Brand Tribe Paradoxes: An Overview with Empirical Evidence from Pakistan

Due to the increased importance of marketing, concepts of marketing are continually evolving in the digital era. Creation of consumer tribe for brand promotion and consumption is one of the widely discussed concepts in marketing. As per literature, a tribe is a heterogeneous group of people presenting common interest and preferences for a brand. The links between consumer tribes are weak. Marketers through a marketing campaign, try to strengthen this relationship. Tribalism and tribe activity in favor of brand can be done through two approaches. The first approach is the postmodern approach which encourages users to get a higher status (Platinum, Gold or Silver) in the community via spending more. In contrasts, the second approach of a marketer is based on stimulating and activating a group of users through an opportunity or threat, i.e. limited time offers. However, the creation of tribes and the implementation of these campaigns are not well explained in the literature. Marketers always make haphazard efforts between these approaches while making campaigns. Gap has motivated the researchers to explore and investigate these paradigms of brand tribalism in detail. The current research paper explains and compares the two tribalism approaches. Through the collection of data from automobiles users across Pakistan, the authors have validated and compared both frameworks i.e. anthropological tribal approach and postmodern tribal approach. It has been concluded that the anthropologist approach is better in the context of car market of Pakistan. The researchers recommend the practitioners to follow one approach while creating brand tribes in relationship marketing. The article in detail has guidelines for the markers in the automobile industry. The paper also shares future research areas in brand tribalism for academicians.