Just as the Internet has transformed supply chain management, promotion, marketing research, and distribution, so too will it influence brand theory and brand management. As both managerial and scholarly interest in the Internet grows, a variety of books have appeared discussing many aspects of ecommerce. One of the most relevant entries into this field is eBrands by Phil Carpenter, a business consultant specializing in the Internet. Carpenter presents case studies of six online firms, comparing their strategies to distill a set of recommendations for success in cyberspace. While some observers have speculated that ecommerce changes the rules, that technology is primary, and that online commerce is completely different from traditional marketing and retailing, a counter argument proposes that only those online firms which practice tried and true marketing and branding practices will prosper. After reading these case studies, the reader can make up his or her own mind about which scenario is most likely.
The recent decline in value of many online companies and the outright failure of some of them suggests that being online is no guarantee of success and that it may be just as difficult to succeed online as off. Some firms do seem to be successful. How do they do it? The results of Carpenter’s analysis suggests that “power is flowing to those companies with brand cachet” (p. 2) and that these six companies have “uncovered key ingredients required to build a robust Internet brand” (p. 3). The companies studied were four established Internet ventures, iVillage – The Women’s Network, CDNOW, Yahoo!, and Onsale; one crossover marketer, Barnes & Noble; and one new startup, Fogdog Sports. The keys to success they share in common should be familiar to anyone who has studied branding and should provide good advice to online managers. The lessons are these:
Focus on building brand awareness. Successful brands are widely known and distinguish themselves from the crowd. They do this through effective online and offline advertising, guerrilla marketing, and public relations.
Cultivate customer commitment. Successful brands not only attract customers, they retain them for repeat sales. Customer loyalty turns out to be a key element of long‐run profitability, so successful firms maintain close contact with customers, create online communities, and implement loyalty programs to turn customers into friends, supporters, and missionaries for the brand.
Forge strong distribution and content alliances. Successful firms forge alliances with suppliers, Internet portals (such as AOL), and even with competitors. They secure content from other firms or seek to distribute their content through others’ distribution channels.
Move early, move fast. The Internet is the proving ground for the recommended attacker’s advantage. The firms that get to market first and create the largest customer and supplier base have great advantage over newcomers, creating a formidable barrier to entry.
Develop an intimate knowledge of the market and customer. Firms should use every means possible, not just market research, to learn about their customers: their needs, wants, how they interact with the brand and with the Web site.
Cultivate a reputation for excellence. As Charles Fombrun reminds us in his book, Reputation, what people think of a company or brand is one of its most valuable assets. These successful online companies realize how important positive word‐of‐mouth is and that they should make every effort to enhance and protect their good name.
Deliver outstanding value. In terms of selection, content, choice, functionality, services, timely and accurate delivery, and quality, the successful firms provide good value for the price, so that customers are guaranteed outstanding value when they trade with them. This strategy is a major component of online success, just as it is in the offline world.
Respect core brand elements. The crossover companies that have been most successful in bringing their brands to the Internet “have a deep understanding of what makes their brands distinctive and bring these brand elements with them when they go online” (p. 12).
One‐up offline brands. When crossover marketers go online, they should try to add value to the core brand in ways unique to the Internet. The Internet makes personalization of content and personal contact with individual consumers possible. Successful crossover brands use these tools to create a unique online version of their offline product.
Leverage key offline assets. Crossover marketers should use their offline assets to create awareness of their online business through cross‐promotion. Linking online and offline marketing enhances consumer value and builds brand equity.
Carpenter reviews the histories and strategies of his six target companies, showing how each one illustrates these principles, focusing consistently on how they build brand equity. It is relatively easy to start a Web site, resulting in site proliferation and consumer confusion; it is very difficult to make a success of it. The Internet poses challenges and opportunities for managers that ask them to succeed in this task in a new and different environment. Some of the unique elements characterizing ecommerce are the necessity for rapid action, a willingness to experiment and to react to the market and make changes in strategy, and an emphasis on interaction with the consumer. The companies that follow the principles of sound brand management focused on building brand equity seem to be succeeding. Moreover, Carpenter’s research leads him to recommend that companies focus on a single brand rather than diffusing their efforts over many brands and that they develop valid measures of performance to monitor the effects of their strategies. He critiques some aspects of each company’s strategy, including their Web sites.
Carpenter’s work is based on secondary sources as well as in‐depth interviews with industry analysts, company executives, and their advertising and PR agencies. He makes good use of his information, making eBrands timely, entertaining, and informative. It is systematically organized and highly focused on the issues. There is a useful index, good documentation of the published sources used, and a list of Web sites for all the companies mentioned. While eBrands is targeted specifically at managers and entrepreneurs interested in their online businesses, scholars could read it with profit to learn more about how efirms function. The book also raises questions such as, “What do the experiences of ebrands suggest about the branding strategies of non‐ecommerce firms; and what are the most important topics that researchers can study to enhance branding theory and practice?” The thorough review of branding and marketing principles makes it a potential supplemental reading for courses in marketing, branding, and ecommerce.
