Studio News
Why community became the new currency
Date:
October 21, 2025
Campaigns end. Communities compound.
From Campaign Thinking to Community Building: Why Community Became the New Currency
Campaigns end. Communities compound.
After 10 years of building brand experiences, I've watched this pattern repeat: brands pour millions into campaigns that generate buzz for three months, then disappear. Meanwhile, brands that invest in community building create compounding value that grows year after year.
The shift from campaign thinking to community building isn't just a trend. It's a fundamental restructuring of how lasting brands are built.
The Campaign Addiction Problem
Most brands are still operating on a model that made sense in 1995 but breaks down in 2025.
The Traditional Campaign Cycle:
Launch with big budget
Generate awareness through paid media
Measure impressions and reach
Watch engagement decay
Start over with next campaign
This approach treats marketing like a treadmill. You have to keep running just to stay in place. Stop spending, and you disappear from consumer consciousness.
The problem? Consumer attention is more fragmented than ever, campaign costs keep rising, and the half-life of any single campaign has shrunk from months to days.
What Community Building Actually Means
Community building isn't just "engagement strategy" or "brand loyalty programs." It's a fundamentally different approach to how brands create value.
The Community Building Approach:
Show up consistently in spaces your audience already inhabits
Listen before you speak
Contribute value without immediate ROI expectations
Create spaces where community members connect with each other, not just with your brand
Let community momentum compound over time
The critical difference: campaigns extract attention, communities create relationships.
Real-World Examples: Campaigns vs. Communities
The difference between campaign thinking and community building becomes clear when you look at how brands actually operate.
The Community-First Approach
Some brands don't run traditional campaigns at all. They built communities around authentic culture and never stopped showing up.
Their "marketing strategy":
Limited releases that reward dedicated community members
Collaborations that make cultural sense, not just commercial sense
Physical spaces designed as community gathering places, not just retail
Zero or minimal paid advertising
Community creates the marketing through organic sharing
Result? Billion-dollar valuations built almost entirely on community loyalty. When they release something new, they don't need to advertise it. The community does the work.
Values-Driven Community
Other brands make headlines with provocative statements, but those aren't campaigns - they're community value declarations.
Their actual community building strategy:
Repair and resell programs that extend product life
Giving programs supporting community causes
Activism platforms supporting grassroots efforts
Content documenting shared values
Physical spaces hosting community events
They're not just selling products. They're building communities around shared values. Sales follow naturally.
Result? Billion-dollar revenues with exceptional customer loyalty. Their communities defend them through controversies and pay premium prices because they're buying into shared values, not just products.
Retail as Community Hub
Some brands understood early that modern retail isn't about transactions - it's about creating spaces where communities naturally form.
Their community approach:
Stores designed as destinations with food, culture, and experiences
Limited collaborations that reward community loyalty
Regular release schedules that create community rituals
Flagship community spaces combining multiple lifestyle elements
Events that bring community together around shared interests
They didn't just sell products. They created gathering spaces where enthusiasts naturally congregate. Their stores became cultural destinations.
Result? Growth from single locations to global brands with cult followings. Customers camp out for releases not because of advertising, but because they're part of the community.
Athletic Community Building
Other brands didn't try to outspend giants on campaigns. They built community through clubs, authentic partnerships, and retail experiences.
Their strategy:
Community clubs in major cities worldwide
Athlete ambassadors who genuinely use and promote products
Retail stores as community hubs, not transaction points
Events and races bringing community together
Transparent communication about innovation
Result? Billion-dollar revenues by creating devoted communities who recruit other community members. Customers become unpaid ambassadors because they feel part of something bigger than a purchase.
The Economics: Why Community Compounds
The financial logic of community building demolishes traditional campaign economics:
Campaign Economics:
Requires constant budget allocation
Diminishing returns over time (ad fatigue)
Value disappears when spending stops
Each campaign starts from zero awareness
Customer acquisition costs continually rise (increased 60% from 2013-2022 across industries)
Community Economics:
Initial investment, then maintenance costs
Increasing returns over time (network effects)
Value grows even without constant spending
Each initiative builds on previous community momentum
Customer acquisition costs decrease as community recruits (organic referrals cost 75% less than paid acquisition)
Real Numbers
Research across industries shows compelling data.
Customer Value:
Community-engaged customers have 306% higher lifetime value compared to non-engaged customers
Active community members spend 19% more annually than passive customers
64% of consumers want brands to connect with them through shared values
Community-referred customers have 16% higher lifetime value and 37% higher retention rates
Cost Efficiency:
Community marketing generates 3x more leads at 62% lower cost than traditional outbound marketing
Word-of-mouth from communities influences $6 trillion in annual global consumer spending
92% of consumers trust recommendations from community members over traditional advertising
User-generated content from communities gets 28% higher engagement than brand-created content
Long-term Growth:
Brands with strong communities see 2.5x revenue growth compared to competitors
76% of consumers have purchased from a brand based on community recommendations
Community-driven brands reduce customer churn by 25–40%
86% of community members stay loyal during market disruptions vs. 42% of transactional customers
Time to Value:
A brand spending $500K on a quarterly campaign needs to spend $2M annually just to maintain presence. If they stop, they're invisible.
A brand spending $500K to build community infrastructure (events, spaces, programs, community managers) creates an asset that:
Generates organic content and sharing (reducing paid content costs by 40–60%)
Reduces paid acquisition costs by 40–60%
Creates 3–5x higher customer lifetime value
Compounds in value year over year
Continues creating value even during budget cuts
After year three, the community-focused brand typically has better brand awareness, stronger customer loyalty, and 50–70% lower marketing costs than the campaign-focused competitor.
The Four Pillars of Community Building
After observing hundreds of brands attempting community building, the successful ones follow consistent patterns:
1. Consistent Presence Over Flashy Moments
Communities form around regular, predictable touchpoints. A weekly event builds more community than an annual spectacle.
Bad approach: Host one massive brand festival per year Good approach: Host monthly gatherings that community members calendar in advance
2. Member-to-Member Value, Not Just Brand-to-Member
The strongest communities create value between members, not just from brand to customer.
Bad approach: All community content comes from your brand Good approach: Community members connect, collaborate, and create together
3. Long-Term Investment Mindset
Community ROI shows up over years, not quarters. Brands that demand immediate returns kill communities before they mature.
Bad approach: Expect measurable ROI within 90 days Good approach: Commit to 2-3 years of consistent community investment
4. Values Beyond Transactions
Communities form around shared beliefs and values, not just shared purchases.
Bad approach: Community exists to drive sales Good approach: Sales are a natural byproduct of strong community bonds
Why Most Brands Still Choose Campaigns
If community building is clearly superior, why do most brands still operate on campaign models?
The uncomfortable truths:
Control: Campaigns are controllable. Community is organic and sometimes unpredictable. Marketing departments don't like unpredictability.
Timelines: Campaigns show results in quarterly reports. Community building shows results over years. CFOs want quarterly wins.
Measurement: Campaign metrics are straightforward (impressions, clicks, conversions). Community health is harder to quantify.
Expertise: Most agencies and in-house teams are structured for campaign execution, not community building. Restructuring is difficult and expensive.
Risk tolerance: A failed campaign is expected and quickly forgotten. A failed community building effort feels like wasted years.
These are real organizational challenges. But they're also increasingly fatal in markets where community-driven brands are eating campaign-driven brands' lunch.
The Hybrid Approach: Campaigns That Build Community
The smartest brands aren't choosing between campaigns and community. They're using campaigns to build community momentum.
Running Clubs and Athletic Communities
Major athletic brands create ongoing community infrastructure through running clubs and training programs. But they use campaign moments (new product launches, athlete achievements) to energize the community rather than replace it.
Content-Driven Communities
Energy drink brands create spectacular event campaigns (extreme sports events, cultural festivals), but these feed into their ongoing media communities and athlete networks rather than standing alone.
Retail as Destination Communities
Furniture retailers run campaigns for product launches, but invest heavily in community through stores as destinations, family programs, and loyalty communities that keep people coming back.
The pattern: Use campaign moments to add energy to ongoing community efforts, not replace them.
Measuring What Matters
If you're serious about community building, you need to measure different things:
Stop measuring:
Impression counts
Single-campaign reach
Isolated conversion rates
Start measuring:
Community growth rate (not just size)
Member-to-member interaction frequency
Community-generated content volume
Retention and churn rates
Advocacy behaviors (referrals, reviews, organic sharing)
Time-to-community-value (how long before new members engage)
The most important metric: Does your community create value without your constant intervention? If yes, you're building real community. If no, you're just running engagement campaigns.
The shift from campaign thinking to community building changes everything about how marketing budgets should be allocated:
Traditional allocation:
80% campaign spending
15% brand building
5% community/loyalty
Community-first allocation:
40% ongoing community infrastructure
30% community programming and events
20% community-amplified campaigns
10% experimentation
This feels radical to traditional marketing organizations. But brands making this shift are seeing:
40–60% reduction in customer acquisition costs
2–3x improvement in customer lifetime value
Significantly higher brand resilience during market disruptions
Competitive moats that campaign-focused competitors can't replicate
The Bottom Line
Campaigns end. Communities compound.
After 10 years of building brand experiences, the pattern is undeniable: brands that invest in community building create sustainable competitive advantages that campaign-focused brands simply cannot match.
The viral campaign gets you attention for a week. The loyal community gets you business for a decade.
The question isn't whether community is more valuable than campaigns. The data is clear. The question is whether your organization has the patience, commitment, and strategic vision to make the shift.
Community became the new currency because it's the only marketing asset that appreciates over time.
Your marketing budget shrinks every year. Your community grows every year.
Let’s talk about your community?
