense of freedom and carefree riding among the community. This strategy also helps to improve rider satisfaction by setting goals and checkpoints to achieve throughout the journey. It seems much more intuitive to let the riders enjoy the ride without being too involved because bombarding the consumer with constant regulations can easily make the experience stale. Create your own custom Harley-Davidson and compete with others to see who has the most unique design then encouraging riders to share there unique designs with the community or even allow the customers to have input on what there newest model bike design should look like. Brand loyalty plays a large role in successful companies like Apple because some consumers have built an image which they feel is almost never going to fail and will support any product the companies makes (apple-fanboys / iSheep) no matter what it is or how good the competition is.
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| The sad thing is that people would actually this. |
As always, a well considered response, Biruk. A question for you, because using Apple is too easy (!) .... how do you think communities grow around brands? Think of other brands where communities of followers exist.
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