Community

1
Community

• Chapter 12

2
Community
Community

• The concept of community means an open
  partnership between management and customers
  where the customers feel a sense of belonging to
  the organization.
• Value in brand communities is interactively
  co-created by companies and consumers, rather
  than merely exchanged between them.

3
Community

• What is like to be a part of a community?

4
Community

• Social bonds, personal rapport, trust
• You learn to be tolerant and exhibit goodwill to
  those in the communityand you communicate more
  freely about problems.

• If you really enjoy a community, why is it hard
  to leave?
• Why are you willing to work through problems in
  your own community, rather than just leave?

5
Community Model
6
Customer Service

• What is the difference between reactive and
  proactive service?
• How would you describe excellent responsive
  service quality? What do you look for in good
  customer service?
• What happens in a service encounter after a fan
  experiences poor service? How does this influence
  the rest of the visit?
• For the last bad service you received, what could
  they have done to prevent it?

• A) always be available when a customer needs
  them,
• B) never be too busy or distracted to respond to
  customer requests,
• C) always be willing to help customers,
• D) provide prompt service, and
• E) perform their jobs in a timely manner.
• Actions
• Add employees
• Schedule employees
• Train employees
• Control employees

7
Employee Empowerment

• What is the source of the majority of service
  failures?
• Why do you think organizations fail to empower
  employees? What might stop you from doing so if
  you were a manager?

• employees unwillingness to effectively address
  the situation.
• Trust is the key to everything.
• Fear is the crippling agent

8
Proactive Service

• Give an example of a
• possible customer
• service problem a team
• might have with a
• season ticket holder,
• group sales, a suite
• owner, or a sponsor
• and how the team could
• employ the 4 As of
• proactive service.

• Anticipate the customers needs,
• Accept responsibility for solving problems before
  they happen,
• Act to prevent problems, and
• Ante-up before being asked.

9
Membership Rewards Programs
2006 Compadres Rewards 10  POINT REWARD 10 POINT
REWARD5 off any available Padres Ticket priced
12 or more for Sunday through Thursday games
30  POINT REWARD Compadres Club Limited Edition
Jake Peavy Poster presented by Golden State
Graphics 50  POINT REWARD One free Movie Pass
to UltraStar Cinemas 70  POINT
REWARD Compadres Club Pin Trading Lanyard and two
vintage Compadres Club Pins to start trading
100  POINT REWARD Compadres Club 10th
Anniversary "Frequent Friar" Cap presented by
Hornblower Cruises Events 150  POINT
REWARD 2005 NL West Division Champion "Frequent
Friar" Pin Limited Edition 200  POINT REWARD An
Invitation to the Compadres Club Early Entry
Event on September 20, 2006 and a Compadres
Club Vintage Collector Baseball 250  POINT
REWARD Compadres Club 10th Anniversary T-Shirt
SEASON TICKET CUSTOMER REWARDS300  POINT
REWARD An Invitation to the Compadres Club Season
Ticket Customer Field Day for you and a guest
on September 23, 2006 400  POINT
REWARD Compadres Club Season Ticket Customer Cap
plus a Silver Star Member Pin 500  POINT
REWARD Compadres Club 10th Anniversary Limited
Edition "Frequent Friar" Pin Set 600  POINT
REWARD 50 Gift Certificate compliments of the
Cohn Restaurant Group 700  POINT
REWARD Compadres Club Season Ticket Customer
Batting Practice Event on November 11, 2006
800  POINT REWARD 2006 Gold Star Member
Rawlings Bat autographed by a Padres player plus
a Gold Star Member Pin

• Evaluate the Compadres Rewards Club
• Provides a feeling of participation and
  interaction?
• Will fans anticipate future awards?
• Will fans have a sense of belonging?
• Are the rewards highly desirable by true fans?
• Will fans feel valued not targeted?

10
Membership Value

• Membership value represents the additional
  attributes added to a service for those who have
  extended relationships with the team.
• Membership in the community must represent clear
  value from an external perspective relative to
  competition and relative to non-members.

• As we read through the fan opinion of the Chicago
  Bears tailgating policies on the next three
  slides, answer
• How could Chicago provide membership legitimacy?
• How could the team increase relational and
  informational switching costs through their
  policies?

11
Bears Tailgating

• I'd like to be able to say "Chicago Bears
  Tailgating-The Best Tailgating in the NFL", but
  unfortunately I can't.  Not because we Bears
  tailgaters don't throw an awesome party--we
  do--but fans tailgate in Chicago almost in spite
  of the organization rather than because of the
  organization's support.  Unfortunately for Bear
  fans, Green Bay is the model for how tailgating
  should be supported and encouraged by an
  organization.
• That's the first thing that must be noted when
  discussing Chicago Bears tailgating.  Despite the
  organization's claim that they love the tradition
  and support Bears tailgaters, the reality in my
  mind is that they don't and would rather you come
  into the stadium hungry and sober to eat their
  bad, overpriced food and drink their expensive
  beer.
• Below is a discussion on the facts of Bears
  tailgating, how to navigate the scene, and what
  pitfalls you'll be faced with if you'd like to
  have a few drinks and some food in the Museum
  Campus parking lots. 

Excerpted from http//www.bearshistory.com/tailga
ting/index.aspx.
12
Bears Tailgating

• The Brutal Facts
• Don't get me wrong, there is nothing like pulling
  into the parking lot before a Bears game on a
  beautiful September morning on Chicago's
  lakefront. Green Bay's organization manages their
  tailgating phenomenally, and encourages it as a
  part of the gameday experience. But Lambeau's
  ambience can not compare to Chicago's picturesque
  lakefront.  The following are things to know if
  you'd like to tailgate before a Bears game
• The only way to be guaranteed a parking spot will
  be available whenever you'd like to arrive is if
  you have a parking pass for the South Lot,
  Waldron Deck or North Garage.  And the only way
  to get a pass is to be a season ticket holder and
  win a lottery in the offseason.  But yet, there
  is still a catch with the Bears--the lottery you
  would apply for does not differentiate between
  tailgating lots (South, Waldron) and
  non-tailgating lots (North Garage).  So even if
  one were to win this lottery, they may be stuck
  paying for non-tailgating passes.

13
Bears Tailgating

• So that leaves cash parking for anyone without a
  pass, which includes our group.  In 2004, the
  Bears banned canopies, open fires and deep fryers
  from the lots, so in order to get one of the
  extremely limited number of grass spots where you
  are able to use a canopy to block wind, plan on
  getting there before 7 a.m.
• Cash parking lots are at the Field Museum, the
  Adler Planetarium, Burnham Harbor and 31st
  Street.  The current cost (2005) to park a car is
  35, RVs and buses are 75.  Be prepared to
  change plans on the fly, because the
  Bears/city/General Parking change the availablity
  of lots each week without notifying fans in any
  way.  Meaning if you parked in Burnham Harbor one
  week and liked it, you may plan on parking there
  with a group the next week and find it blocked
  until 10 a.m.
• Good luck if you can navigate all the Bears'
  restrictions and still have a good time.  We
  always do, after shedding the stress of getting
  things set up.

14
Membership Value

• Membership value represents the additional
  attributes added to a service for those who have
  extended relationships with the team.
• Membership in the community must represent clear
  value from an external perspective relative to
  competition and relative to non-members.

• As we read through the fan opinion of the Chicago
  Bears tailgating policies on the next three
  slides, answer
• How could Chicago provide membership legitimacy?
• How could the team increase relational and
  informational switching costs through their
  policies?

15
Customization
What can we learn from Disney?

• Customization implies the creation of products
  and services for individual customers.
• Customers want control over what they do.
• Customer preferences for communication methods
  varyact accordingly.

16
Website Community
What can we learn from the Phoenix Suns?

• Content is King.
• Fans must feel a part of the community.
• Maintaining freshness by continuously updating,
  making it easier to use, and improving the
  physical appeal of the firms website is an
  effective part of developing community.
• Websites expand geographic boundaries.

17
Management Partnering

• Management Partnering means that value is
  interactively co-created by management and fans
  who together are united in their goal to serve
  the welfare of the community.
• The team must assume the role of community
  initiator.
• A social constellation is a link between the
  fans, the team, and other fans that provides the
  fan with a consciousness that each belongs.

• The fans level of participation during the
  exchange determines the level of the fans
  satisfaction with the service and the community
• Operational benevolence reflects an underlying
  motivation to place the consumers interest ahead
  of self-interestthat is operationalized in
  visible behaviors that unambiguously favor the
  consumers interest, even if a cost is incurred
  in the process.
• Were partners. Within the community concept,
  teams should be more production-focused (viz.,
  the product is a strong community) with fans as
  actors in the co-creation of value.
• Management can develop a community level
  partnership by facilitating open lines of
  communication between fans.

How can teams build a social constellation via
management partnering? What concrete actions can
be taken by management to partner with fans?
18
We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to
join in community with the human race.

• Cicero