CREATION: Attempts at online branding are being scuppered by a 'creative void' in cyberspace

<p>A creative void in cyberspace is stunting the growth of online </p><p>brands, a top agency executive has warned. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Mr Kent Wertime, chief executive officer for Asia-Pacific of </p><p>OgilvyInteractive, said that the Internet had been and continued to be </p><p>built largely on functionality. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>However, he said that although this is important, it is not the end all </p><p>and be all of the cyber experience. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He stressed that an emotional element was also important in brand and </p><p>relationship building but he noted that this ingredient was lacking or </p><p>missing in 95 per cent of websites he has seen. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"The fact is that people are not moved as consumers simply by </p><p>functionality. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>They're moved by character as well. But a lot of the sites lack online </p><p>character and there is a lack of creating exciting relationships with </p><p>consumers. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"A majority of the sites you see today have a lot of material but I see </p><p>a lot of cheap 'trick' banner ads or gimmicks that does nothing for </p><p>brand building," said Mr Wertime who gave the global creative effort so </p><p>far a paltry two-out-of-10. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"When I was in above-the-line advertising, I saw clients cry or laugh </p><p>over storyboards; these are emotions that are needed in building </p><p>brands. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But I don't think that the Internet has been used to the same extent," </p><p>he told MEDIA. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The solution, he said, was to have strong creative ideas enveloping a </p><p>site in order to build the brand character and identity, as well as to </p><p>give it a chance to realise its full potential as a key communications </p><p>medium. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Mr Wertime said that creativity did not mean the look and feel of the </p><p>site. Comparing a website to a TVC, he said that the former was </p><p>multidimensional and the latter one-dimensional. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"I'm not knocking television. It's a great way to build brands. But a </p><p>website is led by the consumer who chooses to navigate as they want," he </p><p>said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"It is an experience that isn't limited to 30 seconds. If the site is </p><p>good, it could be hours. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"There are many levels to think about and the way you help facilitate </p><p>the consumers' use of a site - navigating, interacting even transacting </p><p>- is a function of the creative process." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The champions of the Internet so far are the technologists and the </p><p>people who come up with the business models. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>When he gave the two-out-10 rating for Internet creativity, Mr Wertime </p><p>said he wasn't "damning" the medium and that the industry should take an </p><p>optimistic point of view. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"If I am a creative person then I'll say, 'terrific. I've got eight more </p><p>points of potential that I could be doing to make things better'." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He added that in a traditional business setting, consumers could </p><p>differentiate the counter sales people from the marketing department and </p><p>the production department from the accounting department. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But this is not true of the consumer's experience on the Web. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Offline, you can divorce the product from the intermediary; the shop </p><p>staff who treats me poorly or the salesman who responds promptly to my </p><p>complaint. But a website is the marketing, sales, retail, production </p><p>departments all rolled into one. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"With an Internet site, how well you provide customer support, how well </p><p>it builds a relationship, how attractive it looks, how interesting the </p><p>content is, how cleverly it is designed and how easily it is navigated </p><p>are all important because to the consumer they don't see the different </p><p>component. They just see this one entity before them," said Mr Wertime. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>