Faith vs Fandom: How brands can get it right

Fandom tends to get filed under culture. Something soft, social – hard to pin down on a spreadsheet. But if you look a little closer, it behaves far less like "entertainment" and far more like "belief".

That matters, because for brands, belief is where the commercial value sits.

Here Be Dragons worked with Ripple Research to poll 1000 Gen Zers. While not all identified as religious, (only 21% said they’re part of a belief or religious community), the mechanics of belief haven’t gone anywhere – they’ve just shifted.

You see it in music. In gaming. In sport. Across these spaces, the same patterns repeat: identity, belonging, ritual and emotional investment. Not passive audiences, but rather, active participants. And yet, most brands are still treating these communities like they’re just that – mere audiences.

But they’re missing the point.

If you want to understand the commercial power of fandom, start with how it makes people feel. Forty four percent of the Gen Zers said being part of a community gives them a sense of fulfilment. That number climbs in communities that look more like belief systems: 54% in religious communities, 49% in sport, 46% in film, TV and gaming, and 45% in music.

That emotional depth directly shapes behaviour. Three quarters of the Gen Zers polled said they are willing to spend money on the communities they’re part of. In sport, that rises to 81% ,(just check out Arsenal’s 26% YoY increase in its street style merch range with Adidas), peaking at 151m euros for the 24/25 season. In belief or religious communities, that number peaks at 83%.

The strength of connection

The pattern is clear. The stronger the identity and emotional connection, the higher the willingness to spend. This leads to a fairly simple truth: if your brand sits at a certain level of interest, you’ll get engagement. If it reaches and connects with identity, you’ll see revenue.

The biggest Gen Z communities – music, gaming, sport – aren’t just popular because of scale. They work because they allow people to express who they are. More than half of Gen Z say their interests and communities help signal their identity to others.

That’s not new. It’s exactly what faith has always done. It gives people a framework to express themselves, not just something to consume. That's why these communities continue to grow. The engaged community members also bring others in as they share, contribute and show up, resulting in the culture reinforcing itself.

For brands, that means rethinking what content is for: reframing it not as a deliverable, but as fuel. The more people can do with your brand – remix, share, show up for it – the more it embeds itself into their identity. This way fandom doesn’t stay online, it also shows up in the real world.

Sixty eight percent of Gen Z have travelled long distances to take part in a community moment. Among sports fans, that jumps to 74%. Music, film and gaming follow closely behind. 

Call it what it is – a modern pilgrimage.

The untouchables

However, there’s a line. While Gen Z are willing to spend, they’re also clear about what shouldn’t be touched. Nearly half believe there are parts of their community that shouldn’t be commercialised. Symbols. Language. Core values. Key stories. The things that give the community meaning. Faith has always understood this. If you protect the meaning, you protect the value.

Brands often do the opposite. They borrow the signals without earning the right to use them. They push too hard, too fast, and flatten the very thing that made the community powerful in the first place. If a community starts to feel like a belief system, you need to treat it with the same level of care.

The brands that last are the ones that understand that they’re operating inside something bigger than themselves. So yes, create moments worth travelling for. Build rituals. Give people reasons to show up. But, do it with a level of respect that matches the role you’re trying to play. Gen Z fandom isn’t just about what people like, it’s about what they believe in, where they belong AND how they see themselves.

Belonging drives participation, fulfilment drives loyalty, and belief drives spend.

The brands that win won’t be the loudest, they’ll be the ones that actually get this small fact – that people don’t build their identity around brands they notice, they build it around brands they believe in.

Written by

Paul McEntee, Founder of creative agency Here Be Dragons.