Re: Brand building through the net

From: Brandt Heinemann <bheinema_at_darkwing.uoregon.edu>
Date: Tue 30 Jan 2001 12:55:00 -0500

ROB FRANKEL <rob_at_robfrankel.com> WROTE:
> ...the web is the BEST medium for brand
> building, because people go on the web looking for
> solutions to their problems, not to be sold the way
> they are via other mass media. This means that web
> surfers are more likely buyers than shoppers, and if
> they buy your brand, they'll recommend it to others --
> whcih is also what the web is excellent at.

I agree the Web is one option from a marketers toolbox
to use for branding, but by no means is it the "BEST."
Let's face it, given how most people interact with the
Web today it is best utilized as a vehicle that
provides new ways for marketers to distribute their
product/service/whatever to consumers. It is a place
where, "people go not to be sold the way they are via
other mass media." Of course, just by being another
touch point between marketer and consumer information
regarding the brand is communicated, but the Web does
not yet have the capability to BEST convey all the rich
associations required to build a 3-dimensional brand
identity. With the continued focus on convergence I
believe this will change very soon though.

> Of course, if you think "brand building"in the sense of
> buildling awareness for the brand, that's a different
> story. For my money, nothing builds awareness quite
> like a few hundred million bucks on TV....

TV should not be relegated to being just an awareness
tool, but the tool that most succesfully attaches
meanings to a brand in a way that allows consumers to
mentally categorize brands relative to everything else
rattling around in their minds. Of course, awareness is
a product of this, but not the only product. And again,
with the amount of convergence we will be experiencing
in the next few years this will change.

long windedly yours,

Brandt Heinemann, grad student/researcher
bheinema_at_darkwing.uoregon.edu
School of Journalism & Communication
University of Oregon





Received on Tue Jan 30 2001 - 11:55:00 CST