Branding Cultural Analogues in Virtual Communities

Abstract

This chapter discusses cultures as analogues of actual environments, specifically socially constructed communities and the individuals who compose them. Analogues replace actual environments in human perception. Virtual communities provide context for this discussion. Virtual communities have evolved as analogues of actual communities to the degree that technology permits. Greater technological detail brings greater detail in the production of analogues. As a fundamentally cultural phenomenon, marketing communication signifies shared patterns of consumer thoughts, feelings, emotions, and behaviors. Virtual communities are particularly suited to communicate consumer culture because they afford consumers authentic cultural presence through analogous representations. Culture depends on communication. Communication depends upon symbols. Symbols constitute electronic environments. Brands are symbols. eBranding supplies consumers with components to construct identities by communicating consumer roles and relationships in virtual consumer culture environments for transfer to actual consumer culture environments. Consumption in actual environments results in brand viability and marketing success.