Pair Assignment 2

1) What « cool » is according to the first article?
In this article we talk about the Coolhunting. Coolhunting is a form of market research that involves scouting out new trends in urban subcultures for the purpose of mass marketing. Coolhunters are interested in what urban youth groups, including minority groups, are wearing, listening to, etc. Skateboarding, snowboarding, and hip-hop are some of the groups observed by cool hunters. What people are wearing on urban streets in major cities (Tokyo, LA, New York, etc.) is also the object of observation.
Cool could not be defined in a manual or even in an encyclopedia. Coolhunting is not about the articulation of a current philosophy of cool. It’s just a collection of spontaneous observations and predictions that differ from one moment to the next. Cool is something that the companies cannot control. “Cool” is a question of choices made by a select group of young people, who might be powerful taste makers but are otherwise often pretty disenfranchised (by virtue of youth, race, and money). Companies can “intervene in the cool cycle” by scouting out a trend and marketing it, but they can’t actually create cool.
We can sum up saying that cool is defined by three rules:
1. Cool can’t be observed accurately, because as soon as you call something cool, it starts losing its coolness.
2. Cool can’t be manufactured, only observed.
3. You have to be cool to recognize cool.

2) What is a brand community? Can or should all brands build communities? Why / Why not?
According to the third article (written by Hope Jensen Schau, Albert M. Muniz Jr. and Eric J. Arnould), brand communities are groups composed of consumers or expected consumers of a product or service. These communities can be recognized thanks to several practices consumers have: welcoming, empathizing, governing, evangelizing, justifying,