Consumer tribes / edited by Bernard Cova, Robert V. Kozinets, Avi Shankar.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Tribes, Inc. : the new world of tribalism / Bernard Cova, Robert V. Kozinets and Avi Shankar -- Tribal aesthetic / Michael Maffesoli -- Marketing the savage : appropriating the tribal tropes / Robin Canniford and Avi Shankar -- The consumption of cultural heritage among a British Royal Family brand tribe / Cele C. Otnes and Pauline Maclaran -- The evolution of a subculture of consumption / John W. Schouten, Diane M. Martin and James H. McAlexander -- Metro/fashion/tribes of men : negotiating the boundaries of men's legitimate consumption / Diego Rinallo -- The linking value of subcultural capital : constructing the Stockholm Brat enclave / Jacob Ostberg -- Sociality in motion : exploring logics of tribal consumption among cruisers / Douglas Brownlie, Paul Hewer and Steven Treanor -- Hunting for cool tribes / Clive Nancarrow and Pamela Nancarrow -- Temperance and religiosity in a non-marginal, non-stigmatized brand community / Hope Jensen Schau and Albert M. Muñiz Jr -- Imprinting, incubation and intensification : factors contributing to fan club formation and continuance / Paul Henry and Marylouise Caldwell -- Harry Potter and the fandom menace / Stephen Brown -- Inno-tribes : Star trek as wikimedia / Robert V. Kozinets -- Seeking community through battle : understanding the meaning of consumption processes for warhammer gamers' communities across borders / David J. Park ... [et al.] -- 'Gothic' entrepreneurs : a study of the subcultural commodification process / Christina Goulding and Michael Saren -- Marketing, prosumption and innovation in the fetish community / Roy Langer -- The war of the eTribes : online conflicts and communal consumption / Kristine de Valck -- Brand communities and their social antagonists : insights from the Hummer case / Marius K. Luedicke and Markus Giesler -- New consumption communities and the re-enabling of 21st century consumers / Isabelle Szmigin, Marylyn Carrigan and Caroline Bekin -- Internationalization of a craft enterprise through a virtual tribe : 'Le Nuvole' and the pipe-smoker tribe / Stefano Pace, Luciano Fratocchi and Fabrizio Cocciola.

Marketing and consumer research has traditionally conceptualized consumers as individuals- who exercise choice in the marketplace as individuals not as a class or a group. However an important new perspective is now emerging that rejects the individualistic view and focuses on the reality that human life is essentially social, and that who we are is an inherently social phenomenon. It is the tribus, the many little groups we belong to, that are fundamental to our experience of life. Tribal Marketing shows that it is not individual consumption of products that defines our lives but rather that this activity actually facilitates meaningful social relationships. The social ‘links’ (social relationships) are more important than the things (brands etc.)

The aim of this book is therefore to offer a systematic overview of the area that has been defined as “cultures of consumption”- consumption microcultures, brand cultures, brand tribes, and brand communities. It is though these that students of marketing and marketing practitioners can begin to genuinely understand the real drivers of consumer behaviour. It will be essential to everyone who needs to understand the new paradigm in consumer research, brand management and communications management.