Title: Brand identity and virtual brand community for the success of co-creation

Authors: Héla Benmiled-Cherif

Addresses: PRISM Research Center, University of Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, 1, Rue Victor Cousin, 75005, Paris, France

Abstract: In social media, interaction can occur between users inside a virtual brand community (VBC) centred on brand, which actively participate in the co-creation (CC) process. Social media also contribute to identify brand identity (BI) and to the process of consumers' identification in VBC. This study aims at looking into the influence of BI and VBC on the process of CC. The research findings are based on a cross-national study in France and Tunisia using a netnographic approach on the Facebook pages of 'Axe' brand. There is a perfect fit between the norms, values and culture of the brand and those of the VBC. VBC can then play an active role in CC process. A new classification of CC is proposed and leads to new insights in the positive and negative effects of Axe's VBC. Finally, the results are discussed, and conclusions as well as managerial implications are drawn.

Keywords: co-creation; virtual brand communities; VBC; netnography; Facebook; social media; brand identity; Axe; Tunisia; France; consumer identification; virtual communities; online communities; web based communities.

DOI: 10.1504/JIBED.2016.077727

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 2016 Vol.9 No.2, pp.222 - 236

Received: 04 Nov 2015
Accepted: 05 Nov 2015
Published online: 13 Jul 2016 *

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