Sometimes mouse, sometimes screwdriver
Optimal offline and online measures turn a brand into a crossover brand
Optimal off- and online measures turn a brand into a crossover brandBy Markus Gabriel* Brand management on the Internet is criminally neglected by most communication strategists. In the transition to a click & mortar company, companies can build a crossover brand with the clever use of offline and online measures.
Although the internet is the most revolutionary and highest-traffic medium of the modern era, it remains a marginal part of the average company's communications mix. Communications managers may be happy about the traffic on their website, which is largely due to the offline strength of the brand. They are also reassured when they can wrest something of a brand look and feel from the terribly CI-unfriendly html on their site.
The conventional wisdom is that brand management still takes place via mass media and works via public perception and hardly via websites that open up in the solitude of the lonely surfer. Thus, although the brand profits on the Internet, practically nothing is reinvested, as figures from the European MMXI study repeatedly show (see WW 12/02).
However, the reason for this reluctance is based less on a well-founded brand strategy assessment of the medium and more on a certain helplessness in dealing with the new technology, a lack of experience and also a lack of pressure to deviate from tried and tested paths. Furthermore, from a commercial point of view, the Internet is not necessarily in the favor of brand-cultivating advertising agencies, which prefer to create added value from traditional scatter budgets.
The Internet is not suitable for building a brand
Nevertheless, these questions arise: What relevance does the Internet have in terms of brand technology? How can a brand position itself on the Internet? The latter question becomes even more important if a company has already started certain business activities on the Internet and is in the process of becoming a so-called click & mortar company.
For example, while the Blick brand appears on the Internet with familiar letters as Blick Online and relies on the overarching brand identity, the Orell Füssli brand suddenly catches the reader's eye on the web as books.ch. Is it wise to sacrifice an established brand on the web to a generic, albeit catchier, word?
No, says the crossover brand study by the Institute of Marketing and Retailing at the University of St.Gallen: Over 80 percent of the companies surveyed consider a monobrand strategy (64%) or an umbrella brand strategy with online and offline sub-brands (20%) to be more promising than a
E-brand extra. On the other hand, it is hardly the last word in wisdom for a brand to be perceived on the Internet merely as a clickable copy of its offline appearance. A medium that allows interaction and transactions should be able to be used effectively for the brand.
In fact, the internet is not really suitable for building a brand. Internet platforms have had to learn this painfully. This requires the publicity of the mass media, i.e. the opportunity to position and differentiate oneself in direct comparison. Only through public friction with other brands and through the special sound in the babble of advertising messages does a brand gain profile and memorability. The Internet is the pure opposite of a mass medium. It is the most private and intimate medium of all, because it allows a maximum degree of self-determination in its use and thus always comes closer to the user's world of thought than the subscription-based newspaper or the zapped television program.
The brand can be actively experienced on the Internet
The different effects of mass media and the Internet can best be illustrated with an example: Billboards and TV screens impress Ikea on the viewer as the best furniture store. They gain the brand-worthy impression that Ikea stands for a youthful style of living, for affordable and smart furniture and not just for sawn wooden boards.
But that's only half the battle for Ikea. If the viewer now responds positively to the brand and wants to get closer to it in a non-committal way, then he brings Ikea into his home via modem, right into his private sphere and clicks through the brand. It's almost like carrying an Ikea piece of furniture home and working through the assembly instructions.
- The effect is the same: the user actively "experiences" the brand, enters into a dialog with it and adds new insights to their brand image. A missing screw can neutralize a lot of advertising money and have a stronger influence on brand understanding than the best campaign. That is why this screw should not be missing on the Internet. A careful Internet strategy is necessary if only to protect communication investments in the brand. But the goal can be set higher: The goal is the crossover brand.
This brand a priori has broader wings. It not only allows for the possible expansion of the business model, customer segments and sales radius, but also shines with an increase in expertise, customer proximity and modernity. The prerequisite for this is a web presence that adds functional value. The aim is to design the brand as an application, as brandware (brand software). In terms of perception, the crossover brand is characterized by an intensifying resonance system: "branding" in the public sphere of the mass media and "brand experience" in the private sphere of the Internet user.
But what does this mean for communication? A crossover brand naturally draws its energy and credibility from the effect of orchestrated offline and online communication measures: The classic tools of advertising, PR, direct marketing and promotion find their seamless counterparts in banner advertising, search engine optimization, permission marketing and viral marketing. The right mix and optimal dovetailing of offline and online measures ensures that a strong brand becomes an even stronger crossover brand that has a better chance of winning and retaining customers.
* Markus Gabriel is the owner of Angelink AG, a crossover agency.
Although the internet is the most revolutionary and highest-traffic medium of the modern era, it remains a marginal part of the average company's communications mix. Communications managers may be happy about the traffic on their website, which is largely due to the offline strength of the brand. They are also reassured when they can wrest something of a brand look and feel from the terribly CI-unfriendly html on their site.
The conventional wisdom is that brand management still takes place via mass media and works via public perception and hardly via websites that open up in the solitude of the lonely surfer. Thus, although the brand profits on the Internet, practically nothing is reinvested, as figures from the European MMXI study repeatedly show (see WW 12/02).
However, the reason for this reluctance is based less on a well-founded brand strategy assessment of the medium and more on a certain helplessness in dealing with the new technology, a lack of experience and also a lack of pressure to deviate from tried and tested paths. Furthermore, from a commercial point of view, the Internet is not necessarily in the favor of brand-cultivating advertising agencies, which prefer to create added value from traditional scatter budgets.
The Internet is not suitable for building a brand
Nevertheless, these questions arise: What relevance does the Internet have in terms of brand technology? How can a brand position itself on the Internet? The latter question becomes even more important if a company has already started certain business activities on the Internet and is in the process of becoming a so-called click & mortar company.
For example, while the Blick brand appears on the Internet with familiar letters as Blick Online and relies on the overarching brand identity, the Orell Füssli brand suddenly catches the reader's eye on the web as books.ch. Is it wise to sacrifice an established brand on the web to a generic, albeit catchier, word?
No, says the crossover brand study by the Institute of Marketing and Retailing at the University of St.Gallen: Over 80 percent of the companies surveyed consider a monobrand strategy (64%) or an umbrella brand strategy with online and offline sub-brands (20%) to be more promising than a
E-brand extra. On the other hand, it is hardly the last word in wisdom for a brand to be perceived on the Internet merely as a clickable copy of its offline appearance. A medium that allows interaction and transactions should be able to be used effectively for the brand.
In fact, the internet is not really suitable for building a brand. Internet platforms have had to learn this painfully. This requires the publicity of the mass media, i.e. the opportunity to position and differentiate oneself in direct comparison. Only through public friction with other brands and through the special sound in the babble of advertising messages does a brand gain profile and memorability. The Internet is the pure opposite of a mass medium. It is the most private and intimate medium of all, because it allows a maximum degree of self-determination in its use and thus always comes closer to the user's world of thought than the subscription-based newspaper or the zapped television program.
The brand can be actively experienced on the Internet
The different effects of mass media and the Internet can best be illustrated with an example: Billboards and TV screens impress Ikea on the viewer as the best furniture store. They gain the brand-worthy impression that Ikea stands for a youthful style of living, for affordable and smart furniture and not just for sawn wooden boards.
But that's only half the battle for Ikea. If the viewer now responds positively to the brand and wants to get closer to it in a non-committal way, then he brings Ikea into his home via modem, right into his private sphere and clicks through the brand. It's almost like carrying an Ikea piece of furniture home and working through the assembly instructions.
- The effect is the same: the user actively "experiences" the brand, enters into a dialog with it and adds new insights to their brand image. A missing screw can neutralize a lot of advertising money and have a stronger influence on brand understanding than the best campaign. That is why this screw should not be missing on the Internet. A careful Internet strategy is necessary if only to protect communication investments in the brand. But the goal can be set higher: The goal is the crossover brand.
This brand a priori has broader wings. It not only allows for the possible expansion of the business model, customer segments and sales radius, but also shines with an increase in expertise, customer proximity and modernity. The prerequisite for this is a web presence that adds functional value. The aim is to design the brand as an application, as brandware (brand software). In terms of perception, the crossover brand is characterized by an intensifying resonance system: "branding" in the public sphere of the mass media and "brand experience" in the private sphere of the Internet user.
But what does this mean for communication? A crossover brand naturally draws its energy and credibility from the effect of orchestrated offline and online communication measures: The classic tools of advertising, PR, direct marketing and promotion find their seamless counterparts in banner advertising, search engine optimization, permission marketing and viral marketing. The right mix and optimal dovetailing of offline and online measures ensures that a strong brand becomes an even stronger crossover brand that has a better chance of winning and retaining customers.
* Markus Gabriel is the owner of Angelink AG, a crossover agency.
