Global brand communities acrossborders: the Warhammer case

Bernard CovaEuromed, Marseilles, France

Stefano PaceBocconi University, Milan, Italy, and

David J. ParkXavier University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Abstract

Purpose – The “brand community” concept believes that the meaning of the brand transcendsnational boundaries. However, such an assumption presents challenges arising out of severalreasons including co-existence of sub-tribes within a given brand community that allocate differentmeanings to a particular brand. This plurality of meanings seems exacerbated for global brands wheremeanings are shaped by tremendously varying cultures. Aims to address the issues.

Design/methodology/approach – This text relies on a comparative study of the meaningsattributed to one particular global brand, Warhammer, by the members of its brand community inFrance and the USA.

Findings – Findings highlight the elements of homogeneity and heterogeneity that reside in thecross-border meanings of the brand. The authors also discuss the marketplace relevance arising out ofthis plurality that should be taken into account by global marketers.

Originality/value – The present text argues that community attached to a global brand constitutesa complex phenomenon, one that both integrates and ignores geographical considerations.

Keywords Culture, Brands, Communities

Paper type Research paper

IntroductionOver the past decade, a postmodern outlook paved the way for so-called communalapproaches to consumption (Cova, 1997). Two pioneering examples were the group ofriver rafters which was depicted in Arnould and Price’s (1993) ethnographic journey asa “communita” and the subculture of bikers which was detailed in Schouten andMcAlexander’s (1995) article. The behaviour of consumers driven by a similar passionor ethos to assemble into a group, thereby becoming a subculture or tribe as coined byMaffesoli (1996), came to be seen as an object of study with relevance to the field ofmarketing (Kozinets, 2001, 2002; Thompson and Troester, 2002). Reincorporatingrecent studies on the complex relationship between brands and consumers (Fournier,1998; Holt, 2004) into this communal approach, a “brand community” concept(Algesheimer et al., 2005; McAlexander et al., 2002; Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001)then came to the forefront of the marketing scene. Although some studies

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

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The authors would like to thank Sameer Deshpande at the University of Lethbridge, Canada forhis much valued assistance in this paper. His keen intellect, insight and rigorous scholarlydedication greatly enhanced the overall presentation and argument in this paper.

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International Marketing ReviewVol. 24 No. 3, 2007

pp. 313-329q Emerald Group Publishing Limited

0265-1335DOI 10.1108/02651330710755311

(Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001) have been attempting to clarify the object of study bydifferentiating between the three neighbouring concepts of “brand community,”“sub-cultures of consumption” and “consumer tribes” (or even “brand tribes”), it shouldalso be noted that many authors seem not to be troubled by a lack of differentiation,moving seamlessly within one and the same text from the concept of community totribe (Solomon, 2003), or from tribe to sub-culture and even micro-culture (Thompsonand Troester, 2002). It remains that the brand community concept (Muniz and O’Guinn,2001; Wipperfurth, 2005) refers more to a group of people who share their interest in aspecific brand and create a parallel social universe ripe with its own values, rituals,vocabulary and hierarchy.

From an international branding point of view, the brand community conceptintroduced the exciting possibility of managing these brand communities at a globallevel regardless of geography (Deeter-Schmelz and Sojka, 2004): the meaning of thebrand is supposed to be able to transcend national boundaries. However, someproblems are faced when trying to manage these brand communities (O’Guinn andMuniz, 2005). One key element in communal consumption (Kozinets, 2001) is theco-existence within a given brand community of a variety of sub-tribes allocatingdifferent meanings to a particular brand, and sometimes going as far as to do battlewith another. This plurality of meanings and proliferation of latent conflicts seemsexacerbated by the existence of global brands that, under the aegis of a brandcommunity, mobilise various groups with deep roots at a regional level. Based on theirdomestic US study Muniz and O’Guinn (2001, p. 413) affirm that brand communitiesare “liberated from geography.” On the other hand, the present text argues thatcommunity attached to a global brand constitutes a complex phenomenon, one thatboth integrates and ignores geographical considerations.

Towards this end, this text relies on a comparative study of the meanings attributedto one particular global brand, Warhammer, by the members of its brand communityin France and the USA. The study followed the same protocol in both countries.Findings highlight the elements of homogeneity and heterogeneity that reside in thecross-border meanings of the brand.

Global brand communitiesMuniz and O’Guinn (2001) identified the distinguishing features of brand communities,using three constructs:

(1) consciousness of a kind, i.e. a sense of belonging to an in-group, thanks to abrand that is patronized by all of the group members;

(2) evidence of rituals and traditions that surround the brand; and

(3) a sense of obligation to the community and its members which is often, but notalways, shared by members of the group (e.g. in regard to product repairs ormore personal services).

However, above and beyond recognizing the diversity in characteristics of sub-tribes, itis also crucial for marketers to note the problems they can cause (O’Guinn and Muniz,2005). These include:

. Oppositional brand loyalty (the very defining nature of the brand community isits opposition to another brand and its tribe).

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. Marketplace legitimacy (there is a debate around who is a legitimate purchaser ofthe brand?, i.e. who is a true believer and brand community member?).

. Desired marginality (brand community members actively try to keep thecommunity small and marginal).

. The polit-brand (a brand community that has at its centre the particularlypoliticised brand).

. The abandoned tribe (a brand community in which the marketer has abandonedthe brand, but the community still thrives as with Apple’s Newton; Muniz andSchau, 2005).

. Who owns the brand?

This is an obvious question . . . Brand communities assert considerable claims onownership . . . These impassioned and empowered consumer collectives assert morechannel power and make claims on core competencies formerly reserved for themarketer (O’Guinn and Muniz, 2005, p. 268).

However, O’Guinn and Muniz (2005) seem to exclude from the above list of problemsanything that might relate to geography, since they believe that brand communities“may transcend geography” (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001, p. 415). Furthermore, byemphasizing members’ level of legitimacy, the authors analyse potential oppositions orconflicts between members or sub-tribes in a religious light (Muniz and Schau, 2005) asopposed to a geographical one. This is relatively congruent with the findings of the fewstudies that currently exist on the creation of meaning within a brand community(Arnould and Thompson, 2005). Few brand community studies have addressed howdifferent groups of consumers co-create meanings regarding the same brand(Broderick et al., 2003; Schouten and McAlexander, 1995; Wipperfurth, 2005). However,these studies tend to emphasize homogeneity of brand meaning within a particularsubculture or subset of consumers.

On the contrary, few works emphasize the co-existence of multiple interpretivesub-tribes within a same brand community (Kozinets, 2001); a co-existence which cansometimes lead to conflict. For example, in the world of Star Trek, one has todistinguish between “trekkers” and “trekkies.” Again, Kozinets (2001, 2002), Muniz andO’Guinn (2001) or O’Guinn and Muniz (2005) studies are essentially built onhomogeneous foundations whose nature is either exclusively North American (off-line)or on-line and net-based (a solution that de-territorialises exchanges). No considerationhas been given to the possibility of geographic diversity inside a brand community.

Kates and Goh (2003) introduce the expression “morphing” when referring tobrands in order to describe the phenomenon of meaning alteration that naturallyoccurs within communities. The meaning attached to a given brand is considered localand is anchored to the specific community where that brand is experienced.The authors refer to this phenomenon within the international context of advertising.An advertiser can adapt its communication strategy according to the strength of themorphing to which its brand is submitted. The marketer can also foster this morphing.The authors acknowledge that “the brand communities studied by Muniz and O’Guinn(2001) are excellent examples of brands acting as quintessentially morphed andrelevant symbolic figures in consumers’ lives” (Kates and Goh, 2003, p. 65). Althoughthey recognize the relevance of the difference of national cultures, the two authors

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assume a managerial perspective dealing with segmentation and positioning thatmight be not applicable. In fact, the company may face not a traditional market, but abundle of very small communities whose activity may be totally unknown to thecompany. For example, in Deeter-Schmelz and Sojka’s (2004) study of World WrestlingEntertainment (WWE) subculture, several shared values are identified for US fans.However, the authors still wonder if the meaning of this event, which is broadcast in162 countries and translated into 11 different languages, transcends nationalboundaries:

. . . is it possible for a subculture to retain cohesive values within the context of radicallydifferent core cultures? Would the values motivating WWE fans in Indonesia, India,Australia and the Dominican Republic, for example, be similar in spite of the diverse coreculture? (Deeter-Schmelz and Sojka, 2004, p. 141).

Indeed, a global brand constitutes different local sub-tribes spread across the world –justifying the hypothesis that they attribute varying meanings to it. A major reason forthis belief is inherent to the recreation of brand meaning, which is central topostmodern consumption. As Arnould and Thompson (2005) would posit, theconsumer reworks and transforms any meaning that the market presents to him/her.Consumers are “unruly bricoleurs”: bricoleurs, since they take diversified meaningsencoded in different market sources, such as advertisements and brands; unruly, sincethey do not respect any rule with the exception of one’s own identity. This phenomenonbecomes particularly relevant when specific meanings are not lived by insulatedindividuals, but ingrained in a community (Thompson, 2004).

This study hopes to show that for a global brand:. there are different sub-tribes living in different territories;. these sub-tribes share some common meanings ascribed to the global brand;. they also develop their own meanings of the global brand and consequently,

a specific local subculture; and. this plurality of meanings across territories has marketplace relevance that

should be taken into account by global marketers.

MethodologyWarhammer is a strategic battle game played with various miniatures on a“battlefield.” Warhammer belongs to Games Workshop, UK (Nottingham), the largestand the most successful tabletop wargames company in the world. Its two majorbrands are Warhammer, and Warhammer 40,000. It also holds a global license for atabletop battle-game based on the film trilogy The Lord of the Rings. It has direct salesoperations in the UK, the USA, Northern Europe, Canada, France, Germany, Spain,Australia, Italy and Japan. With around 70 percent of sales coming from outside of theUK, the Group and its leading brand Warhammer are truly global. It is a social andconvivial activity loved by millions of gamers, who spend many of their waking hourscollecting, creating, painting, and building up the metal or plastic miniature armiesthat they will go on to command on a carefully prepared tabletop battlefield (Figure 1).

Multiple methodologies were used to study the two different Warhammersub-tribes, one in France and the other in the USA. Data about the tribe was primarilygathered using naturalistic inquiry and in-depth unstructured interviews. Data wasalso collected using non-participatory observation, photography and audio recording.

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All the interviews were conducted in or around the Warhammer game room. In theUSA, the game room (C&C games shop) was independent from the Games Workshopcompany, while in France the game room (Games Workshop shop) was not.

The interviews took place on Wednesday evenings or Saturday afternoons.Individual respondents discussed Warhammer at a separate table in the same gameroom or shop while other enthusiasts played or painted figurines roughly ten metersaway. Rather than conducting numerous interviews with the same participants, wechose to interview a variety of gamers to acquire as much breadth as possible giventhe limited experience some informants had with the game. Our interviews turned outto be more like conversations, where the questions bounced off the answers. Everyinterview was recorded following the written consent of each participant.

We chose not to separate the tribe from its own environment, as we believe theinteraction of all environmental factors surrounding the respondents was needed tomake a thick characterization of the tribe. Furthermore, we felt the respondents weremore relaxed and accommodating when they were interviewed in their ownenvironments. They were painting, playing and interacting with each other in thegame room.

In each of the two selected cities (Marseilles in France and Madison, Wisconsin inthe USA), we conducted 11 in-depth interviews to acquire information on howparticipants consume and ascribe meaning to Warhammer. All respondents weremales of varying ages and experience levels although most respondents were betweenthe ages of 16 and 24. Given that male teenagers may have difficulty expressingfeelings, we sometimes employed a projective approach for acquiring descriptions.We asked respondents what they thought about how other people perceived the issuein question.

Later, we categorized our data through classifying and labelling processessuggested by McCracken (1988). The categorization processes helped develop thethemes (Spiggle, 1994). In addition to categorization, we incorporated triangulation inall stages of our research. Then, we employed member checks to test some of theanalyses with the study’s participants (Lindlof, 1995). In our case, member checks

Figure 1.Preparing the

Warhammer battlefield

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involved showing some portions of our report to the project informants. Theircommentaries on the interpretations in the report were sought as a check on theviability of the interpretations (Belk et al., 1989). In order to assess the credibility of ourinterpretations we went back to the game room and showed our findings on three of thethemes to our informants. “Socialization” and “attraction to imaginary violence”themes were omitted because of potential to interfere with the subjects personalrelationships. The member checks resulted in no significant changes being made in ourinterpretations. In sum, member checks, data triangulation and additional reviewerswere used in our data interpretation.

ResultsWarhammer consumers clearly ascribed communal attributes to their groupings asthey have been highlighted in recent studies (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001). First, unlikeother games, the Warhammer members share the sense of forming a specific groupeven if it’s not a close one:

Confrontation, there isn’t the same community feeling as we have with Warhammer. There’sa lot of us doing Warhammer, and we’re all connected by the White Dwarf (William).

A group, oh yes! But not a separate one, since we’re open to everyone, we don’t believe insegregation. Someone who shows up, even if he or she isn’t playing, we get them involvedspecifically so they’ll be interested in painting or playing (Georges).

Second, Warhammer members stipulate the existence of rituals and traditions:

There is a community of equals but with a hierarchy. You start out with the older players,who have been doing tournaments for at least 3 years. Locally we all know each other, we’reall friends. And there is a hierarchy with the younger players who are just beginning to showup and dream about capturing the scalp of one of the older ones (Reynald).

He’s had the empire rule book for a while, because he’s developing what we should have inour army because there’s very strict rules on building armies and he has to adhere to thoserules to make the army (Dave).

Third, they put emphasis on the moral obligation to help one another:

There’s a lot of mutual support since no one is familiar with the entire rulebook – we eachknow just a small portion of it (Christophe).

At the beginning we helped each other a lot, but now we’re getting a little more competitive(Michael).

The first theme that surfaced from the US interviews was “socialization.” It connoteshow the tribe of Warhammer enthusiasts socializes inside and outside of the “C&CGame Room” that serves them as a community. The notion of friendship wasmentioned several times as a main reason why the enthusiasts hang out together. Oneof the respondents said:

This game led to a lot of friendships for me and that’s one reason why I play it. I like the gameobviously that’s another reason (Jim).

However, we discovered that this can be a superficial and fragile friendship basedsolely on the game and the game room. The game room is the only thing that connects

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the enthusiasts. Here, friendship can be seen as a function of the game and the room.In some of the interviews the respondent made that pretty clear to us. One respondentnoted:

If I didn’t work here tomorrow and I didn’t go with them we would probably not talk (Jack).

Consequently, this tribe appears as if it may not have much of a social life outside thegame room, but it does socialize a lot within its walls. Nonetheless, the depth of therelationship can also be questioned. Few of the respondents socialized with each otheraway from the gaming centre. Thus, even though they believed the people at thegaming center were their good friends, they rarely spent time with one another. As aresult, the socialization theme can be seen as simultaneously entailing two opposingelements.

The French findings concur with the US results that feature varying degrees ofsocialisation. Some people enter the Warhammer universe via friends who introducethem, whilst others make new friends (albeit not with everyone) thanks to theWarhammer universe. Several participants mention the existence of two totallydistinct social groups:

70 percent of my group of friends are from there (Reynald).

Players don’t see each other except at the shop. There is some feeling of friendship, but Ido have other friends. These are two totally separate social groups (Yann).

The second theme that emerged was “Attraction to imaginary violence.” Almost all ofthe US respondents held an attraction to violent imagery. In fact, there seemed to betwo main themes with violence that surfaced within our interviews. First, most of theinformants used violent imagery in their descriptions of the game. We simply refer tothis component as “violent discourse.” The second theme that surfaced in theinterviews is referred to as “violent influences.” Media may have influenced therespondents’ attraction to imaginary violence. Here are a few examples of respondents’descriptions of why they are attracted to Warhammer:

When I get here it is just fun and kill, kill, kill. Also like in classes, if you mess up it is bad, likehere if you mess up, so what you live and learn I mean you’ll do better next time (Roger).

When I play? Anxious, I want to get in there and kill stuff! (Tex).

I guess it is general nature for humans to be better than everyone else. Like my army is betterthan yours. Bragging rights. But I don’t think there’s nothing better than sinking an axe insomeone’s head (Tex).

In addition, some of the US males described in detail how they enjoyed imagining someof the “smells and tastes” of battle. One could also observe the US respondents play“Streetfighter” in between Warhammer matches. Streetfighter is another violent videogame where players can manipulate various fight scenes in urban areas. Surprisingly,this theme was never spontaneously evoked in the French interviews and when it wasmentioned, it was rejected as something irrelevant. What attracts the French male is animaginary world that is historical, medieval, backwards-looking and full of heroicfantasy – not the violence itself (Figure 2). In fact, no one even mentioned this factor,not even the players’ parents:

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What I like is the story line, as well as the strategic side of things (Cyril).

No one ever talks to me about a universe of violence. They focus on the aesthetic aspects(Georges).

You don’t see it . . . All you get is a really friendly ogre with 3 attacks and 3 life points (Ouard).

It is also interesting to note that the French players we interviewed expressed a generaldislike for on-line sites or forums dedicated to Warhammer. They do not feel at home inthese kinds of “crazy environments” where an imaginary violence often runs rampant.

The third theme in the US interviews was “Accomplishment.” As the informantsbegan to elaborate on the miniatures they revealed a focus on the actual interactionswith physical figurines. They were drawn by the visual appeal of figures and ofteninvested a lot of time and effort in painting and assembling these warrior replicas.When some of the informants lost a “battle” or discovered their figurines to beslaughtered, they took it personally as if they were hurt. The following quotes supportthese findings:

R: What is it like to win?

I: It’s pretty cool, cause I mean you put all this effort into the models and basically all thesepeople put all this effort into their models so they want to see them win (Rob).

R: Do your relationships change across the game?

I: Sometimes if someone is making fun of you when you’re loosing a game, you might avoidthem the next two days. It can get pretty intense if you want it to, because you take so muchpride in the models you know (George).

A second facet of the “accomplishment” theme suggests winning over the moreexperienced players (often referred to as “the vets”) of the tribe is almost as gratifying.For example:

Figure 2.A “Tyranid” Warrior fromWarhammer

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R: How about in terms of the outcomes of the game for you – wins, losses and stuff how doesthat affect you or how do you feel about the outcome?

I: Well if I beat Jack or Paul I feel a little bit prideful its like I beat one of the vets anybody elseits “Eh” and if I lose to them its no big deal and if I lose to one of the other guys you know theyat my level right now so its to be expected (Aaron 1).

This quote suggests that the level of experience is important. Indeed, one could notethat part of accomplishing something meant getting more experienced to eventuallymaster the game. Accomplishing social interaction, showing off neatly paintedfigurines, “beating the vet’s” and mastering the game with higher levels of experienceall lead to different senses of accomplishment.

This theme is present in French interviews too. In particular, the painting activityconstitutes a considerable investment (attention to details) that “becomes worth it”when a player is made proud both by his army and also by any flattering commentsthat the other players (experienced or not) might make about it:

It’s great showing up with a really well-painted army. That makes me proud (Yann).

At home I have a big bay window and when people stop by they see it and tell me that it’s coollooking. Right away that makes you feel good about yourself, it makes you happy (Georges).

In a match (and unlike their US counterparts), French players’ self-fulfilment comesmore from a “clever” strategic move than from beating their opponents. For example,some comment on “Warhammer 40,000” (the game of “futuristic battles,” whereasWarhammer is the game of “fantasy battles”), which they consider overly simplistic(“too much dice throwing,” “trigger happy yahoos” – Remy).

Indeed, besides accomplishment, “Competitiveness” is another theme that appearsto become more of an issue among experienced gamers in the USA. For the most part,competitiveness deals with winning and losing during game playing, not painting. Formany, Warhammer was only 3-4 months old for them. Given its series of stepsincluding mastering of armies and painting, much of the early game playing is centredon learning the rules and strategy. In this early period, competitiveness is reported low:

We’re not real competitive around here, we just kind a go with it, what ever is happeningduring the game is (Jim).

Additionally the nature of Warhammer requires some strategy. This planning is takenseriously, as are the numerous rules. Clearly these elements brought out an idea ofcompetitiveness in several of the US informants:

During the game I take a more blase attitude. What happens, happens. Except when there’s arule questions you know if I think I’m being cheated out of it and I start to get a little heated.I don’t know why though. It’s nothing really to get a big fuss about but sometimes itsgod-damn-it I want my army to be here at this time. Whatever. It gets a little heated butI dunno with this game, it’s hard to describe. I mean I enjoy playing it. I try not to get stressedout about. I mean I rarely do I think. There’s been one time where I got mad where a rulesquestion. Besides that I sit back and relax try to have a good time and make fun about it(Jesse).

As US informants continued to answer questions on competitiveness as well aswinning and losing, it became apparent that in fact winning is more important thaninitially indicated and players are more competitive than originally conceived.

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Some respondents are aware of this. They point out that their preliminary assessmentof the environment or of themselves not being very competitive may be incorrect:

At the beginning we helped each other a lot but now were getting a little bit more competitive(Michael).

Overall what we are able to discern is that there is a definite competitive element inWarhammer. For some of the US respondents, the competitiveness is present from thevery beginning of their exposure to the game. For others there is a strong possibilitythat the desire to win and be a strong player will become more evident as theirexperience with the game grows. Nonetheless, the game’s competitive nature allowsplayers to be creative through imagining various battlefield scenarios. The competitivenature of some US gamers is coherent with a “core American cultural value”(Hirschman, 2003, p. 9): the so-called rugged individualism. According to someethnographers, Americans would be characterized by self-reliance and competition.This cultural feature would explain exploration, discovery, entrepreneurship, but alsosome aggressiveness (Hirschman, 2003). The rugged individualism trait does not limititself to an aggressive posture, but it advocates a quest for self-perfection (Hirschman,2003, p. 20). This facet is visible in American and French gamers. Both struggle for thebest army and most creative strategy to show others for pride and praise.

Unlike US respondents, the French respondents’ were less concerned about winningor losing, as long as the game was tight and suspenseful. At a deeper level, onedifference with the USA is that whereas the latter consider it a good thing to win,French players focused on the beauty of the game and only admit that they likewinning when they are up against someone who “wants to win” and has no otherambition (a “bad sport”):

Winning or losing, what really matters is your style. I think I really enjoyed this matchbecause nobody knew who was going to win. In fact, at the end it was a draw (Manu).

It’s not about competing, it’s about having fun (Christophe).

You may compare yourself to everyone else during the painting phase[1] but not in the game(William).

“Creativity/imagination” is fifth theme that became apparent after our analysis of theUS interviews. Most of the informants enjoyed consuming Warhammer because itallowed them to imagine and create various war scenarios. It also allowed them toimagine different historical time periods and thus “transfer” them back in time.In addition, the actual figurines allowed the players to enter into a different realitythrough their fictitious names and physical forms. For example, there are Lizardmenfigurines that fight various dragons and other magical creatures. The following quoteillustrates how one player perceives his interest in playing Warhammer:

R: Great, anything else you wanted to talk about?

I: Basically that we are just playing for fun, it is kind of cool since it’s kinda like going back tohundreds of years ago and like with Napoleon and stuff. You see all of those moving wherethey have all of that medieval stuff and it is like you are in the mind frame of those generalsfrom past time. That’s how I look at it, like move these troops here, move those ones there itkinda cool like it is having the whole war scenario. That is what I like about it.

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In addition, the hands-on component of the game allows the players to be moreactive in creating the scenarios as they play. Instead of manipulating a computergame with artificial characters, Warhammer players can actively move the figuresinto battle as they imagine the results of combat. Warhammer is different fromother games in this aspect. Other games such as Magic, only involve cards, whichare not as conducive to actual physical movement and creation of gaming pieces.

French players generally view Warhammer as a serious hobby (sometimes akin to amad passion, other times more like a simple distraction) and as a pleasant experiencewhere they can develop their expertise and creativity. However, they made referencesto this theme while turning it more towards escapism, getting away from things, losingoneself in this universe, “forgetting about everything else,” “something completelydifferent,” “out of the ordinary,” “really getting into the role.” This is especially true formatches:

Totally changing your settings. Forgetting about everything related to work or bills. Doingsomething for yourself (Georges).

Getting away from everything, re-energising yourself. You get caught up in it and don’t thinkabout anything else (Christophe).

You enter the shop and leave all your worries behind, forgetting all your problems. You’rehere and having a good time (Nicolas).

When it comes to painting, the idea of escapism is often mixed for the Frenchrespondents with downtime, relaxation, and focusing on oneself:

We set up in front of the table top, take out our paint jars and figures. They leave us beand don’t say things like “you’ve painted us badly” or “you’ve assembled us wrongly.”We just sit there with our jars and figures, and everything is quiet (Georges).

Finally, a sixth theme is largely developed by the French respondents but not presentin the US interviews: “Regression.” Many French respondents have to deal with otherpeople’s perception that playing Warhammer constitutes a type of regression:

They think it’s something for children, a kid’s game (Nicolas).

My sister is against it and thinks it’s totally stupid (Clement).

They ask me why at my age I’m still wasting my time with little toy soldiers (Yann).

It’s kinda hard to tell girls that I’m playing with plastic figures. We say that we’ve beenpainting figures or playing in tournaments or that we’re friends with some of the staffmembers who we’re visiting (Remy).

You’re either interested in Warhammer or else in girls (Ouard).

Instead of “Regression,” the US interviews suggest the North American enthusiasts aremore concerned of social outcast resulting from their affinity toward the game. There iscertain self consciousness apparent suggesting they feel others perceive them as socialmisfits. The feeling that they were “regressing,” or reliving their youth was notapparent. Indeed, the perceived social “stigma” of playing Warhammer does notappear to negatively affect their desire to continue playing. The benefits of their

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individual experiences evoked by the game outweigh the perceived social stigmaattached to it:

A lot of people think we are like nerds and have no social life (Graham).

I was talking to this check you know I have two jobs. The job in the theatre makes me cool,the job in the game-shop makes me a gig [nerd] (Sterling).

All these people don’t really have a lot of life, they don’t have a lot of social tact. They are notthe most intelligent or hyper-intelligent. I guess I don’t really consider them average people(Sterling).

Although the US enthusiasts did not feel as if other social members considered themimmature for playing Warhammer, the game did elicit a sense of “safety” for them.Because most of the players moved to Madison less than a few months before theybegan playing Warhammer, they may feel that the other players are safer than mostpeople because they have similar interests. The same could be said in France withthe players coming to join the university in Marseilles. In addition, given that mostof the players were in their early 1920s, it is also possible that they were transformingthemselves back to an earlier part of their childhood, when life was safer. They may getthe same feeling when they play Warhammer that they had when they were youngerand with their families and friends. The players may associate the feeling that they getout of Warhammer with the feelings that were aroused by the games they played whenthey were younger. These feelings may also influence their understanding of what a“safe” environment may entail. Indeed, we noticed this tribe participates in the gamebecause the players perceive it to be a safe way to hang out that does not contradictwith society’s norms. It is a secure environment within a potentially dangerous world.

Discussion: culture vs subcultureThe summative table (Table I) highlights the many variations in the meanings given toWarhammer in terms of the six main themes derived from our interviews. It isnoteworthy to see the variability in the meanings attributed by American and Frenchplayers. In particular, there is a complete opposition with regards to theme 2,“Attraction to imaginary violence.” American gamers showed positive attraction toimaginary violence as a reason to play Warhammer. This attraction among Americansseems to relate closely with the “ruggedness” appeal in a brand personality that wasreflected among Americans in the study by Aaker et al. (2001), and among WWE’s USfans (Deeter-Schmelz and Sojka, 2004).

Tribes meanings The US tribe The French tribe

1. Socialization A friendship that is “limited”(to the game room)

A friendship that is largely“limited” (to the game room)

2. Attraction toimaginary violence

A game that revolves around war A game that revolves aroundhistory and strategy

3. Accomplishment Through painting and winning Through painting and playing4. Competitiveness Not key, but still quite important Marginal when compared with style5. Creativity/imagination Triggered by action Triggered by escapism6. Regression Sense of safety Perceived as social misfits

Table I.Six major meaningsascribed to Warhammerin two different countries

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The point here is neither to stigmatise the indisputable violent imagery some membersof Warhammer’s American community create, or of Americans in general (Aaker et al.,2001), nor to denounce the ostensibly angelical attitudes adopted by the brand’s Frenchcommunity, or by the French in general (which may be considered hypocritical bycertain observers). Our goal is not to produce cross-cultural results but instead tounderstand any links that may exist between global brand, brand community,subcultures and cultures. Holt (2002, 2005) argues for the need to understand brands ata societal level (e.g. cultural branding), while O’Guinn and Muniz (2005, p. 252) note “itis equally important to understand brands at the group/community level” (e.g.subcultural branding). Our results show that much of what is important about globalbrand communities is revealed in the dynamic interplay that exists between these twolevels. As stated by Thompson and Arsel (2004, p. 631), there are two conflicting thesesin regards to this question:

(1) For proponents of the homogenization thesis, global brands are Trojan horsesthrough which transnational corporations colonize local cultures.

(2) Recent anthropological studies have built a strong empirical case that, contraryto the homogenization thesis, consumers often appropriate the meanings ofglobal brands to their own ends, creatively adding new cultural associations,dropping incompatible ones, and transforming others to fit into local cultureand lifestyle patterns.

The themes developed by our two Warhammer communities (in France and the USA)tend to substantiate the latter thesis: each local sub-tribe reinterprets the brand’smeaning as a function of its own culture. Having said that, global brands’ role in a localculture should not be minimised. According to Holt (2005, pp. 285-6):

. . . cultural contradictions – tensions between national ideology and individual experience –produce intense desires and anxieties, fuelling demand for symbolic resolution that smoothover the tensions. National ideologies create models for living. The distance between thatmodel and everyday life acts as a cultural engine, creating demand for myths that managethese differences.

A wide variety of cultural products compete to provide the most compelling myths,with any contradictions being shored up by the symbolic sustenance that such storiesprovide. At the same time, brands maintain an advantage over other types of culturalproducts: “they provide a material connection to the myth. Brands load the myth intoproducts used every day, so brands allow for ritual action” (Holt, 2005, p. 286). Withinthis framework, Warhammer can be construed (in France) as a myth provider thathelps people manage the differences between French culture and the individual dailyexperiences of young French members in this brand community. The Warhammercommunity builds a bridge between France’s anti-competitive/anti-violent culture andFrench youth’s real experiences, which have become increasingly competitive andviolent (even though this does not necessarily appear in their discourse). As such, thereis less of a pronounced opposition in meanings between the American and the Frenchcommunities than first suspected. One cannote the cultural role of a brand isparticularly glaring for market-driven experiential brands like Warhammer, “which, inconjunction with their corporate-sponsored symbols and products, offer consumersdistinctively themed servicescapes designed to facilitate certain kinds of

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hedonic/aesthetic experiences and social interactions” (Thompson and Arsel, 2004,p. 632). These brands provide a kind of “hegemonic brandscape” that exerts“a systematic influence on the cultural heterohybridization engendered byglocalization” (Thompson and Arsel, 2004, p. 638).

Lastly, based on our binational investigation of Warhammer player communities,we can agree with Holt (2004, p. 71) that consumers use global brands “to create animagined global identity that they share with like-minded people.” At the same time,we should moderate Muniz and O’Guinn’s (2001) affirmation that “brand communitiestranscend geography.” This is only partially true. Different local brand tribes do givevariable (and occasionally opposing) meanings to a particular brand. However, suchoppositions are less important than local tribe members seem to believe, and the brandcult will help members fill whatever contradictory vacuum lies between the localcultural model and their real lives (Holt, 2005).

Caveats and managerial implicationsThese findings suffer from some limitations. First of all, it is inappropriate togeneralize a Madison-based study to the entire USA. The same holds true for France.Secondly, our data compilation method could have been more robust. Had we beenmembers of a local community, the findings would have been more detailed, and ourefforts would have resembled self-ethnography or a form of introspection. However,because we both conducted interviews in players’ natural settings and spent aconsiderable amount of time in the game rooms, this limitation was somewhat reduced.In fact, it facilitated the “merger of horizons” that Thompson (1997, p. 441)recommends and reduced the gap between the text and the text’s interpretativeframework. It also made it possible to re-situate players’ narratives in their cultural andexperiential contexts. The ensuing content analysis was a two-phase process focusingfirst on an analysis of the contents of interviews with the American community (todetect any major themes), then replicating this analysis for interviews with the Frenchcommunity to confirm or reject these same themes and/or develop new ones. In short,our corpus has not been analysed at a global level. Lastly, by focusing on inter-countryvariations and contrasts in meaning, we may have ignored inter-country contrasts inmeaning within a given community that may exist between hardcore “veterans,”“hobby players” and inchoate masses of occasional players.

Nevertheless, our study does lend itself to several implications for the managementof global brand communities. The very idea of a community assembled around a globalbrand has given certain actors dreams about a possible global segment comprised ofindividuals who are sensitive to a sub-culture yet spread across all four corners of theworld: “with the growth in the number of international products, product-basedsubcultures that may allow marketers to standardize promotions across nationalborders are worthy of additional investigation” (Deeter-Schmelz and Sojka, 2004,pp. 141-2). Freed from all geographic constraints, (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001), the firmcould organise a global approach that suits all brand community members. This couldinvolve a tribal marketing that is subtle (Cova and Cova, 2002) yet planetary in reach.The results of our Warhammer community study indicate, however, that things aremore complicated at several different levels.

Local brand sub-tribes may consume and co-produce what is largely one and thesame global sub-culture, but the meanings they generate and attribute to some of the

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values associated with a brand can contrast sharply. Our Warhammer communitiesdisplayed extreme geography-related differences in the way a brand was interpreted.Both of our Warhammer sub-tribes (Madison and Marseilles) shared the same passionfor the game, sought socializing and a desire for self-fulfillment. At the same time, theydiffered in terms of their attraction towards the game (its meaning): attraction to“imaginary violence,” on the one hand, or to “history and strategy,” on the other. Mostmembers never travel outside of their home regions to play. They also seem to feel theybelong to their own community unit rather than to a national or international one. As aresult, Games Workshop’s attempt to push its vision of a global community byorganizing national and international tournaments may not necessarily lead toachieving its goals. Instead, the company’s attempt to use local offices to adapt to localculture makes more sense.

Developing a global strategy that adapts to local culture based on meaningsattached by brand sub-tribes (as Games Workshop has done with its Warhammerbrand) will provide myths capable of filling some of the contradictory vacuums thatlocal societies feature (Holt, 2005), as well as enable some sort of “communalglocalization.”

Note

1. Painting points are awarded during matches and tournaments.

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About the authorsBernard Cova is Professor of Marketing at Euromed Marseilles – School of Management andVisiting Professor at the Bocconi University, Milan. Ever since his first papers in the early 1990s,he has taken part in postmodern trends in consumer research and marketing, while emphasizinga Latin approach (e.g. tribal marketing). He has published on this topic in the InternationalJournal of Research in Marketing, the European Journal of Marketing, Marketing Theory and theJournal of Business Research. He is also known as a researcher in B2B marketing, especially inthe field of project marketing. Bernard Cova is the corresponding author and can be contacted at:bernard.cova@euromed-marseille.com

Stefano Pace is Assistant Professor in Marketing at the Bocconi University, Milan (Italy)where he earned his PhD in Business Administration and Management. His current researchinterests include brand communities, internet marketing, services marketing. He was a visitingPhD student at the Sol C. Snider Center (Wharton Business School, Philadelphia, USA). He is oneof the guest editors of a special issue of International Marketing Review on B2B marketing.E-mail: stefano.pace@unibocconi.it

David J. Park (PhD University of Wisconsin, Madison) is an Assistant Professor and Head ofthe Public Relations Sequence in the Communications Department at Xavier University,Louisiana. He has been an Honorary Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a HowardHughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Sabbatical Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, a Tinker-NaveScholar, as well as a Rotary Scholar. His most recent scholarly publications are in the Journal ofCommunication Inquiry, Global Media Journal, and the American Behavioral Scientist. E-mail:dpark@xula.edu

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