Harry Potter
Harry Potter Fans Community and Value CreationIntroduction
Harry Potter has enjoyed immense popularity over the last thirteen years. Nearly all peopleare aware of the wizard boy’s name--- Harry Potter, even those who have not ever read the books or watch the films. Harry Potter has grown into a powerful brand quickly, which provides consumers with functional, social and experiential values that they can ‘experienceit, relate to it, rely upon it and talk about it’ (Gunelius, 2008). To date, there have been sevenseries of books published, 7 fantasy adventure films in the 8 series released, andapproximately 400 official products available as well as the amazing wizard theme park newly opened etc. It universally appeals to both children and adults who made up of thestrong brand community calls Harry Potter Fans. They share opinions and understandingwithin community members, based on the strongly emotional association with Harry Potter brand.According to Brown (2002), the main secret of Harry Potter’s success is media hype. Fansare encouraged by marketers to involve in branding activities (Sicilia and Palazo´n, 2008),such as book launch party. Given the increased interactions and communications, there has been a corresponding shift from consumers as individual recipients to consumers as collectivecreators (Deshpandé 1983). In fact, Harry Potter fans actively contribute to collaborativevalue creation through practices (Schau, Muniz, and Arnould, 2009), including fan-collection, fan-fiction, and Quidditch World Cup. O’Hern and Rindfleisch (2007) claims that“the role of brand communities as a catalyst for co-creation is an intriguing topic for research.” Therefore, fans collective value creation is an issue that deserves much moreattention as it ensures Harry Potter to develop into a cult sustainable brand, instead of a shortterm fad (Gunelius, 2008).This essay has 3 objectives: (1) to gain a better understanding of Harry Potter Fans as astrong brand community; (2) to
Harry Potter has enjoyed immense popularity over the last thirteen years. Nearly all peopleare aware of the wizard boy’s name--- Harry Potter, even those who have not ever read the books or watch the films. Harry Potter has grown into a powerful brand quickly, which provides consumers with functional, social and experiential values that they can ‘experienceit, relate to it, rely upon it and talk about it’ (Gunelius, 2008). To date, there have been sevenseries of books published, 7 fantasy adventure films in the 8 series released, andapproximately 400 official products available as well as the amazing wizard theme park newly opened etc. It universally appeals to both children and adults who made up of thestrong brand community calls Harry Potter Fans. They share opinions and understandingwithin community members, based on the strongly emotional association with Harry Potter brand.According to Brown (2002), the main secret of Harry Potter’s success is media hype. Fansare encouraged by marketers to involve in branding activities (Sicilia and Palazo´n, 2008),such as book launch party. Given the increased interactions and communications, there has been a corresponding shift from consumers as individual recipients to consumers as collectivecreators (Deshpandé 1983). In fact, Harry Potter fans actively contribute to collaborativevalue creation through practices (Schau, Muniz, and Arnould, 2009), including fan-collection, fan-fiction, and Quidditch World Cup. O’Hern and Rindfleisch (2007) claims that“the role of brand communities as a catalyst for co-creation is an intriguing topic for research.” Therefore, fans collective value creation is an issue that deserves much moreattention as it ensures Harry Potter to develop into a cult sustainable brand, instead of a shortterm fad (Gunelius, 2008).This essay has 3 objectives: (1) to gain a better understanding of Harry Potter Fans as astrong brand community; (2) to