Online Brand Building

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Online Brand Building

• Gary Akehurst

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Online Brand Strategy

• Brands are at the heart of internet marketing
• if a companys offer is perceived to be the same
  as competitors then consumers will be indifferent
  and will choose the cheapest or most accessible
• marketing fundamentally seeks to create a
  preference for the companys brand
• if customers perceive one brand as superior, they
  will prefer it and pay more for it (perceived
  quality)
• brands create customer loyalty
• can build strong market share

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Brand Strategy

• Advantages of online shopping
• Choice (the web is empowering, choice what to
  buy, when to buy and what price)
• Vast selection online (products are displayed,
  reviewed, compared with no cost in money or time,
  making online shopping very efficient)
• Quick comparison (quickly can compare product
  prices, quality, etc before making final choice)

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Brand Strategy

• Disadvantages of online shopping
• Certain buying decisions need to be in a store
  (clothing, perfume, shoes)
• Products requiring in-store help
• Products with potential delivery problems
• Web site tools to help customers reach decisions
  are inflexible, designed without considering how
  people really purchase

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Brand Strategy

• A brand is
• not a product which just happens to have a high
  awareness
• more than a recognisable name or logo (although
  both of these are often present)
• it is much more - a powerful stimulus that
  conjures up a complex image and level of
  expectation, and what it can do for the consumer
• intangible, mysterious, powerful

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Brand Strategy

• A brand serves three vital roles
• It acts as a magnet to attract new customers to
  the business
• Serves as a reminder to customers about the
  firms products and services
• Can become the customers emotional tie to the
  firm

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Brand Strategy

• Kotler (1997). Marketing management analysis,
  planning, implementation and control, suggests a
  brand is
• A name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a
  combination of them, intended to identify the
  goods or services of one seller or group of
  sellers and to differentiate them from those of
  competitors.
• this definition covers the more tangible
  attributes of the brand and its purpose as a
  differentiator but is too mechanistic to reveal
  the brands complexity as an intangible, largely
  irrational and emotional influence

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Brand Strategy

• The Brand added values which meet functional
  needs and certain psychological needs of
  customers and elicit confidence of quality and
  desirability
• emotional, irrational, intangible (values,
  attitudes, beliefs), symbolic
• The Product something which meets the functional
  needs of customers
• phlegmatic, rational, tangible (features,
  benefits, advantages), functional

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Brand Strategy

• Feldwick (1996) in Cowley, D., (ed),
  Understanding brands. London Kogan Page
• a brand may have a personality but it is not a
  person. You cannot talk to it and it cannot
  answer back. In fact it has no absolute or
  objective existence.

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Brand Strategy

• So what is a brand? I would suggest it is
  effectively a mass of values, images, promises
  and attitudes all brought together, but perceived
  in terms of a meaningful whole rather than in
  elements or parts. The resulting integration is
  then considered by consumers against a background
  of individual experience, knowledge, prejudice
  and, importantly, the marketing input aimed at
  enhancing the attributes of a specific offering.
• Adcock, D. (2000). Marketing strategies for
  competitive advantage. Chichester John Wiley,
  p203

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Brand Strategy

• Brand equity is the key concept
• The assets (or liabilities) linked to a brands
  name and symbol that add to (or subtract from) a
  service
• Chaffey, Mayer, Johnston and Ellis Chadwick
  (2003) 190

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Brand Strategy

• Brand equity consists of
• Brand awareness (by prolonged and targeted
  marketing communications to promote the brand
  identity and other brand qualities)
• Perceived quality
• Brand associations (the personality aspect)
• Brand loyalty (customer commitment)

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Brand Strategy

• Three characteristics of a successful online
  brand
• The brand is highly dependent on customer
  perceptions
• Perception is shaped and developed by the online
  products added value characteristics
• These characteristics must be sustainable over
  time

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Brand Strategy

• the product (books)
• the brand (Amazon.com)
• the brand is the product plus wrap-arounds
  (easy customer interaction, one click shopping,
  easy delivery)
• the wrap-arounds differentiate Amazon from other
  products in the books product category

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Brand Strategy

• Top 10 most visited UK retail sites December 2004
• eBay.co.uk
• Amazon.co.uk
• Kelkoo.co.uk
• Argos.co.uk
• Play.com
• Dell.com Europe
• Tesco.com
• eBaymotors.co.uk
• Comet.co.uk

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Brand Strategy

• This list features the most popular websites
  based on UK Internet usage for December, 2006,
  ranked by market share of all visits.
• Source www.hitwise.co.uk

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Brand Strategy
Source www.hitwise.co.uk
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Brand Strategy

• Top 10 online brands in the UK
• MSN
• Microsoft
• Google
• Yahoo
• BBC
• eBay
• Freeserve
• Amazon
• AOL
• Ask Jeeves
• Source Nielsen/Netratings, January 2004

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Brand Strategy
Source www.hitwise.co.uk
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Brand Strategy
Source Cunningham, M.J. (2001) How to build a
profitable e-commerce strategy. London FT
Pearson Education
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Brand Strategy

• A successful brand (S) is a combination of
• an effective product (P)
• a distinctive identity (D)
• and added values (AV)
• S P x D x AV
• the three characteristics of a successful brand
  are multiplicative rather than additive (each is
  essential)

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Brand Strategy

• Companies can choose to focus brand building at
  different levels
• company brand (Heinz, Mercedes, Virgin - choose
  to make company name the dominant brand identity
  across all products)
• individual brand names (Unilever, Proctor
  Gamble, focus on individual brand identities for
  each product - Fairy Liquid, Persil, Domestos,
  Comfort)
• company and individual brands (Kelloggs -
  Kelloggs Cornflakes, Bran, etc - a middle way
  featuring company and individual brand)
• range branding (Matsushita - families of products
  under separate range names - National, Panasonic,
  Technics, Quasar)

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Brand Strategy

• Brand values
• choosing competing products on technical or
  rational grounds too difficult, time consuming
  and expensive for most buyers
• the sheer volume of decisions, pace of technical
  change and competing alternatives plus array of
  media messages
• buyers look for safe short cuts - reputable
  brands provide confidence and cut risks and
  choice complexity
• people use brands to show off their lifestyles,
  interests, values or wealth
• customer needs these days likely to be about
  self-actualisation or esteem rather than just
  basic physical or economic needs

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Brand Strategy

• How brand values occur
• experience of use (brand provides good service
  over years of regular use, acquires familiarity
  and proven reliability)
• user associations (image acquired from type of
  people seen using the brand - advertising and
  sponsorship used to convey prestige images,
  success, etc.)
• belief in efficacy (if customers have faith brand
  will work, it is more likely to work effectively
  for them - can be created by comparative
  evaluations, consumer association rankings,
  editorials)
• brand appearance (design offering cues to
  quality)
• manufacturer name and reputation (strong company
  name, e.g. Sony - positive associations,
  confidence, incentive to trial)

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Brand Strategy

• Online customers often interact and experience a
  brand quite frequently, making the experience
  more important than perceptions
• An online brand promises
• Convenience (better than offline or with
  competitors)
• Achievement (help customers achieve their goals)
• Fun and adventure (in B2C markets)
• self-expression and recognition (by
  personalisation and customisation)
• Belonging (to online communities)

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Brand Strategy
Brand identity message sent out by the brand
through product form, name, visual signs
etc. Brand image how the target
market perceives the brand
Brand core (fixed over time) Brand
style Brand themes communicated by
advertising, packaging etc)
culture personality self-image
Physical appearance (colour, logo,
packaging) Reflection (persons used to advertise
brand) Relationship expressed (prestige, glamour,
etc)
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Brand Strategy

• must develop a consistent message which is
  transmitted through packaging, design,
  advertising, line and brand extensions and
  offline and online
• the image the target market has of your brand may
  be quite different from the message your company
  is seeking to communicate
• understanding the brands core and style helps
  set the perimeters of brand extensions - how far
  the brand can be meaningfully stretched to other
  products and market segments

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Brand Strategy

• Brands which have achieved their potential
• have a quality product (satisfactory customer
  experiences)
• being first (easier to stake a position in the
  consumers mind)
• unique positioning concept (benefits,
  augmentations)
• strong communications programme (effective
  selling, promotions etc)
• time and consistency (require investment over
  years)

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Brand Strategy
A Good Brand
American Airlines mix of offline and
online advertising emphases advantages
to memberships including nonexpiring airmiles
and online services superior service club
frequent flier club club lounges comfortable
chairs portable defibrillators on every
flight safe on-time transportation
Marketing Communications
Wrap-arounds
Core Product or Service
Source Rayport, J.F. Jaworski, B.J. (2001).
E-Commerce. Boston McGraw Hill/Irwin, p.186
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Brand Strategy
A good brand positive consumer benefits respon
ses core product/service brand
awareness customers loyalty confiden
ce satisfaction wrap-arounds strong brand
associations (consistent company relevant,
uniqueness, reduce costs memorable,
distinctive, higher profits positive) brand
extensions
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Brand Strategy

• Offline, traditional brands
• Coca-Cola
• McDonalds
• Dell
• BMW
• Sony
• Disney
• Mercedes

• Online brands
• Amazon
• Yahoo
• AOL
• ZDNet
• Smile
• Cahoot
• Google

Crossover brands (offline brands into online and
vice versa)
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Brand Strategy

• distinctions between offline and online are
  breaking down
• some brands (e.g. Smile) were established as
  online brands but also use offline promotional
  activities to grow the brand
• some brands are extensions of offline or online
  brands (a mixture or hybrid)
• some brands are shifting (migrating) from offline
  to online (e.g. Britannica Encyclopædia)
• some brands were established offline but use
  online promotions

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Brand Strategy

• When an e-commerce web site is established
• Most companies migrate their brand online (risk
  if website is poorly designed and difficult to
  navigate)
• Extend existing brand online (with a slight
  variation on online)
• Promote the brand in association or partnership
  with a strong online brand
• Create a new online brand (e.g. Smile)

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Brand Strategy

• Effectiveness of online brand advertising
• Need to establish
• whether people connect a brand to the ad
  (prompted or top-of-mind awareness)
• Connect the message to a brand (message
  association)
• To what extent people are favourable to the brand
  (favourability)
• Likelihood of purchasing (purchase intent)
• What attributes are attached to the brand such as
  cool or fun (brand attributes)

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Brand Strategy

• The Ten Step Branding Process
• Clearly define the brand audience
• Understand the customer
• Identify key leverage points in customer
  experience
• Continually monitor competitors (online
  competition fierce)
• Design compelling and complete brand intent
• Execute with integrity (trustworthy messages)
• Be consistent over time
• Establish feedback systems (quick online)
• Be opportunistic (at individual level online)
• Invest and be patient
• Source Rayport and Jaworski (2000) p.191

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Brand Strategy
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Brand Strategy
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Brand Strategy
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Brand Strategy

• Chaffey, D., Mayer, R., Johnston, K.
  Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2006). Internet marketing.
  Strategy, implication and practice, (3rd ed).
  London Pearson Education. (2nd ed 2003) chapter
  5 The internet and the marketing mix