Make Brand Advertising Work Online, the Yahoo! Way

Considering the latest Forrester Research study about online advertising the future is bright for the 21st century’s media giants, like Yahoo! or Google, and here are some excerpts from this study:

  • 2005 growth in online advertising spending, represents a 23 percent increase from 2004, up to $14.7 billion and it’s estimated to $26 billion by 2010
  • This is not the return of “The Bubble”. The growth is coming from marketers having to make tough decisions about allocating scarce advertising dollars – in many cases, funding online channels from traditional channels. Back in 1999/2000, spending often came from exuberant spending, fueled by venture money.
  • It’s more than just about search. Search is great, it’s growing, but it’s not the whole story. In fact, I anticipate that search will become much more integrated into traditional brand advertising
  • Marketers will shift channels away from traditional channels to fund online marketing

With all these in mind, Fortune Magazine, published and interesting article on Yahoo’s Brilliant Solution, an in-depth analysis on Yahoo’s approach towards winning more and more of the online branding advertising dollars.

And in the scrum for online brand advertising—almost as large a market—Yahoo is poised to grab the biggest share. Its 181 million active registered users are probably the largest online clientele, which means Yahoo can tell advertisers it knows the habits of more users than any other portal—or any traditional media company.

Brand Extension – 10 principles

Mentioned here before, [tag]brand extension[/tag], is the application of a brand beyond its initial range of products, or outside of its category.

Many brand extensions are simply bad business ideas. Just because consumers would accept chocolate pudding from Nestl� doesn�t mean this is a good business idea. The category may be dominated by another company. Nestl� may not be able to efficiently manufacture the product. The margins in the new category may be too small to justify the investment, etc. Launching a brand extension that is an orphan in the category can be a prescription for failure because the item cannot generate sufficient sales to be adequately supported and defended.

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10 Steps To An Irresistible Brand

The methodology of crafting brand strategies, defines ten steps on the “yellow brick road” to an irresistible brand, each complete with its own tools, and all composing a comprehensive and well structured work process. Using the ten not so easy, but sure-fire steps, you can create truly amazing brands.

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Best Global Brands by Value for 2005

In the new special report, BusinessWeek and Interbrand rank the companies that best built their images — and made them stick in 2005. The names that gained the most in value focus ruthlessly on every detail of their brands, honing simple, cohesive identities that are consistent in every product, in every market around the world, and in every contact with consumers. (In the ranking, which is compiled in partnership with brand consultancy Interbrand Corp., a dollar value is calculated for each brand using publicly available data, projected profits, and variables such as market leadership).

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Online-only brands ‘lack trust’

A survey of over 1,000 customers by insurers Direct Line shows even though internet buying is surging in popularity, shoppers still do not trust online-only brands.

Despite the convenience of shopping online, nearly two out of three consumers prefer to buy a known and trusted brand that also exists offline,

the study claims. Only one in three feel as well-informed when purchasing goods online as they do when buying face-to-face or over the phone, while 83 per cent prefer access to an expert, a feature not inherent in web-based companies.

“Consumers today want the convenience of the internet and the comfort of knowing an expert is at the other end of the phone at any time,” said Emma Holyer, from Direct Line.

The survey found the attitude pervasive across all age groups, particularly among 25- to 34-year-olds, an audience typically more relaxed to brand affiliation.

Some 65 per cent of this group said they believe brand awareness to be a key factor when purchasing online.

Well I wouldn’t totally agree with this study, looking at brands like Amazon or eBay, but we also have to consider it took some years for these kind of brands to become what they are nowadays.

Five Dimensions in Branding

In contemporary branding we have the option to not just ‘brand’ products, services or organizations, in order to make them more appealing to consumers. Brands are now often conceived as well-differentiated concepts of novel and exclusive ways to provide a benefit (of any sorts) to consumers.

Brand Actualization is performed in five interlinked dimensions (although there is no necessity to use all five), all serving our dual purpose of both arousing anticipation of benefit and fulfilling them:

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Corporate identity basics

Corporate identity refers to the strategic concept for positioning a company. It entails defining identity traits, integrating them into a congruent action concept and coordinating them within this concept. Its objective is to permanently anchor a distinct, easily recognizable image in consumers’ minds.

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Brand Value – 10 Ways To Create It

Consumers love brands because they offer an extra value—that is, one in addition to the core product or service. That value becomes the major motivation for consumers to buy or use the product.

How precisely is this value being added and incorporated into the brand? Advertising professionals say it is advertising. Consumers love the ad—so they’ll love the brand. Other marketing experts are suggesting that a consistent and total brand experience is the key.

Brands are not human-like and they do not have a life of their own outside the consumer’s mind. They are instruments, simply means to achieve ends. Emotions cannot be glued to them. They arouse emotions when they are perceived as a source of something beneficial. The positive emotions are direct outcomes of these anticipations. Their various symbolizations (name, logo, font, emblem and so on) have little impact on their own; their importance is mainly as identifiers of sources of already attributed and anticipated benefits.

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Brand System – The Experience

As mentioned before, experience is the third step in defining Brand as a System. Brand experience is the aggregate of consumer perceptions that come from interacting with a brand.

The process of exposing consumers to the various attributes associated with a particular brand, a successful brand experience creates an environment in which the consumer will be surrounded by the positive elements attached to the brand.

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