SOCIALBRANDVALUEbrandvaluethroughsocialinteraction-theGermanyranking2009GOOGLEAppLENOkIAMCDONALD‘SYOUTUBETwITTEREBAYCOCACOLANOkIAfACEBOOkYOUTUBETwITTEREBAYMICROSOfTTUppERwARECOCACOLANOkIAfACEBOOkYOUTUBEXINGfACEBOOkYOUTUBEEBAYSTUDIVZNGfACEBOOkYOUTUBEEBAYSTUDIVZfLICkRYOUTUBEfACEBOOkwIkIpEDIABEfACEBOOkwIkIpEDIAfACEBOOkfLICkfACEBOOkfLICkRAppLEfIREfOXAMAZONfACEBOOkSTUDIVXAMAZONfACEBOOkSTUDIVZXINGEBAYCOCACOLAfLICkRfACEBOOkTUppERwAREUBETwITTEREBAYfACEBOOkfLICkRAppLEfLICkRfACEBOOkAMAZONfACEBOOkThepursuitofcommunityisoneofthemostbasicdesiresofmankind.Eversincepeoplehavecravedforthesecurityandorientationofcommunities.Howeverinthe19thand20thcentury,industrializationledtoananonymizationofourdailyliving-andworking-environment.Similarly,astraditionalcommunitieswereonthedecline,brandstookanevermoreimportantroleinthepursuitofpersonalidentity-construc-tionprojectsofconsumers.Recently,mainlyduetotherapiddiffusionofdigitaltechno-logies,are-emergenceofthecommunitycanbeobservedinthecontextofconsumptionpractices.Thesecommunitiesare,contrarytotheirancientcounterparts,basedonsharedpassionsandinterestsofconsumers.Neverhasitbeensoeasytoidentifylike-mindedpeopleandexchangethoughtsandideasaboutsharedintereststhanitisnowadays.Thiscravingforcommunityisthechiefmiseryofeverymanindividuallyandallhumanityfromthebeginningoftime.fyodorM.Dostoyevsky,1881Successfulmarketingleadstouniquecustomerbenefits.Giventhealteredbehaviouralpatternsofconsumers,mar-ketingneedsafreshperspectivethattakesintoaccountthedynamicdevelopmentregardingcommunities.Marketingthinkingandpracticeusedtobedominatedbyproductspe-cifications,advertisingmessagesandone-sidedtop-downcommunication.Todayabrandcannotcreatetrueaddedvaluewithouttakingsocialstructuresintoaccount.Thevalueofabrandseemstobelessandlessbasedonproductcharac-teristics,butratheronthebenefitsabrandprovidesindailyusagesituationsanditsrelationtoothers.TheHarleyDavid-sonOwnersGroup(HOG)withoveronemillionmembersisonlyoneexampleofhowabrandcreatesvaluebeyondtheproduct.1950...
