This is a netnographic study - an online approach to ethnography - of “The A1 Chase”, a commercial community launched by Audi Ireland in September 2010 on Facebook, during an online communication campaign for the release of the new Audi A1 in Ireland. The author explores and analyses the relationship between the brand and the community members as well as the community’s culture thanks to non-participatory observation and discourse analysis as research tools. Brands planning to interact with social networks are today facing dilemmas to engage their audience. On one hand they may seek to control the communication environment making sure that the message come through clearly. On the other hand, a true social network implies members feeling a sense of ownership of the community and there is evidence that individuals may be resentful of corporate intrusion in what is perceived to be their own community space (croft, 2008; Hitwise, 2008 in Palmer and Koenig-Lewis, 2010). With the emergence and growth of social networking sites, and especially “fan” pages on facebook.com leading social networking site, setting communities has never been as easy for brands that planned to interact with their audience. These “fan” pages, used for brands to engage their audience online and communicate with long-term and short-term objectives are producer-led communities because they are mostly led by brands. The young adult audience is largely present on social networking sites as they spend several hours a day connecting with their peers. Several studies have shown that teenagers and young adults tend to be more difficult for brands to reach with classical mass media for several reasons: - They consume less mass media than their elder peers. - If they consume mass media they are likely to be consuming other media at the same time, especially digital media so their brain time available is low. - They have become more resistant to mass marketing and it is very difficult for marketers to engage them with traditional messages These are some of the multiple reasons why brands are looking forward to engage their audience online, being as close as possible to them and starting the conversation on the social networking sites channels. Why choosing the Audi A1 Chase campaign Facebook “fan” Page community? The Audi A1 chase campaign gives us a genuine example of what a short-term producer-led community is. This research provides marketers and community managers insightful information on the brand-community interactions and a better understanding of community response to brand incentives in a social-networking site context. Developing a better understanding of the consumer and community response can lead to more effective practices in terms of engaging a community of consumers in a social networking context.

1. A Netnographic Study of
“The A1 Chase”
An online commercial
community created and
animated by
Audi Ireland
June 29, 2011
Jonathan Vielmas

2. Introduction
 Why a community management problematic ?
 Why “The A1 Chase” community ?
 The Objectives of the Study:
To gain a better understanding of community
management issues, in the context of social media,
through the examination of:
 Brand-audience relationship
 Community’s culture and centrality of consumption
activity

3. Introduction
Presentation Structure:
1. The Context: “The A1 Chase” Community
2. Methodology: A Netnographic Study
3. Findings and Implications

4. 1. The Context:
“The A1 Chase” Community

5. 1. The Context: “The A1 Chase”
Community
Aiming the new A1 to a younger Audience for the Car launch in
Ireland Audi set up a whole online experience as a campaign:
 A two weeks online and offline “treasure hunt” game
allowing winner to drive away the Audi A1
http://vimeo.com/15646704
 A Facebook page hosting the community to support brand
communication and permanent communication between the
participants
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6. 1. The Context: “The A1 Chase”
Community
The combination of the Facebook page “The A1 Chase” and the
online Treasure hunt gave birth to a community featuring:
 Interactions as shown by thousands of „wall posts‟ and
comments written by community members
 A real community culture with production of user generated
content and emergence of „insiders‟
 Branded communications and branded content
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7. 2. Methodology: A Netnographic Study
What is Netnography ?
Adapted from Ethnography as a research tool. Studies people
behaviors, opinions, motives and concerns in online
communities. Allows to dig into community’s culture and
identify membership and relationship patterns.
Observational Netnography or Participatory Netnography
A Netnographic Study is thus adequate to examine:
 Brand-audience relationship
 Community’s culture and centrality of consumption activity
Source : Kozinets (1999, 2002, 2010).

8. 2. Methodology: A Netnographic Study
 Data collected through Netnography:
Artifacts (Texts such as downloaded files of user postings,
transcripts of virtual worlds or chat sessions, videos,
pictures, music, e-mail exchanges) + Researcher’s Field
notes
 Qualitative data analysis for Netnography:
 Content analysis
 Discourse analysis
 Semantic analysis
 Semiotics
 Social Network Analysis

9. 2. Methodology: A Netnographic Study
How was the netnography of “The A1 Chase” leaded ?
 Non-participatory observation of the community
activity.
 Discourse Analysis of member interaction and
Artifacts (user generated poems to celebrate the A1
Chase experience).

10. 3. Findings and Implications
On Brand-Community relationships:
 The brand created a total experience of game and then
behaved as an administrator during the campaign.
 There is no intense interaction between the brand and the
members in the community.
 This intense exposure to the brand occurs through the
gaming experience.
 The participants are satisfied by the global experience but
sometimes blame the brand for its lack of communication.

11. 3. Findings and Implications
On Community Culture:
The nature of the interactions between the members of the
community is mainly bound to the activity of consumption (The A1
Chase):
 This is the subject that drives community members discussions
 The activity of the community slowed down and ceased after the
operation
 The content (poems) created by insiders shows that the activity of
consumption is central to the community culture
“Insiders” are the main culture creators of the community:
 They wrote poems about the chase and created content
 They were the last members to be in activity
 They know each other and exchange personal communications
 They identify themselves as insiders

12. 3. Findings and Implications
What happened ? A strong brand experience and the use of online
social media to give birth to a Community around a branded
product.
Implications from a Marketing point of view:
 This engaging experience creates much more contact with the
brand and the product than traditional media
 Branded communications through playful experience and social
dimension differ from intrusive marketing communications
 Community members are encouraged to share and discuss about
their experience, thus launching the conversation and the word of
mouth
 This practice seems interesting to target a new audience and make
them realize that the product is actually tailored to their needs.

13. Conclusion
This final year dissertation was an opportunity to grasp
the challenges of leading academic research
Literature on consumer groups, online communities and
social media was reviewed.
A netnographic methodology to analyse “The A1 Chase”
was set using non participatory observation and discourse
analysis
The results reveal that a strong brand experience and
the use of online social media to give birth to a
Community around a branded product is a new and
interesting practice that deserves further research.