Digital Brand Building
Taking your brand into the digital domain successfully . . . the first time
by Chantal Payette, October 1996
So you're a major, world-wide company and you want
to put your product on the Internet, fast. What do
you do? You hire your secretary's best friend's son's
tutor's babysitter, who's been fiddling with code in
his basement for a while, to build your company's Web
site. The Result? Usually a very unhappy ending. This
isn't an urban myth, it's a reality even today on the
World Wide Web. As a veteran of the multimedia
industry, I've seen this story play out again and
again, and at least half of my company's business is
in the redesign of Web sites or CD-ROMs that lacked
planning and forethought.
One of a company's most important assets, whether
large or small, is their brand. I'm talking about
their logo, their colours, their slogan . . .
anything that sets them apart from their competition
and makes them instantly recognizable in any medium
they venture into. In some cases, a company's
branding can become more important in promotion than
the products themselves. Corporations in general
spend millions of dollars every year making sure that
their brand is seen by consumers, whether in
television commercials, poster ads, magazine reviews
or radio spots. Digital brand building means taking a
company's brand, which already exists in a
traditional medium, and spreading it across several
different new media platforms to increase awareness
of their product. An Internet Web site, for example,
could potentially be seen by millions of people
around the world, and, if done properly, could
enhance the image of their brand more effectively and
at a comparatively lower cost than traditional media.
Many companies are willing to spend upwards of six
figures on a television commercial, and even more for
distribution and air-time. So why do so many
established corporations feel such a strong urge to
get their products represented in the new media, but
are unwilling to spend the time and money to do it
right? Good question, and I still have some
difficulty answering it. I assume that they are still
questioning whether the new media are viable
promotional vehicles. Spending any kind of serious
cash on multimedia is not yet considered the norm. If
branding is so important, why would any company risk
leaving a bad impression? Once you've scratched the
surface, having a Web site or CD-ROM can contribute
more than mere added value -- it could be the most
efficient and cost-effective method to sell a product
or information for some companies these days.
A company can successfully promote their brand on
the Net, CD-ROMs, etc., if they simply treat it as if
new media were any other medium that they would use
to advertise their product. However, new media has a
few inherent differences: what is created must be
worth seeing, hearing and interacting with. Keeping
these differences in mind when creating a digital
brand will guarantee success.
Branding digitally is different from traditional
advertising because you're asking your user or
audience to take the time and effort to actually
interact with your product. Your customer is no
required to actively search for information, give
information and request more information. The
Internet is definitely a two- way medium unlike
television and unless what is there for them to
interact with is intriguing and easy enough to use,
they won't stay, nor will they return.
Even the terms "television audience" and
"Internet user", suggest something
significantly different. It's a difference between a
static number and an interactive body and soul. What
the user sees and interacts with is very important.
Remember, this is your product and brand image we're
talking about here. Content is king and the interface
has to be user-friendly, quick and attractive.
Without these considerations your company's brand
image could be damaged or degraded.
O.K., so now you've thought it through and you
have created a content-rich and well-designed Web
site...now what? In order to get users to your site,
it is important to market it properly. The saying "If you build it,
they will come", no longer holds true. It might
have a couple of years ago when there were so few
gopher systems or Web sites on the Internet, but with
the onslaught of literally hundreds of search systems
on the Net, it is highly unlikely that users will
find your site by accident. That is why advertising
your site in traditional media is so important.
The
Toronto International Film Festival's first
attempt at a digital presence in the summer of '95
was a success, largely due to its advertising support
in traditional media. The Film Festival, which was
sponsored by Bell Canada, conducted a massive
advertising campaign which focused solely on the
contents of the Web site and its Web address. The
campaign included full-page colour ads in Toronto
Life Magazine and other periodicals, posters that
papered the city, and Festival tickets and passes
which also included the Web address. This was
complimented by t-shirts featuring the Web site's
graphics. As a result of this media saturation in
combination with the elegant interface design, the
Film Festival's Web site became a very highly
trafficked site and was awarded the prestigious
"Cool Site of the Day" award (InfiNet) in
July of 1995.
The Family Channel Canada, a new client of
ours, is a great example of a company willing to take
the time and effort to move into the new media
correctly the first time. Before calling any company
to design their site, they had already surfed the Net
for months before to figure out what they liked and
didn't like. By the time they spoke to an interactive
company, they had already determined why they wanted
their image to go online, what kind of original
content they would need to add to their site and
finally, how much time, effort and budget they were
prepared to assign to it. There are strict guidelines
to the use of their logo, content must be
family-oriented and the site must be fast, clean and
easy-to-use. In addition, they have an advertising
campaign in the works specifically geared for the
upcoming Web site. Their site will, no doubt, debut
successfully, less because of the interactive company
they use, than because of the time and thought they
put into their "digital campaign".
A successful foray into CD-ROM or the Internet
will incorporate planning, updated content that is
unavailable anywhere else and, of course, original
design. Many companies make the mistake of taking
their brochures and mundane text documents and
throwing them up on the Net without any thought about
what they hope to accomplish. Is this something that
their customers really want or need to see?
Honestly, there are no guarantees that any
advertising campaign, whether digital or traditional,
will have the desired effect, but when taking your
brand into the digital market, there are a few
obvious steps. Think it through from start to finish.
What are your goals? Are you creating a Web site for
technology's sake alone, or are you offering an
interesting, meaningful information resource and an
interactive way to contact your company as an added
value service for your customers? If it's the latter,
then you will probably create something that is both
beneficial and worth looking at. Above all, remember
how important your company's image is, what it took
to build and what it takes to maintain it every day.
With that thought in mind, you can move forward and,
hopefully enhance your brand digitally in the new
media.
Chantal Payette is the President of Whatever Media.
