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brand equity and that they have a cult consumer following. Apple has pulled
off a great online community on its website which congregates all the Apple
addicts around the world (see Figure 4.23). It is their social network and the
exchanges, contacts and level of connection and activity in the community
are impressive. But then it's Apple, right? So before you hurry off in this
direction, please ask yourself a simple question, “Am I Apple and can I pull
it off?” On the other hand, even if you're not Apple and you think you can't
pull it off, you may find your brand in a market such as the emerging ones of
China, Brazil and India where the public may need to be educated on luxury
in general, the brand, its products, how to use them and how to care for them.
One of the reasons that the beauty online community Rose Beauty is so suc-
cessful in China is that it not only contributed to raising a beauty conscious-
ness among young Chinese women, but it also became a practical Beauty
101 class where everything is learned, shared and discussed, from how to
apply lipstick and blusher to the steps to caring for all skin types.
The second approach that a luxury brand may adopt for online commu-
nities is by actually going out there and participating in the discussions,
exchanges and forums, as individuals and real people and not as corporate
bodies. The best way to inform and influence someone who posts a mes-
sage on a social forum with the topic of “I hate Stella McCartney because
her leather bags suck” is to inform them that Stella McCartney doesn't use
leather to make her handbags and that she is also against animal testing
and furs. If this information is coming from Jim the intern in the marketing
department of Stella McCartney, more attention will be paid to what he has
Figure 4.23
Apple has created a thriving online community, through the cult
following of its brand that congregates and engages participants and observers
