There are several ways legendary rock bands forge and foster emotional connections with their fans, including: S Practice reverse customer intimacy. While much of corporate America is focused on CRM programs that help companies understand their customers better, many bands find ways to let fans get to know them more intimately. The better fans know a band through special information and personal experiences, the more likely they are to maintain a relationship with it. Aerosmith allows customers to get to know the band more intimately with remote staging and backstage tour packages, helping fans feel that they have a special relationship to the band. When the affective (emotional) components of attitudes toward a brand are firmly anchored in the cognitive (knowledge) components of an attitude, they are highly resistant to change or competitive encroachment.

S Keep angel fans engaged. Angel fans discover bands before they become stars, investing time, money and emotion in the success of the band. They take pride in the ultimate success of the band and are rewarded with bragging rights for picking a winning brand. John Mayer, 2003 Grammy winner, tells his angel fans to take tape recorders to his concerts and tape his music, which keeps them engaged in the concert experience and helps them create memories. This actually increases the likelihood that fans will buy the CD, because they will want a good quality version of what they heard live. Whether it’s the KISS Army or the Talking Heads intellectual crowd, harnessing the support of angel fans is key to the adoption of new products ranging from Google to JetBlue.

Apple’s angel fans were quirky by nature. So was Apple, in its interface and attitude. Many of these fans became graphic designers, creative directors, and advertising executives, and Apple retained their loyalty with an evolved positioning that stayed connected to that group. Both were still quirky, just more grown up. Apple continued its off thebeaten path positioning by bringing out a line of brightly colored computers in 1998, which delighted its fans and allowed them to express their individuality and pride in being different.

eBay Angels Both Aerosmith’s and Apple’s angel fans invested time and energy in supporting their passion, and in turn, claimed partial responsibility for its success-and that’s what happened at eBay, as well. Call them fanatical, innovative, or just plain weird, eBay’s angel fans, known as the eBay Army, are a faithful bunch who live and breathe eBay, so much so that 5,500 of them showed up at the first company convention, held in June 2002.

There they met people they had traded with online, got autographs from CEO and idol Meg Whitman, and communed with other devoted eBay fans, telling stories of their virgin eBay trades and staking their own claims on the overall success of the company.

But not all was sweetness and light at the convention. As the company pushed to increase large corporate sales, courting giants such as Sears and IBM to sell their wares through the eBay channel, some mom and pop sellers felt a bit betrayed. eBay’s angel fans-the early collectors and traders who helped build the company from day one-wanted their role in the early success of the company to be recognized and valued. They not only watched the company go from $7.1 million net income in 1997 to $90.4 million in 2001, they traded on, talked about, and cheered for the company along the way. In this instance, the first mover advantage belongs not only to the unique company, but to the avid fans who were there from the beginning and have enjoyed the ride to corporate stardom.

Aerosmith’s angel fans have followed the group since its Sunapee days-spreading the word about the band, attending every show they could, and hounding record stores until they stocked Aerosmith records. In return, they got bragging rights and accumulated an interesting scrapbook of great stories. To this day, they take pride in the success of their band. Many of them talk in chat rooms about the concerts they attend and tattoo Aerosmith logos on their bodies.

An Affinity for Angel Fans The loyalty showered on Aerosmith is due in part to its understanding its fans in a way that CRM programs can’t duplicate and perhaps only corporate culture can. From the time they united, Aerosmith’s members well represented the collective voice of the kids of their generation, which made them different from most of the rock groups around during their early years and fostered a better connection to the wants of the market. They had an inherent marketing orientation and affinity for their angel fans.

Aerosmith’s members always dressed in funky clothes they found in little boutiques: hippie garb with an attitude-a little granola, a lot of cool. They all wore their hair too long; Tyler painted his nails; Perry dyed a blonde streak in his black mane. The group created a look that was difficult for others to emulate, let alone carry off without setting off a tidal wave of snickering. While they were different enough to get noticed, they were so representative of their audience that it made adoption of the band into their fans’ lives easy. The kids got it-and at a certain level, they were Aerosmith, and Aerosmith was them.

After months of generating pull through the channel, “Dream On” went on the Cashbox singles chart in October 1973, reaching number 43 during an 11 week run. The album finally got on the charts months after its release, but it only climbed to number 166. Though disappointing for the ambitious Tyler and Perry, it was a moral victory for the group-one which would tell Columbia and the industry that Aerosmith had created brand recognition and band loyalty with its rock and roll genre of grassroots marketing.

Courting Angel Fans Even though the early days were tough for the group, Aerosmith began developing one of its most important assets-angel fans, a term we use to describe fans who discover bands and brands before they become stars. Similar to angel investors who discover fledgling entrepreneurial ventures and swoop in with funds to help them grow and become viable market players, angel fans invest time and money by following a band from venue to venue, forging an emotional bond with the group.

Ultimately, they have an altruistic interest in its success, recognizing that although they may not be able to become rock stars, they can be involved with someone who can.

Angel fans enthusiastically cheer on their favorite bands from obscurity to fame, giving them the chance to tell their once skeptical friends “I told you so” and boast, “I first saw them when they couldn’t sell out Ben’s Bar and Bowl O Rama.” It is similar to how people like to talk about the stock they bought for $2 and sold for $65, giving them bragging rights on picking a winner early in the game. It’s the equivalent of following a high school star through the ranks of professional ball in sports. For consumers, it may be discovering a littleknown brand, buying from a store before others even know it exists, or pioneering a new way of shopping. The rewards for the faithful include being the first to experience or own something and capturing a reputation for being ahead of their time.

434 The Intelligent Investor went to jail. Even as you read this, another similar company is being formed, and a new generation of “investors” will be taken for a ride. No one who has read Graham, however, should climb on board.

• In “Abou Ben Adhem,” by the British Romantic poet Leigh Hunt

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