Potter-heads, Twi-hards and Tributes: Building Effective

Brand Communities Online

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Online Marketing and Publishing: The Power of Brand Communities

Researchers affirm the growth of the Internet has brought about significant change in the publishing industry, which is investing more readily in modern, online selling opportunities. An online presence for the book, particularly crossover fiction, has now become essential and is established with the close involvement of the author, particularly in the case of high-profile crossover fiction published in the last decade.

The rise of fan culture within popular media has led to an increasing interest in brand communities or ‘consumption related social networks’, defined as a ‘specialised, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relationships among admirers of a brand. It is specialised because at its centre is a branded good or service.’ (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001).

Younger generations understand the deepest social value of online activity, which has implications for the ultimate success of young adult crossover fiction. Elements of online branded communities based around this genre exist in many forms, including tribute websites, innumerable online encyclopaedias, role-playing games, fan-art, podcasts, photo galleries, discussion groups, trivia quizzes and virtual reality stores (Brown, qtd. in Cova, Kozinets & Shankar, 2007). Crucially, these examples represent participants in the brand’s larger social construction, who ultimately play a vital role in the brand’s legacy (Muniz & O’ Guinn, 2001).

Effective Heroes and their Brands To fully embrace those in the brand community in a way that contributes to the success and positivity of the brand, the ‘brand hero’ must ‘engage with them, understand them, and meet their need for quality’ in online channels, which enable this level of interaction (Evans, 2010).

Toni Eagar explains a brand hero is ‘someone who is recognised by the brand community for their role within the brand’s creation’ (1999, p. 488); they exercise considerable influence in terms of motivating the brand community to engage in behaviours that ultimately benefit the brand itself. At present, the three most influential ‘brand heroes’ of crossover fiction are J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series; Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight Saga; and Suzanne Collins, author of the Hunger Games Trilogy.

Harry Potter: Fifteen years after its first publication in 1997, Harry Potter has become the best-selling book series in history, with physical sales totalling more than 450 million copies; further, the film adaptations have become the most successful movie series of all time, taking almost $8 billion at the box office worldwide (Richmond, 2012).

Brown and Patterson assert the correlation between the rise of the Internet and the rise of Harry Potter is more than just mere coincidence, where the latter owes a considerable amount of its success to the former (2010).

Twilight: On 1 June 2003, Stephenie Meyer, a Phoenix housewife, had a dream about a young woman who was talking to a handsome, sparkling vampire in a meadow. This scene became the crux of Meyer’s first novel, Twilight, a Young Adult paranormal romance novel, which she completed in three months (Grossman, 2008).

The first book spawned a further three: New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn and five blockbuster movies have been released. At the beginning of 2012, Stephenie Meyer’s book sales had reached over 100 million worldwide, prompting Forbes to deem her one of the ‘10 Most Powerful Women Authors’. Further, the film adaptations of her books have grossed over 2.3 billion dollars worldwide (David, 2011; Cohen 2012). The Hunger Games: Suzanne Collins was a 48-year-old mother-of-two who was working as a

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writer for children’s television when she wrote the Hunger Games in 2006 (Dominus, 2011). The books juxtapose a futuristic fantasy capital of high-tech sophistication and early-industrial life in the twelve, half-starved districts it controls. It follows sixteen-year-old protagonist Katniss Everdeen, one of twenty-four adolescents randomly chosen to participate in the ‘Hunger Games’, a televised event in which the contestants must fight to the death until there is one survivor. Since its release in 2008, more than 36 million copies of the Hunger Games trilogy have been printed, with sales in 2011 totalling over 9.2 million, up from 4.3 million in 2010 (Roback, 2012). The first film earned over $620 million at the global box office during the first two months of its release. With three more movies in the works, books sales are expected to rise substantially.

Relationship Marketing Through Official Author Websites In 1983 Leonard Berry introduced the concept of ‘relationship marketing’, which emphasises the role marketing plays not just in acquiring customers, but also in retaining their interest over long periods of time (Leboff, 2011). Treating consumers as special members of an ‘insider’s club’ with prestige and benefits, including a sense of intimacy with the author, the authors’ works and any added information regarding these facets, renders them more likely to form long-term relationships with the marketing organization, becoming a ‘brand community’. A good author website also offers writers the opportunity to interact directly with fans, and, unlike fan forums, allows the writer to ‘talk back’ to their most loyal followings (Trye, 2012), which is essential for building a successful brand relationship.

J.K. Rowling.com: In 2004, Rowling unveiled her new website, which contained puzzles and secrets, including a locked door, which opened when the author had something special to share with her fans (See Figure 1). To further garner her fan’s support, Rowling allowed them access to information before the press. She would frequently offer extra information about characters as well as a continually updated, personal FAQ section dispelling or confirming rumours and answering fan questions (Pyne, 2010). She also publically rewarded those who had created tribute websites to Harry Potter by setting up a link on her page to a different one each year, based on the merits of the tribute site and how they presented the overall Harry

Potter brand.

StephenieMeyer.com: Established in 2005, StephenieMeyer.com is a personal website based on different aspects of her life, including pictures and blog entries from her travels around the world (See Figure 2). These personal touches are evident throughout, where Meyer includes posts about what inspired her to write each book, and where she drew her inspiration. In addition to pictures and descriptions of the characters cars and motorcycles and outtakes from the books, she includes the personal playlists she listened to when writing each of the books.

Meyer has consistently engaged with her readers through her personal site, either by writing back privately or by blogging about events she knows will interest them. Technology expert Tim O’Reilly explains: ‘Stephenie was somebody who was early to use a new medium and to use it effectively… An authentic connection really matters.’ (qtd. in Carpenter, 2008). Site visitors are particularly placated by the offer of exclusive content, which ranges from outtakes from the published books to a partial draft of Meyer’s Midnight Sun, Edward's version of Twilight. Regular schedule updates of the author’s tour, book signings and area appearances are prominently incorporated into the layout of Meyer’s website. To incorporate the fans firmly into the value of the brand, Meyer includes dedicated sections to their support throughout her website, including photos of Twilight-inspired events as well as links to all the Twilight fan sites around the world.

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SuzanneCollinsBooks.co.uk: Suzanne Collins’ readings and appearances are rarely recorded for television and she declines to partake in anything that involves her being in front of the camera. As a result of her media-shy personality and unwillingness to place herself at centre-stage, her personal website, SuzanneCollinsBooks.com, is remarkably low-tech and modest (See Figure 3).

It is difficult to ascertain whether the lack of self-publicity is intentional or completely innocent. The author may be uncomfortable being in the public eye or perhaps her lack of self-publicity is a contrivance intended to deepen the mystery and reverie surrounding the trilogy. Her reluctance to become a ‘celebrity author’ is reflected in her indictment of the media in The Hunger Games where the camera is presented as a dangerous enemy, the notion of celebrity is empty and the whole concept of fame is a destructive contrivance (Dominus, 2011). In this regard, it might seem hypocritical for an author so skilled at presenting the darker side of fame to be push herself openly into the modern-day media, poised and ready to self-market for the sake of The Hunger Games brand.

Official Brand-based Experiential Marketing It has been discovered by hiding playable content, users are encouraged to interact with the website, investing additional time and effort, which renders them more likely to return (Lønberg et al., 2012). Furthermore, the rational consumer fosters an insatiable hunger for reverie, mystery and fantasy (Brown, qtd. in Cova, Kozinets & Shankar, 2007); the more immersive and complete an online brand-based experience is, the more readily the consumer, particularly young adults, will respond to the brand. Pottermore.com: By combining sensory, affective and cognitive elements in an environment that enables communication with other like-minded individuals, Pottermore.com is furthering the Harry Potter phenomenon into the world of experiential brands, which connect with the real lives of consumers. These experience worlds are ‘specific worlds that produce complex connections in a three dimensional way, where visitors can actively tour through these domains in a playful and highly satisfying way’ (Kleeberger, 2002, p. 14).

Pottermore.com was opened to the public in April 2012 and enables the user to become part of the experience as themself rather than playing vicariously through a pixelated Harry Potter. The user can move from scene to scene, each of which contain interactive elements that enhance the basic underlying story of each book (See Figure 4). The user can read previously unpublished content, upload personal artwork relating to the books, collect objects, brew potions, duel, become sorted into a house at Hogwarts, earn house points and receive a custom-made wand based on a brief personality test.

Further, Pottermore.com allows each user to be ‘sorted’ into one of the four magical houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, by completing a brief personality test devised by J.K. Rowling herself. Once ‘sorted’, users join the ranks of their new house, which comes complete with a ‘common room’ and additional information. They are then encouraged, by their fellow house members and a video of J.K. Rowling herself, to compete for the elusive ‘house cup’ by gaining points through duelling, potion-making and navigating successfully through the story (See Figure 5).

TheHungerGames.co.uk: The presence of two online gaming component available through the official Hunger Games website represents the brands involvement in experiential marketing. The first game, ‘Tribute Trials’, is a personality test, comprised of eight unique questions relating to the arena and how one would react in circumstances similar to the heroine, Katniss Everdeen. Once the test has been completed, the user finds out which parts of

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their personality are evident from their answers, and are then informed whether they would survive in the real ‘Hunger Games’ just as Katniss Everdeen did. A second game, ‘Trial by Fire’, tests the user’s speed and accuracy when answering life or death questions, in order to ascertain whether they are ready for their own journey inside the arena.

A Facebook gaming component has also been released (See Figure 6); this version is more expansive, creating the world of Panem online, where fans of the series can play as their favourite characters from the books (DePalma, 2012).

The Importance of Brand Co-Creation Furthermore, in order for a brand relationship to truly exist there must be a degree of interdependence between the partners (Hinde qtd. in Fournier, 1998); the opportunity to contribute to the brand in a meaningful way is effective in terms of promoting loyalty and ensuring longevity. Moreover, consumers who play an active role in brand communities are 71% more likely to support that brand; and, interactive experiences to this end induce a positive mood in the consumer, which renders them more receptive to the idea of buying (Jordisan, 2011).

Pottermore.com: J.K. Rowling has been keen to show her receptiveness to fan involvement from the outset, assuring users that they play an integral role in the creation of the new online world of Harry Potter. In June, she explained: ‘Just as the experience of reading requires that the imaginations of the author and reader work together to create the story, so Pottermore will be built, in part, by you, the reader’ (qtd. in Memmott, 2011).

In addition to providing the opportunity for fans to create their own adventures and become their own wizards in the online world of Pottermore.com, Rowling has also provided the opportunity for Pottermore users to create and upload art onto the website, where others can view and appreciate it. TheTwilightSaga.com: As the official industry site, theTwilightsaga.com’s primary function is to promote the books and raise anticipation for commercial releases of anything brand-related (Rutherford, 2009). During the release of the each novel, applications were added to pique reader interest and encourage their involvement. Fans were invited to take part in polls, speculating whether the heroine would choose vampire, Edward Cullen, or werewolf, Jacob Black. Other techniques employed by the website include fan-contests, competitions involving user-generated videos and original artwork and photographs.

Reinforcing Brand Engagement through Social Networking Marketing expert, Robert Kozinets, explains virtual communities often propagate the development of loyalty and heavy usage by socially reinforcing consumption. He suggests tourists or occasional visitors can be socialised in a way that ‘upgrades’ them to devotees, who become more likely to purchase from the brand and support it into the future (1999). Creating an online space, which allows socialisation, promotes the development of a brand and results in a ‘socially embedded and entrenched loyalty and commitment’ (Jacody and Chestnut; Keller; qtd. in Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001, p. 427). Moreover, practices such as social engagement and co-creation often become self-perpetuating and can attract new users, who are in search of lively communication channels (Schau, Muniz and Arnould, 2009).

Pottermore.com: By allowing the formation of relational ties built around the series, the marketing team behind Pottermore.com has recognised their consumers live in a highly connected world (Henderson & Palmatier, 2010). Users are encouraged to interact with each other by duelling, commenting in forums, sending gifts found throughout the chapters, adding

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one another as friends or liking comments posted by others. Users are able to add their friends by typing in their ‘magical’ name, e.g. ‘Heartblade1234’, and, when acceptance has been cleared on each end, both users can then input the real name of their peer under the assigned ‘magical’ one for clarity’s sake.

TheTwilightSaga.com: Arguably the most important aspect of the official brand-based Twilight site is the prominent social networking element. Since the first publication in 2005, the Twilight Saga was relatively unique because, almost immediately, fans of the publication began to track down fellow readers once they had finished reading the books (Green, 2008). Seeing the need for a social networking component to achieve these kinds of interactions online, Little, Brown instigated a Facebook-like layout to their website which, at the time of writing, has close to half a million registered users (See Figure 7). The revamped layout allows fans to sign up and create personal profile pages, where they can take part in discussion boards, comment one another, join special groups, such as ‘Team Edward’, and most importantly, form bonds with other members of the brand community.

Profiting from Online Support Channels Enjoyable, interactive experiences induce a positive mood in the consumer, which renders them more receptive to the idea of buying (Jordisan, 2011). Pottermore.com: The Harry Potter eBooks were released on 27 March 2012, making over £1 million in the first three days of trading and £3m in the first month (Jones, 2012).

In a recent interview, Charlie Redmayne explained in the first two weeks following the public opening of Pottermore.com in April 2012, the site had garnered 22 million visits from 7 million unique users; this activity generated more than one billion page impressions, where the average user visited 47 pages and would spend at least 25 minutes at a time interacting with the website (Jones, 2012). By the end of April, over 5 million new users had registered, half of whom had completed the ‘sorting’ stage of the story and were members of one of the four houses of Hogwarts (Jones).

TheTwilightSaga.com & TheHungerGames.co.uk: Web presence is essential with in-store browsing becoming rarer as a result of popular electronic media such as Amazon.com and e-readers. TheTwilightsaga.com and TheHungerGames.co.uk are the first of hundreds of websites established in support of the Twilight and Hunger Games brand, many of which have been set up by avid fans and are supported by the authors themselves. The tendency for official brand-centred websites to inspire fan-made websites, which operate along the same principles and are oftentimes more successful than the official endeavours, is integral to maintaining viral publicity, amplifying brand community and ensuring longevity far beyond the physical publication of the final book in each series.

Furthermore, by providing positive reinforcement in the form of social networking,

gaming or immersive role-playing opportunities, marketers are offering a deeper and more appealing brand-experience; these experiences are rivalling other forms of modern day entertainment, which are often considered a threat to reading.

Having grown up in an immersive, digital world, users will increasingly want to interact with what they are reading, watching or listening to in meaningful ways that surpass the text itself either socially, psychologically or experientially (Gomez, 2008). As such, they are more receptive to modern marketing techniques, which, when used correctly, can be highly successful.

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Works Cited

Brown, S. & Patterson, A. (2010). Selling Stories: Harry Potter and the Marketing Plot. Psychology and Marketing, 27(6), 541-56.

Carpenter, S. (2008, November 29). Web Gave Twilight Fresh Blood. LA Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/29/entertainment/et-twilightnet29/.

Cohen, B (2012, December 2). Weekend Box Office Top 10: November 30 – December 2. Examiner.com. Retrieved from http://www.examiner.com/article/weekend-box-office-top-10-november-30-december-2?cid=rss.

Cova, B., Kozinets, R.V., & Shankar, A. (2007). Consumer Tribes. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann.

David, A. (2011, May 25). The 10 Most Powerful Women Authors. Forbes Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/avrildavid/2011/06/06/the-10-most-powerful-women-authors/.

DePalma, D. (2012, April 1). Inside 'The Hunger Games' Social Media Machine. Co.Create. Retrieved from http://www.idealog.co.nz/blog/2012/04/how-hunger-games-harnessed-social-media-machine/.

Dominus, S. (2011, April 8). Suzanne Collins’s War Stories for Kids. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/magazine/mag-10collins-t.html?pagewanted=all.

Eagar, T. (1999). Defining the Brand Hero: Explorations of the Impact of Brand Hero Credibility on a Brand Community. Advances in Consumer Research, 36(1), 448-93.

Evans, L. (2010). Social Media Marketing: Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter &

Other Social Media. Indianapolis, IN: Que Publishing. Fournier, S. (19998). Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in

Consumer Research. Journal of Consumer Research, 24(4), 343-53. Gomez, J. (2008). Print Is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age. London: Macmillan. Green, H. (2008, August 11). Harry Potter with Fans - and a Social Network. Business Week.

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Grossman, L. (2008, April 24). Stephenie Meyer: A New J.K. Rowling? Time Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1734838,00.html.

Henderson, C. M. & Palmatier, R. W. (2010). Understanding the Relational Ecosystem in a Connected World. In S. Wuyts, M.G. Dekimpe, E. Gijsbrechts & R. Pieters. (Eds.) The Connected Customer: The Changing Nature of Consumer and Business Markets

(2010, pp. 37-72). New York: Routledge. J.K. Rowling. Web. 25 May 2012. <http://www.jkrowling.com/>. Jones, P. (2012, May 4). Pottermore E-book Store Sells £3m in First Month. The Bookseller.

Retrieved from http://www.thebookseller.com/news/pottermore-e-book-store-sells-£3m-first- -month.html?quicktabs_1=1.

Jordisan, S. (2011, June 23). Pottermore Gives Away J.K. Rowling's Marketing Genius. The

Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/jun/23/pottermore-jk-rowling-marketing-genius-harry-potter.

Kleeberger, J. (2002, June 6). Online-Gaming as Marketing and Sales Catalyst. Game Career

Guide. Retrievedfrom http://www.gamecareerguide.com/education/theses/20030721/Kleeberger_thesis-.pdf.

Kozinets, R.V. (1999). E-tribalised Marketing? The Strategic Implications of Virtual Communities of Consumption. European Management Journal, 17(3), 252-64.

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Leboff, Grant. (2011). Sticky Marketing: Why Everything in Marketing Has Changed and

What to Do about It. London, UK: Kogan Page. Lønberg, O., Rasmussen, P., Lorentzen, M. & Nygaard, E. (2012). Pottermore, What Is It, and

Why Is It Important? Phill-it.in. Retrieved from http://phill-it.in/wp-content/uploads/Group-2-second-draft.pdf.

Muniz, Jr., A.M. & O’Guinn, T.C. (2001). Brand Community. Journal of Consumer

Research, 27(4): 412-32. Pottermore: A Unique Online Harry Potter Experience from J.K. Rowling. Web. 25 May

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the Flux Comics Publishing. Richmond, S. (2012, March 27). Harry Potter Makes EBook Debut at Pottermore Website.

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Roback, D. (2012, March 16). Facts and Figures 2012: In Children's, 'Hunger Games' Rule. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/51113-facts-and-figures-2012-in-children-s-hunger-games-rule.html.

Rutherford, L. (2009). Industries, Artists, Friends and Fans: Marketing Young Adult Fictions Online. First Monday, 14(4): 1-9.

Schau, H.J., Muñiz, A.M. & Arnould, E.J. (2009). How Brand Community Practices Create Value. Journal of Marketing, 73(5): 30-51.

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Suzanne Collins. Web. 25 May 2012. <http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/>. Trye, N. (2012, May 3). The Role of the Author Website. The Literary Platform. Retrieved

from http://www.theliteraryplatform.com/2012/05/the-role-of-the-author-website/ The Twilight Saga. Web. 25 May 2012. <http://www.thetwilightsaga.com/>.

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Appendix

Case Questions

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each brand’s approach to online marketing?

Identify which of the three examples is the most effective. Identify which of the three

examples is the least effective. What could they do to improve?

2. How important is the role of these websites in the brand’s overall success? Explain your

answer.

3. To what extent does this kind of approach to engaging fans provide a competitive

advantage?

4. If you were to develop a checklist for successful online engagement with readers and fans,

what main points/areas would you include?

5. In what ways can brand communities positively contribute to the brand’s longevity?

6. Identify another modern ‘brand hero’, and outline how they engage with their community.

Figure 1: Screenshot of Puzzle uploaded at jkrowling.com, 2004

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Figure 2: Screenshot of Stephenie Meyer’s Personal Photo Tour Album

Figure 3: Screenshot of SuzanneCollinsBooks.com Home-screen

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Figure 4: Scene from Pottermore.com, ‘Diagon Alley’.

Figure 5: Screenshot of House Cup Statistics from Pottermore.com

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Figure 6: Screenshot of Official Facebook-related Game

Figure 7: Screenshot of Fan Discussion Boards at theTwilightsaga.com