Intensity of collective consumption practices in brand communities: the case of crossfit

Building on practice theory and brand community literature, the aim of this article is to (1) identify the nature of intensity of collective consumption practices and (2) understand how intensity of consumption practices interplays with consumer’s relations to the self, the community, and the brand in a collective branded setting. The Crossfit brand is used as a context in this article because of its inherently intense nature and communal consumption settings. Twenty-one Crossfitters from North America and Europe were interviewed to understand their collective consumption practices of the brand. The results show that intensity of collective consumption practices consists of four dimensions: complexity, frequency, length and focus. Intensity is essential to the nature and maintenance of the relationships consumers keep with themselves, the community and the brand, and shapes them in many ways. While intensity is key to the way consumption practices exist, intensity is also highly personal, context-dependent and subject to interpretations and changes, which can even put the brand at risk. In a society where intensity is increasingly sought after by individuals and used as a differentiator by brands, we propose a first conceptualisation of the concept. This article also offers keys to managers to tap into the mechanisms of intense collective consumption practices for their brand.