ESCP Europe

Langue

English

Publication year

01/08/2021

The phenomenon of brand communities has been well documented by researchers during the last two decades; however, little attention has been paid to the phase during which brand communities first emerge. Facilitating this emergence is particularly crucial for businesses operating in countries or regions in which large segments of the consumer population live at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP). But how can a brand community be generated in a BoP context? And how can organisations mobilise people living at the BoP to participate in creating and maintaining a brand community? To respond to these questions, we study the case of a Cameroonian music platform created in 2015 that was quickly able to mobilise Cameroonian music fans to spread its reputation by word of mouth and to produce content. Our case study shows that to create a brand community, startups should follow three precise steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]