- "Brands are Dead"
The old rules no longer apply. Unlimited by time or space, the 'Net
provides 24/7 access to information. In such a well-informed, rational
world, the emotional foundation of most traditional branded products
must decline.
- "Brands Will Only Get Stronger"
With at least 300 million publicly accessible Web pages customers are
overwhelmed by complex choice, unfamiliar names and fragmented
information.
In this environment, consumers will gladly pay more for the quality and
reassurance of established and recognised branded products (assuming
performance and price are aligned).
- "The Brand is Dead! Long Live the Brand!"
It is probable both arguments will prove to be correct. As forces
created by the digital economy change traditional mass-marketing, those
unwilling to adapt will see their brand franchise evaporate. In
comparison, companies able to creatively embrace these new opportunities
are destined to rapidly build their brand's strength.
- Can You Feel the Force?
The most important and far reaching development is the creation of
information-based, customer power. The Web has encouraged 'at your
convenience' analysis of product or service information.
The most successful dotcoms have understood and embraced these
forces.
They immediately grasped that this new, well-informed customer meant it
was vital to add a new 'P' (Promise) to the existing three Ps
(Personality, Presence and Performance) of textbook offline
branding.
- Brand = Experience; Experience = Brand?
The concept of experiential branding is not unique to the Internet.
However, offline experiential branding remains driven by emotions and
senses. On the Web, there must be a far greater emphasis on the
functional.
Think of your brand as an iceberg. The brand to the consumer used to be
purely what was visible above the waterline - product, positioning,
logo, advertising, and packaging. Below the surface were a host of
invisible elements, which nonetheless contributed to building brand
value.
The successful online brand builder must manage the customer's entire
experience from first encounter through purchase, delivery and
beyond.
The result in the online environment is a shift from creating brands (in
the offline definition) to delivering a complete, end-to-end consumer
experience.
- Experience is Your Online Business
The components of your online experience are the very ingredients of
your online business. The customer, 'value-add', promise, all elements
of Web design, the impact of marketing, even the exploration of new
revenue generating models to offset the cost of building a successful
experience (see Amazon.com's expansion from a single-low margin
product).
- From "Why Not?" to "Why?"
Marketers must be realistic as to what will make customers change
existing habits or attitudes. We must understand a 'promise'. There may
be over two million websites, but there are a limited number of
fundamental promises that offer truly relevant and distinctive value
propositions. These include convenience, advantage, fun, self-expression
or community.
- The Role of Design?
Beyond the strong visual identities of leading online brands (e.g
Beenz.com, Ebay, Egg.com), designing an experience must also utilise the
medium's ability to effectively deliver a promise.
Involving functionality and site navigation, experiential design in this
context includes the translation of the promise into specific
interactive functions and features that give customers seamless
experience.
- Online Marketing for Branding?
The accountability of marketing on the Internet is stealing all the
headlines, but is not the whole story.
Take search engine optimisation. Your ranking in search engines
undoubtedly delivers highly targeted traffic to your website, but it is
also a branding mechanism, for search engines are the supermarket
display shelves of the Internet, providing many potential customers with
a first contact with your URL.
Another example is email marketing. The limits of text and its
perception as pure direct marketing diverts many from considering its
role as a brand re-enforcer. But the visual opportunities of HTML and
the delivery of added value, customer-centric and personalised benefits
enhance the overall experience, which is the digital brand.
- Summary
Just like the offline branding process, there is no magic formula to
create successful brands in the digital economy. For online marketers,
success now rests on the ability to create digital brands that deliver
on the new range of needs, desires and expectations that the online
customer is now developing.
