Abstract:
While extant research in the tribal literature investigates how consumers organize themselves in ephemeral and playful groups, this paper takes a managerial perspective. Our purpose is investigating how firms design business models to co-create offering with tribes. Empirically, the investigation mobilizes a netnography on how consumers participate in the co-creation of video games, and how firms support the entrepreneurial and playful capacity of tribes. The findings reveal several business model designs geared toward tribal marketing. First, firms construct converging points for the entrepreneurial drive of tribes by enabling “modders” to modify the video game freely, even after release. Second, firms involve consumers in the cocreation of “lore,” a world-building activity that contextualizes the brand into an organic consumer-driven constellation of narratives using the IP from the company. Third, firms involve consumers in the product design by fostering competitive gaming and invite-only prereleases.