Fandom relates to being fans of a person, object, or idea, manifesting fan culture. It is hardly a new phenomenon. We have known about fan communities and fan clubs for at least a hundred years. The term ‘fandom’, however, is relatively new, since it became a topic of academic and business research several decades ago. The difference in the past 25 years is that fandoms can grow wider and faster through the virtual Internet space, particularly in social media networks, allowing fans to share their interests, support and affection, and strengthen the connections among them (i.e., in online fan communities). Fandom goes beyond ‘normal’ loyalty to someone or something; it involves especially strong emotions (e.g., excitement, love, admiration to adoration), affective attachment and commitment. The fans of a person, regarded as ‘star’, often see in him or her a role model (e.g., in aspiration to be like one and by imitation of behaviour).

There are many kinds of fandoms. It is obviously impossible to give but a fraction of examples of them. Therefore, examples are named below only for illustration of the more general types of fandoms. People may be fans of fictional characters (e.g., Sherlock Holmes, Paddington Bear) and of literary writers (e.g., Jules Verne, Agatha Christie). Most commonly, people become fans of music artists, film and TV actors & actresses, and sports athletes or players whom they identify as ‘stars’ (e.g., excellent, unique).

• The music stars may be single music performers (e.g., Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presly, David Bowie, Edith Piaf, Celine Dion, Kate Bush), or they may be music bands (e.g., The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, ABBA, Duran Duran). Some singers are also song writers and composers, single or in a band.
• Actors and actresses have earned fandom for being excellent in their cinematic roles (some also as directors), being charming, and sometimes as activists in public affairs (e.g., Charlie Chaplin, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, George Clooney, Jane Fonda, Audrey Hepburn, Shirley Maclaine, Julia Roberts).
• Fandom is most frequently discussed and studied in the context of sports, particularly with respect to teams in soccer football, American football, and basketball (e.g., Bayern Munchen, Paris St. Germain, Manchester United, Chelsea, Milan, Juventus, Real Madrid, Barcelona to name just a few teams in soccer football). Some of the leading players in their teams have personally gained their fans (e.g., Pele, David Beckham, Ronaldo, Messi). Fandoms of sports men & women have risen in other branches of sports as well (e.g., tennis, boxing, swimming, athletics indoors and outdoors).

In addition, people have become fans of TV series programmes and movies turned into series. Television series in different genres have developed fandoms surrounding them (e.g., Star Trek {particularly the Original series of the late 1960s featuring James T. Kirk}, The Prisoner {Six of One}, Dallas {featuring J.R. Ewing}, Seinfeld {by Jerry Seinfeld}, Friends, Downton Abbey). Series such as Star Trek and Downton Abbey were adapted also to the Big Screen. Series of cinema films have also succeeded in generating fandom; some series relied on already successful books, some evolved as sequels, or doing both (e.g., Star Wars, James Bond, Indiana Jones, Die Hard, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings). Leading actors in such films, becoming icons, have earned their personal fans (e.g., Sean Connery {still considered by many as the Ultimate James Bond}, Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis {discovered earlier as TV star in Moonlighting}).

Having said all that, fandoms exist, and moreover prosper, for products and brands. Consumers may be fans of products at the category level (e.g., coffee, ice cream, chocolate). Fans are devoted to those products by consuming them more than average, yet furthermore in expertise they develop about them. They are not focused on a particular brand but rather take their pride in experiencing various options or brands (e.g., different ice cream flavours from different makers), in knowing various attributes and origins (e.g., varieties of coffee beans), and understanding the ways of making them (e.g., preparing dark chocolates), and so on.

However, consumers are known to engage mostly in fandoms of particular brands and their products (e.g., Nike, Apple, PlayStation {by Sony}, LEGO). Walt Disney attracted fans since the 1940s, surrounding their films, TV programmes, and theme parks (mostly associated with animation). Motorcyclists devoted to Harley Davidson can be regarded as fans, characterised by exhibiting intimate loyalty to the brand, keeping a close circle of riders like them, and usually meeting and riding together. Fan culture may evolve towards brands as for other types of objects of fandom. Nevertheless, companies also initiate activities and communications to support and encourage the fandoms of their brands, and also collaborate with their consumers-fans to that effect. Brands may also ‘partner’ with fandoms in other areas (e.g., cultural celebrities and entities) that can match and enhance their own fandoms.

Fandom is one of four trends, identified by consumer research firm Streetbees, that are expected to influence and guide consumers’ lives in 2024. They emerge from a survey of consumers conducted in the less ordinary form of a chat-like (app-based) conversation. The trends are proposed as what is possible, or could matter, this year. The trend of fandom, labeled by the researchers “Just the Two of Us” after a famous song, ascribes to following and associating with one’s cultural heroes and role models in more vigorous ways. This implies “the adoption and normalisation of what would once be considered as ‘extreme’ fan behaviours“. It may give especially the younger consumers ways to express their interests and share them with others (e.g., on Tik Tok). Fan behaviours may include, in the music domain, dressing like their favourite artists, covering their songs, and joining communities of like-minded individuals to connect with. It is proposed that brands may join the ‘game’ in collaboration with their fan bases and forming brand synergies. [See more background on the research of Streetbees in this article at csc-behaviour.]

Fan culture in general has some common characteristics in depth of engagement, excitement and enthusiasm, rituals and other behaviours. Yet, any specific fandom can be viewed as a subculture, shaped by characteristics that are distinctive to the area of interest and object of fandom. Each fandom, whether it is in entertainment or sports, a person or a brand & product, entails its own concepts and ideals, attributes of interest, rituals and customs. The remaining of this article explores furthermore attributes and drivers that characterise fandoms, fan culture and behaviours, with emphasis on implications for brand marketing.

In an article of Marketing Dive on “Fandom and Marketers” (Sara Karlovitch, 22 March 2024), Katie Thomas who leads Kearny Consumer Institute comments with respect to their research about consumers’ approach to fandoms of brands: “Superfans are often unwaveringly loyal, voice opinions on the brand and financially invest in it“. According to Kearney’s research cited, 23% of consumers claim their “complete obsession” with a brand or product of choice, while 56% say they have been invested in a product or brand of which they are fans for at least a decade. As a key driver or motivation to engaging in fandom, 80% say it brings them joy. Additionally, 50% of those involved as fans report that they think or engage in it at least once per day. In another reflection of its importance to them, 61% of fans defend their fandom to others who do not like it. Thomas hence suggests that fandom is a way of life.

For Paul K. Lawton (chief strategy officer, Sister Mercy) and Marcelo Bursztein (CEO, NovaceneAI), fandom is associated primarily with the hype, or excitement, that is generated around brands and their products; this hype is a key driver of sales and brand engagement that can make the difference between a strong growing brand and a weak lingering brand. Nevertheless, brands need to take part in nourishing and sustaining such hype within fan communities. Lawton and Bursztein propose a methodological approach of hype analysis, aimed at “understanding the pathways to significant anticipation and enthusiasm among consumer-driven communities of interest” wherein hype is created. The input for hype analysis is drawn from ‘listening’ to consumer and fan conversations (mainly in social media platforms and blogs); it employs AI methods of language processing and language generation models to track, combine, classify and analyse the content of conversations. [Lawton and Bursztein on hype analysis in Quirk’s Marketing Research Review, May-June 2024, registration may be required.]

• Note: AI language models & methods (e.g., NLP, LLMs) are applied in hype analysis by Lawton & Bursztein as well as in conversational research by Streetbees, yet hype analysis draws on readily available conversations occurring in social media networks whereas Streetbees moderates conversations in the more controlled environment of its own community and survey tool (SBX).

Hype analysis can cover qualitative data based on natural verbal conversations in different forums and brand reviews in fan communities; it may also produce quantitative metrics based on data such as search queries and brand mentions, positive and negative. Lawton and Bursztein provide examples on how outputs of hype analysis can be used by marketers. They suggest that the analysis can reveal “the emotional and psychological triggers behind consumer enthusiasm, which allows for more tailored and resonant marketing messages“. However, they do not specify a theoretical grounding of such triggers. Some hints may be traced towards the end of their article in references made to constructs such as attitudes, values and expectations, motivations and aspirations, but processes leading to fan behaviours are not explained in this practitioner-oriented article.

Other applications include, for example, to identify emerging trends (e.g., early signs of consumer interest and excitement), detecting sources of buzz, reputation management, and in support of influencer and partnership strategies. Lawton and Bursztein argue that while hype analysis extends from the strategy of social listening, it does more than that: first, by helping to “unpack” the excitement and momentum underlying fan conversations and other engagements, and second, it can get deeper to uncover them through the use of AI-powered linguistic methods.

Brands can initiate actions to elevate their consumer fandoms. Primarily, the brand management needs to identify passion-points and connect to those consumer passions. Not least important, they have to adjust to short attention spans and create experiences that provide strong positive emotions. Furthermore, cultural relevance of a brand to its fans can be enhanced (e.g., made more contemporary, dynamic, intriguing and engaging) by reimagining the brand’s mobile app, innovating its presence in the Metaverse (including merchandising), and using augmented reality (AR) to gamify shopping. Simon Luff, writing for The Drum, explains these courses of action with examples, particularly from Nike. [“How Brands Can Use Fandom to Reinvent Customer Experience“, The Drum, 23 July 2023.]

• In academic literature, fandoms are addressed in areas of social sciences (e.g., sociology, culture), marketing (e.g., brand management), and consumer culture. On the latter, Gregorio Fuschillo (2020 [*]) describes four dimensions of fandoms: sociality (social identification, feeling of membership), productivity (see below), religiosity (religion-like faith, morals and metaphors), and ideology (practising popular culture in contrast to capitalism, e.g., bartering and sharing).

A prominent component of brand fandoms that arose in recent years is co-creation and the collaboration of brands with communities of their fans-users. Fuschillo calls this dimension Productivity. He posits that productivity includes co-creation of content (e.g., users-fans writing posts and reviews about the brand and its products) as well as contribution to product development (e.g., more proficient users-fans offering product ideas up to working product models). Fans may also support the marketing of a brand, and thereof develop their own marketing and production competencies, by generating creative stories, images, videos, and artefacts. Hence, Fuschillo proposes that brand-fan collaboration can lead to value co-creation — a concept that gathered strong traction in the past twenty years.

Taking part in fandoms tends to be loaded with emotions, which may entail devotion. hype, enthusiasm, and high active investment of time, money and energy by individual fans. Fuschillo relates to fanaticism as expressing how deeply consumers are invested in their liking and involvement in the products or brands of which they are fans. Fandom can lead to performing extreme and extravagant behaviours as fans get more deeply committed. Often these behaviours bring them fun and pleasure, yet they may turn awkward and wild, especially when many fans get together in large events, which may have negative implications. For instance, fans may get envious and cause harassment towards those outside their fandom. Some fans may even get hostile towards a peer fan who commits an action they consider a slight against the fandom [Sara Karlovicth, “Fandom and Marketers” in Marketing Dive]. Marketers therefore need to balance between the benefits of ‘super fandoms’ (e.g., elevating loyalty, increased sales) and the risks that might ensue (e.g., volatile emotional reactions of fans).

• Fandoms exist also with respect to political leaders, and sadly we have seen the negative impact of hostile behaviour of some fans of favoured leaders towards non-fans, which seems to have become particularly prevalent on social media in recent years. Political fandom can be especially emotionally charged, and the leaders (as brands) should address it responsibly.

Fandoms are omnipresent, and captivating. It feels human and natural to be fan of a favoured cultural hero, book or character, film or TV programme, brand or product, to any extent of devotion and excitement. Fan behaviours nowadays span across the real (physical) and virtual (digital) spaces, from online exchanges with other fans to participating in events like festivals and conventions and meeting one’s peers there. Fandoms are essentially driven by the fans-consumers, which raises a question of balance regarding the degree that brands should be involved in nourishing them and how they interact and collaborate with their fans; this is true in other forms of fandom as well. Fan behaviour has mostly upsides, but it may have some downsides, which the fans as well as their objects of fandom need to keep in check.

Ron Ventura, Ph.D. (Marketing)

Note:

[*] Fans, Fandoms or Fanaticism? Gregorio Fuschillo, 2020; Journal Consumer Culture, 20 (3), pp. 347-365