Fan Community Activities That May Destroy Value

Abstract: Course: BUSN39 Degree Project in Global Marketing - Master Level Keywords: Brand Community, Branding, Brand Loyalty, Value Destruction, Fandom, Music Artists, EXO Purpose: The purpose of this study is to research brand communities and understand if certain brand community activities may contribute towards the destruction of value of the brand. Specifically, this thesis will focus on music artist brands, their fandom communities and how the fan activities and discourse may be destructive in nature for the value of the music artist’s brand. Theoretical Perspective: To answer the research question, this study will use existing theory in brand communities with a focus on value creation and destruction. To better understand which value is being created and destroyed, there will also be references to Economies of Worlds Worth. Methodology: This study adopts a relativist ontology with a social constructionist epistemology. Using a qualitative research design, specifically netnography, will be conducted on social media platforms to gather empirical data. A part of the analysis will also follow an abductive approach to understand the existing value of the music artist. Conclusion: The findings of this study show that certain fans within the fandom could indeed participate in activities or discourse that ends up being destructive in nature for the music artist’s brand. Through analyzing the empirical findings, we were able to find four different themes of activities that ended up either decreasing or destroying some kind of value for the music artist’s brand. Contribution: This study focuses on contributing additional findings and themes to the existing literature within brand community activities. This thesis especially focuses on addressing the lack of focus on value destruction within brand communities and how this changes the outlook on what value brand community members bring for a brand.