The Study On Brand Fans’ Formation Mechanism And Cultivation Strategy

From a global perspective, Apple, Harley-Davidson, Coca-Cola, and sowell-known brand all have a huge number of brand fans, they boosted the growth andextension of the world-famous brand. By contrast, the fans of domestic brand are stillrelatively less. So, in this paper, mainly based on fans theory in communication studies,this thesis explains the concept and characteristics of the brand fans, analyze theformation mechanism and put forward the cultivation strategies of it.In order to have a fans market which has a strong marketing tension, the brandshould understand the brand fans at first. Through research, this thesis accounts thatthe brand fans are those who have intense love and have a strong brand identity for aparticular brand, interactive and link with their life experience, and derive their owninterpretation and meaning. The brand fans has four main features: initiative,productive, compartmentalized and transitional.In this thesis, the formation mechanism of brand fans includes contents at threelevels: the force,the process and the pattern. Social and personal factors are the dualpush-and-pull power for the formation of brand fans. The formation process of brandfans emphasizes the links to brand meaning, the strengthening of brand experience andextension constructing identity. Production and consumption in the consumer brandsymbol to form a spiral effect and happiness as the core of it, it can attract consumerscontinually, and make them have an emotional connection with brands. The continuingescalation of brand experience is the enhancer of brand fans formation, the progressivecourse from sensory experience, emotional experience, achievement experience,spiritual experience to peak experience is also the course which customer from beingattracted to rise for the immersion. The brand recognition plays a decisive role in thefans formation, consumers extend the looking for ideal self and the needs of the groupidentification to the consumption of brand meaning and brand experience, in theprocess of building identity they gradually become brand fans. The brand fansformation can be divided into natural formation and market formation modes. Naturalformation is a identity-centric and consumer-driven active mode, market model is aforming mode which use the brand-led forces to guide consumers to become brandfans，both modes intersect and interact.This thesis accounts that creating fascinating brand meaning, creating an unforgettable experience, customizing brand identity are three core strategies tocultivate brand fans. Creating a fascinating brand meaning strategy includes threeaspects:prototyping the brand, brand religious and dramatizing the brand. To create anunforgettable experience needs longitudinal upgrade. Longitudinal development andmystical experience. Custom recognition effect can operate on brand communityrecognition effects from the use and management, to form a fan effect to influence newconsumers, then to multiply new fans.