HOW DO BRAND IDENTITY AND BRAND COMMUNITIES REINFORCING BRANDS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON CO-CREATION? A TRANSNATIONAL STUDY OF THE BRAND AXE: IN FRANCE AND TUNISIA

In order to build long term relationships with customers, companies try to get customers more involved in the activities of the brand. They are now "prosumers" through a co-creation process and social media. The primary objective of this study is to identify, by means of a transnational empirical study, if brand communities influence brands by co-creation. What kind of influence can the virtual brand community have on co-creation? The study will begin by a conceptual framework of Kapferer's brand identity Prism (1992), brand community and co-creation concepts. After this clarification, methodology will be developed and results as well as conclusions and managerial implications will be exposed. Finally the limits of the study and the possibilities for future researches will be presented. Theoretical contribution of the study is as follows: Firstly, the use of Kapferer's brand identity Prism (1992) in order to create a strong brand seems to be helpful for building brand community. Secondly, it proposes a new classification of co-creation. Thirdly, a new method, the netnography, is applied to "Axe" brand in France and Tunisia.