Branding the Next Generation Web

Through emerging and social media channels, marketers can (and should) harness next generation digital technologies to encourage customers to help shape their brand.

Modern branding was born in the 1950s with the advent of television. TV’s visual component quickly trumped radio and newspaper advertising in capturing the public’s attention. It was a quantum leap into a new form of media, much like the introduction of sound to movies—and it was uncharted territory.

The proliferation of digital technology—in particular the Web—has brought branding into uncharted territory once again. And like the early days of television, advertisers and agencies are stumbling around a bit, hanging onto old concepts and slow to re-imagine themselves in this new landscape. Part of the problem is that Web paradigms are constantly evolving.

Exploding Web paradigms
The Web today is qualitatively different than the Web of a few years ago. Whether you call it Web 2.0 or 3.0, or the next-generation Web, by any name, it is going through a major metamorphosis that will radically change how we approach the digital world.

Driving that metamorphosis is a new generation of Web-based communities and hosted services, in particular social networking from sites such as Facebook and MySpace; user-generated content in locations as diverse as Wikipedia, YouTube, the blogosphere; and tags, which are used to categorize and retrieve Web content. This new functionality has quickly translated into user communities and user contributions to all facets of the online world. The business impact has been nothing short of startling: users are developing new voices, and these voices are empowering users.

Let’s review three aspects of this next generation Web that are changing the way marketers need to think about branding in this digital world:

Online Voices as Brand Ambassadors.
The voices of online users are all around us now, from book reviews on Amazon and tags on Flickr photos to the cacophony of political blogs. Increasingly, retail Web sites are empowering users to become active spokespeople for their products and, as a consequence, active contributors to their brand. As branding activities shift from television to the Web, what was once one-way messaging to the marketplace—like a speech in front of a well-behaved audience—is now a genuine two-way dialogue with customers and prospects.

Managing this two-way data model is considerably more difficult than the old one-way format of Web sites. It adds a layer of complexity in both functionality and management that did not exist in branding the Web sites of yore, which were strictly oriented around their content management systems.

Additionally, embracing the collective power of connected users—either to contain damage or to promote your brand—means “letting go” to a great degree. It feels risky because you are giving up a measure of control. But properly engaged, connected users can authenticate your message and brand in ways you never could.

Interactivity as Brand Experience.
Whether using AJAX/JSON, Flash/Flex, or Silverlight, the controls and facilities provided to your users affects their experience and shapes their impression of your brand. Standard Web pages are steadily transforming into interactive applications. As we watch the static Web page fade, we celebrate the birth of the Web experience, where site visitors engage with your brand online in an immersive fashion.

Look at Patagonia.com, for example. Patagonia is a company that sells outdoor clothing and gear. Its brand has a strong affinity with environmental causes, and its Web site displays videos, environmental reports, and interactive applications including one that allows visitors to view the actual carbon footprint of individual clothing items as they move through production—the good and the bad of their current practices. They also provide measures of activism on the site, including voter registration—issues that are not directly connected to its products but are very emotionally appealing to its target customers, and further the brand.

Experience has an emotional component. It wasn’t long ago that we simply used computers for information processing and display, and consumers’ emotional lives were in the analog world—on television, in person and over the phone. That is changing, and it’s changing because the digital world has the ability to reach consumers emotionally, particularly since the advent of video on the Web.

Emerging Media as Brand Channels.
Channels are proliferating and cross-pollinating. At one time that emotional engagement, or “big idea,” happened offline, primarily on television and in action-oriented advertising. Today, the big idea can happen on any channel, and every channel has the ability to engage your customers emotionally. What’s more, every channel is becoming action-enabled, which can help you direct customers to a purchase decision.

Web sites used to be targeted directly at the browser using simple HTML to deliver a message to a single channel. This model is changing significantly as mobile devices such as the iPhone are being used to regularly access previously Web-only sites.
With the integration of the mobile camera into our digital world, consumers can scan bar codes in print ads and get information sent directly to them. Digital billboards and multi-touch screens from menus to cab channels to kiosks are becoming methods of brand immersion where static billboards and signage could not. Even that stalwart of passive channels, television, has become interactive, thanks to TiVo and other digital video recorders.

These emerging technologies are creating opportunity to re-imagine your brand, and allow your users to experience your brand, through methods they couldn’t have conceived of before.

Considering the Next Generation Web.
The long and the short of it is that customers want access to your brand from all their channels, and they want that access to be interactive and engaging. New technologies are being developed as we speak that will continue to drive brand interactivity through new channels.
While marketers already know that they need to continue to actively engage customers and prospects across traditional brand channels, exploring new brand channels through mobile applications, rich Web experiences, and the employment of social media, marketers can and should harness emerging technologies and to encourage users to help shape their brand.

Dave Friedman is president of the Central Region for Avenue A | Razorfish.