Fandoms: The New Market Strategy
Over the last few years, the growing relevance of participatory culture in the digital age has generated fandoms, or communities built around a shared enjoyment for a particular aspect of popular culture. Fandoms emerge in support of books, movies, TV shows, and bands. All fandoms fall under the category of participatory culture, which involve fans acting as consumers, producers, and creators of creative media. Neo-folk culture is a result of how folk culture led to participatory culture by the incorporation of consumerism with new forms of media. The modern day fandom brings aspects of popular culture to life through art, song, and story in new forms of media.
As stated before, fandoms are communities who have a common interest for a certain tv show, movie, book, or other aspect of popular culture. Fandoms can be considered a specific grouping of fans, but we tend to blend the ideas of fans and fandoms together when there is a fine line that separates the two. Fandoms have a circular giving economy, meaning that members of fandoms are mostly both consumers and producers of content. An example of this would be fan art that is created by members of the fandom, produced, and then sold online for purchase. However, in a fanbase, most fans receive more than they produce. Fanbases include fans, but there is not a participatory culture in the means of content creation. Therefore, they are simply constantly consuming content, but they are never giving back individually to the fanbase on a widespread level. An example of this would be a New England Patriots fan buying fan gear from a sports retailer. Fandoms create content to be shared and manipulated through digital media forms while fanbases are purely consumed by large masses with content produced by one team, band, artist, or author in a specific form of media. These mass media forms may be books, movies, tv shows, or music. Fandoms just become more specified within a specific fanbase.
In the last few years, major companies and organizations have had to respond to the growth of fandoms by analyzing their approaches to consumer goods and marketing strategies. Typically, major corporations take what is known as the prohibitionist approach to production of content. The prohibition approach is typically followed by old media companies. These companies get most of the press, stay within confounds of history and do not experiment with new mediums. Think of a major company like Disney. Disney typically produces content to be consumed rather than manipulated for individual enjoyment. Their main goal is to produce, edit, and publish something of value on the market that will drive revenue. They make a movie, create products to promote the movie, and then add the characters and themes to their theme parks for people to buy tickets to. There are licenses and copyrights that prohibit everyday people from manipulating their characters and storylines. This process is very standardized and predictable.
Companies who utilize the collaborationist approach on the other hand, experiment with new forms of media and approach new ideas with the vision that fans are essential collaborators in the production and creation of content. They recognize that it is the fandom that will be successful in promoting the franchise, not just the company itself. A more recent example of this is the Stranger things franchise. The Netflix show gained major popularity on the streaming app in 2017. The main contributor to the show’s success was the production of fan content through memes. Between season one and season two, followers of the show created memes, virtual worlds, and games that focused on the idea of the “Upside Down” or the alternate universe where the majority of the show took place. Since the initial explosion in popularity, the creators of the show and their partner company, Netflix, have gone long lengths to interact with fans on various forms of social media. They have shared cryptic messages in hints towards new seasons and created online games, memorabilia, and apparel. However, the popularity and success of the show would never be where it is today without fan culture, something that both Stranger Things and Netflix recognized early on.
All in all, fandoms are changing the way market strategy and branding works in the entertainment industry. Companies are learning to adapt to the strong emotional appeal their content has for the followers. Digitally and in person, the value of mass production in our society is growing exponentially each year. Not only are fans now able to absorb content through the typical forms of mass media, but now digital culture and the online world of forums and social media drives content and creativity more than ever before. Although there has to be some rights to content for major companies, it must be noted that engaging with fans and recognizing the power they have to drive content, is going to be extremely beneficial to them in the years to come.
