Building Brands Together: EMERGENCE AND OUTCOMES OF CO-CREATION Nicholas Ind Oriol Iglesias Majken Schultz Co-creation is a rapidly emerging area of research. However, there is a lack of understanding as to how organ- izations use co-creation to build relationships and generate value. How does participation emerge and what outcomes does it deliver? To generate insight into the co-creation process, we created an online brand commu- nity. Our findings show that people participate in a community because it offers them the chance to find fulfill- ment, to express their creativity, and to socialize. The findings have significant implications for marketing, branding, and research professionals because the research shows that managers have to see participants as integral to the brand. (Keywords: Brand Management, Creative Collaboration, Innovation) “The most successful organizations co-create products and services with customers, and integrate customers into core processes.”—IBM, “Capitalizing on Complexity” 1 A ny organization that seeks to be innovative and has the ambition to grow and build new markets has to begin by gaining a thorough knowledge of its customers and their needs and desires. Yet, tradi- tional organizational structures and methods tend to inhibit the opportunity for closeness and learning between an organization and its customers. 2 One way of bridging this gap is through co-creation. This process brings consumers, managers, and employees together to participate in brand development and to cre- ate new products and services. Through co-creation activities, such as events and online communities, organizations can now engage with consumers and explore together with them their emotions, feelings, and memories while generating deep insights. A well-managed co-creation process has clear benefits for the organization because, as noted by several writers, it can lead to successful innovations and new business opportunities. 3 However, what is less well-defined is the impact of co-creation participation on consumers and the implications of this for managers. To understand better how participation emerges and develops in virtual co-creation projects, in 2011 we established an online consumer community com- posed of people who had taken part in previous brand communities. We wanted CALIFORNIA MANAGEMENT REVIEW VOL. 55, NO. 3 SPRING 2013 CMR.BERKELEY.EDU 5