A

PROJECT REPORT
ON
DIGITAL BRANDING
Submitted in partial fulfillment of
Bachelor of Management Studies
2014-2015
To
Sanpada college of Commerce and
Technology
Under the Supervision of
Mr. Abdul Rahim
Submitted By
DEEPAK P.

SHETTY

UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

46

PROJECT REPORT
ON
DIGITAL BRANDING
Submitted in partial fulfillment of
Bachelor of Management Studies
To

Sanpada college of Commerce and

Technology
Under the Supervision of
Mr. Abdul Rahim
Submitted By
DEEPAK P. SHETTY
(Bachelor of Management Studies)
2014-15

46

C E R T I F I C A T E
This is to certify that Mr. DEEPAK P. SHETTY of

Bachelor

of Management Studies has undertaken and completed

the project work titled
DIGITAL BRANDING
During the academic year 2014 2015 under the guidance of
Prof. ABDUL RAHIM Submitted to this college in fulfillment of
curriculum of Bachelor of Management Studies

University of Mumbai
This is a bonafide project work and the information presented is true
original to the best of our knowledge and belief.
Prof. ABDUL RAHIM

PROJECT GUIDE

Prof. MUSTAK DERAIYA

COURSE CO-ORDINATOR

Dr. F.A. SHAIKH

PRINCIPAL

46

DECLARATION
I, MR. DEEPAK P. SHETTY the student of TYBMS Bachelor
of Management Studies Semester V (2014 15) hereby
declare that I have Completed Project on Sanpada college
of

Commerce

and

Technology.

Wherever

the

date/information has been taken from any book or other

sources have been mentioned in bibliography. The
information submitted is true and original to the best of
my knowledge.

Students
Signature

(DEEPAK P. SHETTY )

46

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Market study for DIGITAL BRANDING. has been given
to me as part of the curriculum for Bachelor of
Management Studies (BMS). I have tried my best to
present this information as clearly as possible using basic
terms that I hope will be comprehended by the widest
spectrum of researchers, analysts and students for
further studies.
I have completed this study under the project guidance of
Prof. Abdul Rahim; I will be failed in my duty if I do not
acknowledge

the

esteemed

scholarly

guidance,

assistance and knowledge I have received from them

towards fruitful and timely completion of this work.
My acknowledgement may not redeem the debt I owe to
my parents for their direct/indirect support during the
entire course of this project.
I also thankful to my friend who helped me a lot in the
completion of this project.

Deepak P. Shetty

46

46

Sr.No

Particulars

Pages

DIGITAL BRANDING
1.0

Introduction

2.0

GROWTH OF INTERNET AS A MARKETING

MEDIUM
3.0

MARKETING TO THE DIGITAL CONSUMER

39

4.0

BUILDING DIGITAL BRANDS

44

5.0

Building Trust in Brands

56

6.0

CASE STUDY - C2W & Hungama

68

7.0

RESEARCH

8.0

limitations
SUGGESTIONS

88

9.0

Conclusion

89

10.0

Bibliography

91

11.0

QUESTIONNAIRE

92

METHODOLOGY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

and

72

46

1.0INTRODUCTION
Online has always taken a back seat to offline in brand
building. Yet online offers the best options for building a
meaningful brand, options that didn't exist only a few
years ago. Companies without a solid digital brand
strategy are literally being left behind as leaders build
new digital brands.
Reflecting on the current state of online advertising, the
majority of online marketers are doing a terrible job of
building their digital brands. Advertisers are fighting
tooth and nail to produce the world's worst advertising,
actually destroying their existing offline brands in the
digital realm.
For the most part, if one looks at ads that run during top
TV programs or that appear in top magazines, one will
find quality in the advertising (even if the ads are a bit
dry and boring). But if one looks at a top web site and
views a few dozen ads, it will be very difficult to find
quality advertising. In effect, the bulk of the ads online do
more harm than good to the brands they are trying to
build.
In

one

industry

after

another,

aggressive

Internet

upstarts are putting established brands at risk, creating

46

very strong brand recognition and enjoying explosive

visitor growth. The reason may have less to do with the
established brands themselves than with their managers.
Marketers know what a brand is in the physical world: the
sum, in

the consumers mind,

of the personality,

presence, and performance of a given product or service.

These "3 Ps" are also essential on the World Wide Web. In
addition,

digital

brand

builders

must

manage

the

consumers on-line experience of the product, from first

encounter through purchase to delivery and beyond.
Digital brand builders should care about the consumers
on-line experiences for the simple reason that all of them
good,

bad,

or

indifferentinfluence

consumer

perceptions of a products brand. To put it differently, on

the Web, the experience is the brand.
If a consumer buys lipstick from a retailer in the physical
world and has an unpleasant in-store experience, she is
more likely to blame the retailer than the manufacturer.
But if the consumer purchases that same product from
Procter & Gambles Reflect.com Web site, her wrath is
more likely to be directed at P&G. Thus the on-line
marketers objective shifts from creating brandsat least
as defined in the off-line worldto creating Internet
businesses that can deliver complete, and completely

46

satisfying, experiences. Yet many marketers, particularly

those whose experience is limited to the off-line world,
lack a coherent framework and concrete methods for
achieving

the

broader

objectives

of

on-line

brand

building. These marketers need an approach for aligning

the promises they make to consumers, the Web design
necessary to deliver those promises on-line, and the
economic model required to turn a profit. These three
elementsthe promise, the design, and the economic
modeltogether form the inseparable components of a
successful Internet business, or what might be called a
digital brand.This project is an attempt to propose to the
industry the right approach to build and sustain their
brand in an online environment.

2.0GROWTH OF INTERNET AS A
MARKETING MEDIUM
How much impact is the Internet really having on
advertising and marketing? Is it just another emerging
niche medium with some peculiar creative capabilities
and

constraints?

Or

might

it

transform

consumer

marketing in the same way that network television

revolutionized consumer culture and commercial practice
four or five decades ago?

46

Interviews with marketers reveal that few believe the

Internet will change their approach to advertising. Most
see it as little more than a complement to traditional
marketing practices, and dont expect it to reduce
expenditure on broadcast and print media or change the
form, pricing, or delivery of advertisements. Their view is
probably a reaction to the early hype about the Internet
and the World Wide Web, which
created

unrealistic

short-term

expectations among marketers and

frustration with the inadequacies of
the delivery technologies among
consumers.
We take a contrary view. We believe that Internet
advertising will account for a growing proportion of
overall advertising expenditure. Moreover, advertising
and marketing in general will adopt practices first
developed or deployed on the Internet. As the technology
improves, the impact of Internet advertising will increase
and become easier to measure, and the gap between this
new

precise,

interactive

marketing

capability

and

conventional "fuzzy" passive media will widen. Over the

next few years, advertising agencies and consumer

46

marketers will be under pressure to change their whole

approach to marketing communications.
Marketers will become more accountable for their results,
and they will pay more attention to building a total
customer relationship. Offering consumers value in return
for information

will become vital in

eliciting their

preferences, which in turn will be critical to customizing

advertising.

And

companies

entire

marketing

organizations will be progressively redesigned to reflect

interactions with consumers on the Internet.
For ad agencies, fees based on results will become
standard. The economics of Internet advertising are likely
to

make

current

business

models

obsolete.

New

capabilities will be required as creative production speeds

up and becomes more closely integrated with marketing
activity. A deep understanding of enabling technologies
will become a prerequisite for fresh forms of advertising.
Our views on the evolution of Internet advertising and its
impact on traditional marketing may seem provocative to
some, premature to others. But the intriguing marketing
experiments taking place on and off the Internet suggest
it is time for consumer marketers to begin looking to

46

networks for new ways of thinking about the marketing

theories and approaches on which they have long relied
and to begin capturing the lessons Internet advertising
holds for all their advertising practices, online and
conventional.

2.1. CAUTION: CHANGES AHEAD

Looking at todays Internet advertising to predict what

tomorrow will bring is about as helpful as using a rearview mirror to watch the road ahead. But a point of view
about what online advertising will look like in three to five
years

time

can

and

should

influence

current

management A number of fundamental forces are

currently reshaping Internet advertising: the near-daily
emergence

of

new

technologies

that

improve

measurement, targeting, and data interpretation; the

strenuous efforts of primarily entrepreneurial marketers
to make business use of the Web; and the establishment
of patterns in consumers use of these new interactive
networks.

Thanks

to

the

impact

of

these

forces,

tomorrows ads will differ from todays in the shape they

take,

in

the

metrics

available

for

gauging

their

effectiveness, and in the pricing structure that governs

their purchase and sale.
I.

New Shapes

46

The first and most obvious change in advertising will be

in what consumers see on their screens. Ads are likely to
change

in

terms

of

their

content,

the

type

of

customization they employ, and their delivery to the

consumer.

II.

Content

Aspirations

to

transcend

todays

form

of

Internet

advertising will first be realized in the content of ads. The

development of new technologies such as virtual reality
and chat, coupled with consumers growing preference
for material that is directly valuable to them, is driving
the emergence of new forms of content. Three main
types are on the horizon: experiential, transactionoriented, and sponsored content.
Experiential content will allow consumers to "experience"
the ownership of a product, service, or brand. The best
current Examples let the user test out a product. Sharps
Web site offers a personal tour of the Zaurus personal
digital assistant in which consumers can input calendar
or address information exactly as they would if they used

46

the product in real life. At The Gaps site, customers can

"try on" outfits and mix and match separates from the
current range. In the future, technologies such as virtual
reality will make ads even more experiential: customers
will feel as though they are test-driving a new car, or
walking down the aisles of a grocery store.
Transaction-oriented content will invite consumers to
make a purchase directly from an ad. Advertising content
will become increasingly oriented toward transactions.
Indeed,

the

Internet

may

already

be

changing

consumers buying behavior, particularly for considered

purchases such as cars. Prospective car buyers who are
looking for product information before making a decision
can obtain more information more quickly through the
Internet than by any other means currently available.
Having done their research in advance, they are more
ready to buy at the point when they actually encounter a
manufacturer or seller.
The implication for marketers is simple: they need to
make it possible for consumers to carry out transactions
easily and seamlessly, or risk losing sales to competitors.
Consider Casio, which uses Virtual Tag technology
developed by First Virtual to enable customers to make

46

purchases from an Internet banner ad. An Internet user

can learn about Casio products, purchase a watch on line,
and select the means of delivery without ever leaving the
banner.
Sponsored content will blur the line between editorial
matter and advertising. A lot of sponsored content
already exists on the Internet for Example, Nissan
sponsors weekly soccer tips on Parent Soup in association
with the American Youth Soccer Association but by and
large it tends to resemble the "brought to you by ABC"
model familiar from traditional media. The emergence of
advanced forms of hybrid commercialeditorial content
will be driven by consumers ability to "tune out"
straightforward commercial messages, be they banners,
interstitials (ads that pop up while users wait for a
requested Web page to appear), or standard forms of
sponsorship, and by advertisers desire to influence
attitudes in more subtle ways.
By way of analogy, consider the growing use of product
placement in films and television (James Bond drives a
BMW Z3 in his latest movie) as marketers seek to make
their offerings stand out from the clutter of ads and break
through the cognitive filters that allow consumers to

46

discount ordinary commercials. The network environment

offers ample scope for hybrid content: entire sites can be
funded and co-managed by advertisers (as with Procter &
Gamble and Parent Time), while avatar technologies
bring advertisers into chat rooms. However, the issue of
editorial independence and the possibility of consumer
rejection or backlash may ultimately set limits on the
pursuit of this approach.
III.

Customization

Anyone who has been offered a credit card they already

hold can appreciate the need for greater customization or
"addressability" in mass-market advertising, and even in
direct mail. Indeed, the level of response that advertisers
receive largely depends on the accurate and timely
targeting of messages, as do the number of transactions
and the degree of loyalty that are generated.
The Internet is supposed to enable marketers at last to
target their offers to that elusive "segment of one." Yet
advertising on the Internet has so far been targeted
mainly on the basis of editorial content, just as it is in
traditional media. Part of the reason is technical, though
the development of tracking software that allows ads to
be delivered only to target audiences is overcoming this

46

obstacle. Consumers reticence has been a further

barrier, but as Internet users grow more willing to provide
information about themselves, two types of customized
content will emerge.
First, content will be customized by means of information
inferred about users. The Ultramatch technology recently
launched by Infoseek, to take one Example, makes it
possible to target those Web users who are most likely to
respond to a given ad. Based on neural networking
technology, Ultramatch observes users behavior when
they put out queries and explore subjects, collecting the
results in its database. Advertisers using the service can
select individuals according to their interests and thus
pitch their campaign to a receptive audience. Ultramatch
also allows them to ascertain which individuals are
responding to ads, and to move the ads to places where
they will attract similar users.
Second,

ads

will

be

customized

on

the

basis

of

information voluntarily provided by users. The key to

making

this

approach

work

will

be

to

overcome

consumers desire for privacy or anonymity by offering

them rewards for personal details in the form of special
information, discounts, or promotions. On Parent Time,

2.1 Internet Advertising Objectives

46

for Example, users who enter the ages of their children

receive relevant care information as well as Pampers ads
geared to those age groups. Experience suggests that
consumers are willing to release information about
themselves as long as they are the prime beneficiaries.
Organizations such as etrust (an initiative sponsored by
leading companies to develop electronic commerce) and
the Internet Marketing Council take a similar view. The
IMC requires marketers to provide a "giveaway" or
discount before they can gain certification. This scheme
is specifically designed to prevent information provided
by consumers from being misused in e-mail.

46

IV.

Delivery

The recent hype about "push" technology on the Internet

might suggest that this will be the dominant vehicle for
delivering advertising on the Web. We believe the reality
will be more integrated, combining todays "pull" format
Web sites with "push" technology such as PointCast to
deliver ads to people according to their interests.
Triggered banners (ads that appear when certain key
words are mentioned) and interstitials are early Examples
that point the way. Consider how one automakers ads
are pushed to chatroom participants when the topic of
cars comes up, or how a user waiting for content to be
downloaded is sent an ad related to that content.
Marketers must ask themselves a number of questions:
What is the right balance? Where can push technology be
exploited most effectively? How much push are users
willing to take before they begin to tune out?
As online advertising develops, advertisers will discover
that the Internet is the only medium that can deliver
certain types of message, such as multi sensory and
interactive ads. These new forms will allow advertisers to
achieve several objectives some of them unattainable
via conventional media simultaneously (Exhibit 2.1).

46

They are likely to make Internet advertising more

important in the overall marketing mix as marketers
capitalize on their unique capabilities. At the same time,
our glimpse of the emerging future casts doubt on the
merit of current heavy investments in big brand sites that
require content to be "pulled," or in banner ads that
like most on the Internet today merely replicate the
forms of advertising that exist in the physical world.
V.
The

New Metrics
Internet

opportunity

to

affords

marketers

measure

the

an

unprecedented

effectiveness

of

their

advertising and learn about their viewers. The capacity to

measure impact sets the Internet apart from other media.
Measurements available for television, for Example,
estimate the total size of an audience; what they dont do
is tell an advertiser how many people actually saw an ad,
or what impact it had. On the Internet, by contrast,
marketers are able to track click-throughs, page views,
and leads generated in close to real time. The result:
measurements those are more precise and meaningful
than anything available in traditional media.
The emergence of these new metrics will affect not only
ads themselves, but also the way that marketers and

46

agencies

develop

measurements

will

them.
yield

First,
better

more
insights

precise
into

the

effectiveness of advertising spend. It will be easier to

identify ads that dont work, and to find out why.
Advertisers will also start to expect the content of ads to
be renewed more frequently in response to audience
reaction.
A new product from Infoseek offers a hint of things to
come. Copy Testing in a Box is a tool that combines the
immediate feedback of the Internet with sophisticated
targeting technology to allow marketers to refocus their
Internet campaigns to the most responsive customer
segments within a matter of days.
Second, advertisers will be able to assess the impact of
their ads earlier in the spending cycle. As a result, they
will have the flexibility to launch and roll out a campaign
in such a way that it can be changed before most of the
money is committed. This will affect the very process of
creating Internet ads, and perhaps spur advertisers and
agencies to devise new ways of organizing around it.
VI.

New Pricing

46

Whereas marketers tend to have fairly uniform objectives

in traditional media, such as shaping attitudes in
television or obtaining responses in direct mail, the
Internet, as we have seen, allows them to pursue several
different goals simultaneously. In the same way, the
standard types of pricing used in traditional media, such
as CPM (the cost of exposing a message to a thousand
viewers of TV or readers of print), will give way on the
Internet to pricing that varies as widely as the objectives
of the ads themselves. Indeed, the technology can
support several pricing mechanisms at once: pay per
click-through,

lead,

transaction,

dollar

spends,

or

conventional CPM. This kind of variegated pricing is

already appearing in the marketplace: P&G has pushed
for pricing per click-through; CD Now pays Web sites
commissions on the transactions they generate; and
Destination Florida pays according to leads generated.
Similarly,

DoubleClick

is

introducing

an

advertising

network, DoubleClick Direct, whose rates are based on

results, and has already signed up clients including Alta
Vista and GTEs Internet service.

46

Because of these factors, pricing for Internet advertising

is likely to be multi-tiered, based on results, and tied to
marketers objectives. At least three pricing mechanisms
will coexist: pricing by exposure, response, and action
(Exhibit 2.2).
Pricing per exposure for instance, via a rate card based
on CPM will prevail for ads placed on the Internet to
generate awareness of a product or brand. Over time,
this form of pricing should become

2.2 Emerging Internet Pricing Models

more refined. As measurability and metering improve,

advertisers will want to pay only for impressions on their
target customers, while publishers will eagerly search for
ways to extract premium exposure rates. The result is
likely to be the establishment of an additional tier of
"effective" CPM rates.
Pricing per response will establish itself as the standard
for simple consumer responses such as click-through.
Prices will vary according to the types of user a site
attracts and how much advertisers are willing to pay for
access to them.
Pricing per action is similar, but more elaborate. A site
publisher might charge an advertiser more for a

46

consumer who downloads a piece of software or provides

some demographic information, say, than for one who
merely clicks on a banner. We believe that the ability of
Web publishers to charge advertisers for the true value
they receive is likely to make the difference between
profit and loss. The price for a lead generated, for
instance, could reflect the prospects potential lifetime
value; if it did, sites would charge automotive OEMs and
white goods manufacturers different prices for prospect
leads. As a result, a fee per action or sales commission is
likely to emerge as a major pricing mechanism for
Internet advertising over time.
How quickly and how far these models take hold in the
near term will depend on how risk is shared between
marketers, agencies, and sites. Results-based pricing
gives marketers the opportunity to shift some of the risk
of

failure

to

sites

or

agencies.

Publishers

and

broadcasters in traditional media have usually been loath

to take on this kind of risk. However, Internet publishers
should find risk sharing attractive if it is appropriately
priced, as it could boost the advertising revenues on
which their success depends.

46

Pricing in general is fraught with issues. Will site

publishers demand a degree of control over the creative
execution of ads to ensure quality, for instance? We
believe that the sharing of risk in Internet advertising will
ultimately be determined by the prevailing balance of
power, which will vary from advertiser to advertiser and
site to site, and shift over time. Large, well-known, "safe"
advertisers may be able to secure results-based pricing
more easily than others, particularly at times when site
publishers are struggling to make their economics work.
It will be in the best interests of marketers, site
publishers, and even agencies to prevent the lowest
common denominator setting the industrys pricing
standard. To settle for a simplistic, unsophisticated, "one
size fits all" pricing scheme would mean leaving a lot of
money on the table. The widespread acceptance of multitiered, performance-based pricing will make the Internet
both distinctive and highly lucrative as an advertising
medium.

2.2. THE SPILLOVER EFFECT

The

changes

now

taking

place

in

the

shape,

measurement, and pricing of advertising on the Internet

may seem dramatic enough in themselves, but we
believe they will have a much broader impact on

46

marketing practices in general. This spillover effect will

occur for four reasons.
First, new ways of advertising on line will inspire new
creative approaches elsewhere. Second, the Internet will
prompt marketers to reevaluate their use of traditional
media. Third, Internet advertising will help marketers to
improve

their

understanding

of

consumers

needs,

preferences, and product usage. Finally, once marketers

get a taste for the measurability of Internet ads and the
tailored pricing it enables, their expectations of the
effectiveness and measurability of other media will rise.
I.

New Creative Approaches

The timeliness and direct tone of advertising on the

Internet will increasingly inspire marketers operating in
other media. Seeing the daily updates of information that
the Web makes possible and the lengths to which online
advertisers must go in order to keep users interest (for
instance, renewing banners weekly) may sharpen their
appetite for replicating Internet practices on TV and in
print.
The notion that creative approaches pioneered on the
Web will spill over to more traditional media should

46

surprise few. Historically, the emergence of new media

has always prompted content changes in existing media.
Consider how print changed after radio, and later
television, arrived on the scene.
Fidelity Investments recently attempted to mimic the
immediacy of the Internet in its television advertising. It
refreshed its ads on a daily basis by incorporating current
news headlines. However, the campaign met with mixed
success, perhaps because it lacked a distinctive point of
view.
Marketers adoption of creative techniques pioneered on
the Internet will grow as technologies like broadband,
WebTV, and virtual reality begins to influence traditional
media. Wink and Worldgate are developing technologies
that allow viewers to "save" a commercial to watch later,
or

to

obtain

more

detailed

information.

These

technologies are in their early test stages on television.

The enormous creative flexibility offered by the Internet
will increase pressure for more choices of delivery in
traditional media. The (probably apocryphal) story of
Helena Rubenstein asking to buy an extra three seconds
for a 30-second spot to realize her creative vision

46

suggests how we may start to question accepted

standards and constraints in traditional media.
Marketers may also need to reexamine the theories that
underpin their advertising practices. As we noted, online
advertisers have found that banners must be renewed
frequently if consumers are to keep clicking. Their
experience defies the conventional wisdom in advertising
that any ad must be seen at least four times to make an
impression. On the Internet, greater impact can be
achieved by showing a wider range of ads that are
repeated less often. Insights like this cast doubt on the
effectiveness of current television campaigns, most of
which are still based on old ideas of frequency.
II.

Reevaluating Media Investments

Everyone has heard the advertisers lament: "I know 50

percent of my advertising is working; I just dont know
which 50 percent." The greater measurability of Internet
advertising will prompt marketers to reevaluate all their
investments in media, especially in the addressable
categories of print and direct marketing. Not only are
response rates often higher in Internet advertising, but
the cost of reaching target customers can be lower, with
better information received in return. As a result, we may

46

well see a migration of targeted marketing spending from

direct mail and other traditional media to the Internet.
Consider a recent Example. AT&T used the Internet to
generate awareness of and shape attitudes toward its
toll-free collect-call service, which is mainly targeted at
16- to 24-year-olds. The company had previously found
this audience difficult to reach cost-effectively through
print or broadcast media. The results of the online effort
were excellent. Top-of-mind awareness increased by over
30

percent,

and

AT&T

opted

to

replace

its

print

advertising with an Internet campaign.

The traditional approach to customer response and lead
generation has been to use ads in trade magazines and
customer response or "bingo" cards. However, findings
announced by one large publisher of trade titles indicate
that more than two-thirds of bingo cards either go
unanswered or are not responded to promptly because of
the time it takes to qualify and manage leads. The study
suggests that the Web is an excellent tool for generating
quality leads and may even supersede bingo cards in
time.
Migration of this kind will reallocate the slices of the
advertising pie. Interviews we conducted with marketers

46

reveal that most believe their initial spending on the

Internet did not come at the expense of other media (in
other words, their overall advertising budget grew). But
many expect that future increases in their Internet
expenditure will be taken from other areas, probably print
and/or direct marketing. They also see their Internet
advertising budgets growing much faster than their
traditional media budgets.
Migration may also take place in non-addressable media
spending. Striking levels of media displacement are
already evident among Internet users. Most notably, TV
viewing has declined among a third of adult Internet
users (Figure 2.3). Similarly, in a recent Wall Street
Journal poll, 21 percent of respondents cited spending
more time on their computer or in using online services
as a reason for watching the major TV networks less than
they did five years earlier. When marketers accept the
idea that brand building can be accomplished on line,
some spending on TV, radio, billboards, and other nonaddressable media may migrate to the Internet.

III.

Getting Closer To The Consumer

2.3 Declines in Usage of Traditional Media

46

We believe marketers will soon start to use the Internet

as a kind of testbed for campaigns planned for print, TV,
or

radio.

One

leading-edge

marketer,

London

International, the maker of Durex condoms, is already

trying out advertising concepts on its Web site before
transferring

them

to

other

media

where

their

effectiveness is harder to track. It is testing three

concepts ultimately destined for conventional media:
"On-line Lovers," "Dr Dilemma," and "The Nurse." By
monitoring pages selected, click-throughs, responses
generated, and other indicators, the company is able to
discover which parts of a prospective campaign work and
which dont, thereby reducing the risk of launching the
equivalent of a box-office flop.
Conducting market research and obtaining feedback from
consumers can be expensive and difficult. The Internet
offers

cost-effective

alternatives

to

conventional

methods, and may yield more revealing information.

Several of the marketers we interviewed said that their
presence on the Web had taught them a tremendous
amount about their customers views of their products
and services. They maintain that the Web offers a nonjudgmental way of providing feedback and ideas, and is
less intimidating for consumers to use than standard toll-

46

free

numbers.

Marketers at Fidelity, London International, and Coors

found that users of toll-free numbers mainly called to ask
questions about products. On the other hand, Internet
users, even when given answers to the most frequently
asked questions, would often provide feedback about the
quality of a product, new variations on it, and ways that it
might be changed. To be sure, some of the additional
interaction may be down to the different demographic
profile of Internet users, but gathering information of this
kind is becoming an increasingly important way to use
the

Web.

To gather deeper feedback, marketers are experimenting

with Internet focus groups. LiveWorld has already hosted
several sessions for NFO, a company specializing in this
area. The advantage of conducting a focus group on line
is that participants are anonymous and can speak their
mind without worrying what others in the group think. In
addition, geographically dispersed participants can be
assembled at a fraction of the usual cost. London
International is planning to conduct an online focus group

46

to assess the effectiveness of its Web efforts in the near

future.
Finally, the opportunities for testing new product ideas on
the Internet are legion, particularly for electronic or
intangible items such as magazine covers, entertainment
concepts,

and

personal

financial

services.

The

possibilities are just beginning to be exploited.

IV.

Rising Expectations

Two features of Internet advertising the measurability

of its impact and the probability of some form of resultsbased pricing emerging are likely to raise marketers
expectations of traditional media. If they do, pressure
may build for a more accurate measurement system or a
shorter measurement cycle. The demand for greater
accuracy in measurement is already coming from the
broadcast networks in any case. The coding technology
tests

being

carried

out

by

SMART

(the

emerging

competitor to Nielsen), by Nielsen itself, and by its joint

effort with Lucent to develop Media TraX indicate that
improvements are technically feasible.
In fact, it would not be surprising if new measurement
tools and techniques originally designed for the Internet

46

were to spill over and be applied to traditional media in

the not so distant future. Moreover, in those traditional
media that are already more measurable, such as print,
we foresee increasing pressure from advertisers for
results-based or tiered pricing like that offered on the
Internet.
The developments we have described are necessarily
speculative, and may not materialize as broadly or as
quickly as we suggest. All the same, they are worth
watching out for because of their implications. Most of
the media industry is affected by the billions of dollars
spent

every

year

on

consumer

marketing.

If

key

advertisers were to reallocate their media budgets, the

impact on traditional media could be profound.
As

the

aspirations,

techniques,

and

expectations

associated with Internet advertising spill over into

traditional

media,

both

marketers

and

advertising

agencies will have to rethink the capabilities they bring to

bear on selling products and services.

2.3. IMPLICATIONS FOR MARKETERS

The growing importance of Internet advertising and its
effect on conventional marketing will have profound
implications for practitioners. First, the Internet model will

46

set new standards for building relationships in the

physical world, challenging many current practices and
expectations. Second, a new concept, value exchange,
will emerge as a core marketing capability. Finally, the
move toward organizational structures and processes
designed around consumers experiences with specific
products or services will accelerate further.
I.

New Standards In Relationship Management

The Internet will set new standards for total relationship

management in both breadth and depth. "Breadth"
means that a relationship will increasingly last for the
entire ownership experience, including the time before
and after the purchase of the product or service. Consider
Coors, which used consumer feedback received via the
Web during both the development and promotion of its
beverage Zima thus involving customers at all stages
in the product life cycle.
"Depth" reflects the degree of interaction with consumers
at any given point in their experience of a product. The
book retailer Amazon.com, for instance, is beginning to
use the information it gleans from customers to create
value-added services such as suggestions about books
that a particular reader might enjoy. This raises the bar

46

for competitors on the Internet and in the physical world,

posing a challenge that other players must meet if they
are to retain customers loyalty.
The Internets role in consumer relationship management
has important consequences for marketers. Networkbased interactions must be integrated into the rest of a
business, with all that this entails.
If car purchasers make fewer trips to the showroom, say,
doing their own online research into different models
instead of talking to salespeople, dealers will need to
rethink the way they manage the whole consumer
relationship. Eventually, customers may go to them only
to place an order; at this point, the role dealerships play
may no longer justify their cost, and they will have to find
new ways to offer buyers value if they are not to
disappear. Moreover, as consumers behavior changes, so
will the skills that salespeople need. And how are those
salespeople going to be compensated when consumers
make their purchases through channels other than
dealerships?
Design and funding is another key area. If the Internets
role is to grow beyond advertising, the design of online
activities should probably not be constrained by the

46

priorities of a single functional area such as marketing, or

by the limitations of the marketing communications
budget.
II.

Value Exchange As A Core Capability

Much of the Internets potential relies on the creation of a

dialogue between consumer and marketer in which
information is exchanged for value. Marketers need to
develop the new skill of rewarding consumers for giving
them access to personal information such as who they
are, what they like, and what they buy. This reward may
take the form of discounts toward future purchases, or
benefits such as valuable information or a personalized
product

or

service.

This process of value exchange will become critical as

new standards are created to protect consumers privacy.
The proposal announced by Netscape in May 1997 to
capture information on consumers hard drives rather
than on marketers computers marks a step in a new
direction

with

its

implicit

acknowledgement

that

consumers will "own" information about themselves and

control the release of that information to marketers. The
demand for value among consumers is likely to grow as
they become aware of how highly marketers prize their

46

demographic

profiles,

product

preferences,

and

transaction histories.
A few marketers are beginning to manage this process
effectively. In exchange for basic information such as
name, address, age, and income, Vogue provides readers
with

discounts,

forthcoming

special

articles.

offers,

Saturns

and

previews

approach

is

to

of

offer

convenient access to information. Consumers who reveal

a small amount of information about themselves are able
to use Saturns interactive pricing center to research new
cars, saving them trips to a showroom.
III.

Organizations Centered On Consumers

As the Web merges marketing with other business

processes such as customer service, it will put more
pressure on the organization of most marketers. The
coming of age of interactive networks will accelerate the
move

toward

marketers

will

new

organizational

structure

their

models
various

in

which

functional

capabilities around an integrated customer front end.

For a real-life Example, take the insurance company
USAA. Its customer center receives and manages all
communications with consumers, whether direct via

46

telephone,

mail,

and

the

Internet,

or

indirect

via

intermediaries. The rest of the organization revolves

around the customer center. Sophisticated information
systems help the company to process interactions and
maximize their value.
The benefits are many. Customers feel that USAA knows
them better, and the company is quick to respond to a
complaint or learn about important market changes such
as a cut in a competitors price in a particular territory.
As more and more companies reorganize themselves
around their customers, intranets linked to the Internet
will become crucial. They will make it economically
feasible for managers within an organization to have
more

information

about

consumers

and

more

interactions with them than ever before.

2.4. IMPLICATIONS FOR AGENCIES

The

rise

of

Internet

advertising,

with

its

unique

economics, may well call the validity of current business

models and processes into question. It will also compel
agencies to rethink the way they create and develop
campaigns, and the skills and capabilities they need to
survive.
I.

New Business Model

46

So different are the revenues generated by conventional

and Internet advertisements that traditional agencies will
have to think carefully about their approach to online
advertising if they are to pursue it profitably. At present,
most agencies incur high fixed costs in developing
campaigns. Big creative teams and the like were fine in
the days when agencies could rely on the commissions
they earned from large media buys associated with a
small number of creative executions. On the Internet,
however, this cost structure is inverted: the creative
element of the total advertising cost is much larger in
relation to the media element. The resulting commissions
will no longer be sufficient to cover agencies high
operating costs.
We believe that traditional agency business models
simply will not work for Internet advertising. A trend
toward

retainer

compensation

is already

emerging.

Agencies may well seek to enhance their revenue

streams by taking a cut of the results of their efforts in
the shape of a commission on leads or sales generated.
In future, agencies will increasingly share in the risk of
their advertising instead of as they do today leaving
all of it to be borne by marketers.

46

II.

Compensation models will be transformed. The

measurability of Internet advertising makes resultsbased pricing more feasible than in any other
media, as we have seen. Some Examples are
already

in

evidence.

Site

Specific

is

using

performance-based contracts for clients including

Duracell, CUC International, and Intuits TurboTax
division. Though these arrangements are not yet
making it any money, they are expected to do so as
advertising effectiveness increases. In time, resultsbased compensation will probably spill over into
traditional media as the measurement of advertising
impact improves. It will then have its most profound
impact,

affecting

agencies

core

business

and

revenue source.
III.
This

New Capabilities
vision

of

the

future

calls

agencies

current

capabilities into question. Many have seen themselves as

the guardian angel of the brands they represent. But
agencies have a patchy record of orchestrating brandbuilding activities across the full range of marketing
disciplines: media advertising, direct mail, promotions,
and so on.

46

The emergence of interactive media means that agencies

must not only manage a broader and more complex mix
of marketing tools, but also master radically different
skills. Three main gaps will need to be filled:
1. Inform creative execution with a deeper understanding
of

enabling

interactive

technologies.

Such

an

understanding scarcely exists in agencies today, except

in some of the more specialized enterprises such as
Site Specific and AGENCY.COM. Traditional agencies
may find their technological and creative skills are not
sufficiently integrated to compete with the specialist
Internet ad agencies, which enjoy a higher profile and
more confidence among marketers in this area of work.
2. Integrate one-way and response-oriented campaign
design

skills.

boundaries

Interactive

between

advertising

traditional

blurs

advertising,

the
direct

marketing, and customer services normally separate

preserves run by different individuals. Agencies will
need to learn to integrate these skills in their design
efforts.
3. Increase the speed and responsiveness of creative
production. The immediacy of interactive networks will
make growing demands on the pace and frequency of

46

creative production. Agencies are currently organized

around work processes with relatively generous cycle
times. Today, it is acceptable to take three to six
months to design one campaign, and to run it for up to
two years. Tomorrow, a campaign with 300 one-on-one
executions will have to be designed in two to three
months, and adapted continuously in response to realtime consumer feedback.
In summary, the future holds many challenges for
agencies. The emergence of new business models and
the need for new capabilities are likely to shake up an
industry that has been under pressure for some time.
Some agencies have shown that they can customize their
processes and economics to specific industry needs like
those of grocery retailers or auto dealers. Now they must
learn to institutionalize these capabilities within their
organizations or spin off a cluster of flexible, technologysavvy boutiques with low fixed costs. Viewed another
way,

the

emergence

of

Internet

advertising

may

represent an opportunity for renewal a chance for

agencies to reclaim the high ground of brand stewardship
that some marketers argue they have let slip away in the
past two decades.

46

The emergence of Internet advertising is likely to have

wider implications for business than many imagine. Its
effects will not be confined to the online world, but will
extend to traditional marketing activities and processes.
For those who look closely, Internet advertising holds
many more opportunities and risks than is commonly
assumed. And the payoff waiting for those who rise to the
challenge will more than justify the efforts required.

46

3.0MARKETING TO THE DIGITAL

CONSUMER
Many companies are waking up to the potential of the
interactive consumer market. Not only are the numbers
of users of on-line and Internet services soaring, but the
majority of people who are subscribing to these services
tend to be young, well educated, and richer than
average. In short, they make particularly good marketing
targets.
Interactive media is likely to revolutionize marketing for
many consumer companies because it allows marketers
to deliver real-time, personalized services and content,
one consumer at a time. It is what we call digital
marketing. Digital marketing leverages the unique and
powerful

characteristics

of

interactive

media:

it

is

addressable, meaning that each user can be identified

and

targeted

separately;

it

allows

for

two-way

interaction; services can be tailored for each individual

customer; and purchases can be made and influenced on
line.

However,

to

capture

the

benefits

of

digital

marketing, companies must integrate interactive media

into their existing businesses and marketing programs.
And that is difficult to achieve.

46

Most consumer companies are struggling to know what to

do and how. The old models of marketing simply do not
work in this new world, and as a result most of today's
digital

marketing

applications

are

uninspiring

(as

anybody who has ever been on the Internet can probably

attest), falling far short of the potential of interactive
media. Research is being conducted to define a new
marketing model that will help build and evaluate digital
marketing applications.

3.1. TYPES OF DIGITAL MARKETING

Several broad types of attractive digital marketing

opportunities already exist, and there is evidence that
marketer who aggressively pursue one or more of these
opportunities are starting to make profits.
First, marketers can use interactive media to provide
better service at lower cost by delivering information
about a product or service. UPS, for Example, uses an
Internet-based service to allow customers to track the
whereabouts of their packages.
A second opportunity is to build relationships with on-line
consumers. Interactive media can be used to identify
attractive users or prospects (an automotive company
can learn the names of interested car buyers and forward

46

them to the closest dealer); it can enhance customer

loyalty by providing extra services; and marketers can
use what they learn about their consumers to cross-sell
new products or services.
Third, marketers can use interactive media as a new
channel. In 1995, Hot Hot Hot, a small company that
produces sauces, generated some 30 percent of its
revenue from sales through its Web site. And using
interactive media, airlines are increasingly bypassing
travel agents to sell tickets, thus saving significant
commission costs. For Example, United Connections, a
disk-based service allowing travelers to make their own
bookings, is estimated to save airlines up to $50 for a
typical $500 round-trip fare.
Digital marketing is an attractive proposition for many
more categories than is commonly assumed. We would
argue that digital marketing can play an important role in
any category in which it makes good business sense to
build relationships one consumer at a time.

3.2. NEED OF A NEW MARKETING

MODEL
The traditional 5P-marketing model price, product,
promotion, package, place is not particularly helpful to

46

marketers seeking to capture the benefits of digital

marketing. It assumes, for Example, that communication
is one way (from the marketer to the customer), when
interactive media so clearly offers an opportunity to
establish

dialog;

it

assumes

mass-market

environment, when interactive media allows interaction

with individual consumers.
The digital marketing model that has been developed is
based on a pragmatic assessment of what seems to
work, and what does not, in the interactive age. It is built
around five apparent factors for success:
1.

Attracting users

2.

Engaging users' interest and participation

3. Retaining users and ensuring they return to an
interactive media based service

4.

Learning about their preferences

5. Relating back to them to provide the sort of
customized

interactions that represent the true

"value bubble" of digital marketing (Exhibit 3.1).

46

This last point is critical as in most cases it will require

marketers to make their digital marketing initiative part
of the existing business system. This presents important
internal

and

external

challenges,

such

as

how

to

integrate the digital marketing initiatives with existing

marketing programs or information systems, or how to
manage potential channel conflicts with the sales force or
traditional distributors.
Each of the five success factors suggests a number of
issues that marketers must address.

3.1 Attractive Characteristics of Media

Example

What are the most effective means to attract users to an

interactive application?
What is the role of branding? How should you choose an
Internet address?
What is the optimal "linking" strategy for a particular
marketer?
While the answers to many of these issues will be specific
to a given marketer, research is beginning to identify the

46

factors that allow companies to get more from their

digital marketing efforts.
Over the next three to five years, digital marketing is
likely to become an increasingly significant part of the
consumer marketing landscape. For many marketers it
will present formidable opportunities. For those who
cannot keep pace, it might pose a serious threat. It is
therefore imperative that marketers begin to think about
the role of interactive media in their industry, and
prepare to take appropriate action.
4.0
In

BUILDING DIGITAL BRANDS

one

industry

after

another,

aggressive

Internet

upstarts are putting established brands at risk, creating

very strong brand recognition and enjoying explosive
visitor growth (Exhibit 4.1). The reason may have less to
do with the established brands themselves than with
their managers. Marketers know what a brand is in the
physical world: the sum, in the consumers mind, of the
personality, presence, and performance of a given
product or service. These "3 Ps" are also essential on the
World Wide Web. In addition, digital brand builders must
manage

the

consumers

on-line

experience

4.1 Consumers Turning to Digital Brands

of

the

46

product,

from

first

encounter

through

purchase

to

delivery and beyond.

Digital brand builders should care about the consumers
on-line experiences for the simple reason that all of them
good,

bad,

or

indifferentinfluence

consumer

perceptions of a products brand. To put it differently, on

the Web, the experience is the brand.
Example

If a consumer buys lipstick from a retailer in the physical

world and has an unpleasant in-store experience, she is
more likely to blame the retailer than the manufacturer.
But if the consumer purchases that same product from
Procter & Gambles Reflect.com Web site, her wrath is
more likely to be directed at P&G. Thus the on-line
marketers objective shifts from creating brandsat least
as defined in the off-line worldto creating Internet
businesses that can deliver complete, and completely
satisfying, experiences.
Yet many marketers, particularly those whose experience
is limited to the off-line world, lack a coherent framework
and

concrete

methods

for

achieving

the

broader

objectives of on-line brand building. These marketers

need an approach for aligning the promises they make to

46

consumers, the Web design necessary to deliver those

promises on-line, and the economic model required to
turn a profit. These three elementsthe promise, the
design, and the economic modeltogether form the
inseparable

components

of

successful

Internet

business, or what might be called a digital brand.

4.1. HOW TO BUILD AND MANAGE

DIGITAL BRANDS?

How do marketers build and manage digital brands? The

marketers first goal should be to select the core promise
for a truly distinctive value proposition appealing to the
target customers. Five of these promises are especially
effective.
Digital brands that make tasksfrom buying a book to
searching for the best pricefaster, better, and cheaper
offer the promise of convenience. Amazon.com, like most
first-generation electronic businesses, is fundamentally
built on this promise.
Brands that make people feel like winners in whatever
activities engage them offer the promise of achievement.
E*trade, for Example, promises to help consumers
manage their finances successfully. It has gone beyond
the basicsa portfolio of financial tools and researchto

46

offer many helpful innovations, such as securitiestracking and -alert services.

Games and other activities designed to engage (and
even thrill) consumers offer the promise of fun and
adventure.

Often

these

activities

make

use

of

"immersive" technologies, which, for Example, allow

electronic spectators of a marathon to hear a runners
heartbeat. Digital brands such as Quokka Sports are
building

their

entire

businesses

around

immersive

technologies.
Such companies as GeoCities (which helps consumers
express themselves by building and displaying their own
Web pages) offer the promise of self-expression and
recognition. Ralston Purina Dog Chows site allows
consumers to create home pages that display pictures of
and stories about their pets.
Clubs or communities offer the promise of belonging, as
well as concrete advantages. Women, for Example, can
exchange stories and tips with one another at the
iVillage.com site. Mercata.com provides a more tangible
benefit by aggregating the purchasing power of its
community of users and thus helping them get better
prices for a broad range of merchandise.

46

4.2. FROM PROMISE TO DELIVERY

The promises made by digital brands are not unique to
the Internet, but the mediums interactive capabilities
make it easier for digital brands to deliver on their
promises quickly, reliably, and rewardingly. They often do
so with a scope that their landed counterparts would be
hard-pressed to match. In practice, this means that
promises must be translated into specific interactive
functions and Web design features collectively giving
consumers a seamless experience. Such design features
as one-click ordering and automated shopping help
deliver the promise of convenience; collaboration tools
such as chat rooms or ratings functions make it possible
to realize the promise of belonging.
Managers shouldnt underestimate the challenges of this
translation process. What, for instance, does it mean to
build a digital brand around a promise of convenience in
the grocery industry? What kind of content, if any, do you
need? And how about chat rooms, personalization, oneclick ordering, and collaborative filtering? Digital brand
builders cant afford to fall short of what they have
promised, since competitors are always a click away, but
they waste capital if they offer more than is necessary to
make sales and keep customers.

46

Technology dramatically differentiates digital brandsfor

both customers and shareholdersin ways that will
become increasingly clear as they enter their second and
third generations. To be certain of identifying all of the
designs that make it possible to deliver on a promise and
to build a viable economic model, todays digital brand
builders must explore at least six groups of design tools.
These tools are sufficiently robust technologically to help
create a distinctive and relevant user experience, and
they are beginning to demonstrate their ability to make
money for the digital brand builders using them.
I.

Personalization Tools

Tools such as the software that creates personalized

interfaces between e-businesses and customers hold
tremendous promise for value exchange and contextual
commerce. To be sure, the value of personalization has
yet to be fully demonstrated in practice. (Fewer than 15
percent of visitors to Yahoo! have chosen to set up a "My
Yahoo!" page for themselves.) Personalization tools also
present risks, as well as real operational challenges, such
as managing privacy, intrusiveness, and opportunity
costs. For that reason, many practitioners still question

46

the short-term return on investments in personalization

tools.
I.

Collaborative Tools

They facilitate word of mouth, or what might be called

"branded

person-to-person

communications"for

instance, the ratings that buyers offer sellers on eBay,

the Lands End "shop with a friend" feature, Raging Bulls
discussion boards, and Perts viral marketing (which
encourages consumers to e-mail their friends instructions
for obtaining free Pert Plus samples). Collaborative tools
such as consumer ratings, though essential for contentand community-oriented digital brands, are underutilized.
II.

Purchase-process Streamlining Tools

They eliminate such physical-world constraints as the

need to walk into a store to purchase a product.
Amazons one-click ordering system, for Example, eases
transactions

by

sparing

repeat

customers

the

inconvenience of inputting transaction data. Peapods

shopping lists save consumers time by recording the
products they purchased previously. The fact that most eshoppers drop out of the buying process during the last

46

clicks suggests that improvements along these lines

might be very worthwhile.
III.

Self-service Tools
They allow customers to obtain answers and results
without the delays and inconsistencies that more
often than not characterize human efforts to provide
assistance. Such tools include software for tracking
orders,

preparing

statements,

and

changing

addresses on-line. Although incumbents often have

difficulty integrating these

Web-based tools with

legacy systems, the tools are indispensable for

banks, retailers, and other e-businesses that handle
large volumes of transactions.
IV.
They

Do-it-yourself product design tools

allow

consumers

to

customize

products

and

services, either with the help of configuration options or

from scratch. Dell Computer, for Example, lets customers
design their own systems on-line by choosing from a
range of options; customers of Music.com and Listen.com
can download the music of various artists onto a single
compact disc. But the need to create manufacture-toorder systems to capture the potential of these tools may

46

make them uneconomical in industries that, unlike

software and music, are not based on information.
V.

Dynamic-pricing tools

They overthrow the tyranny of the fixed retail price,

allowing prices to fit the particular circumstances of
individual transactions. Such tools, which come in many
forms, include eBays and uBids auctions and Pricelines
offer to "name your own price." Dynamic pricing, a
potential "killer application" in many categories, could
permit customers to make a wider variety of trade-offs
between price and value than is possible in the current
world, where most sellers offer a single fixed price to all
buyers.

46

4.3. RETHINKING THE BUSINESS

MODEL
As digital brand builders align the promise and the
design, they must also align the economic model that will
sustain

their

businesses.

For

most

managers

of

established brands, the very process of taking them online will force a fundamental reconsideration of the
business.

Digital

brands

offer

richer

consumer

experience than their physical-world counterparts, so

they can and should make money by tapping into
broader revenue and profit pools than any single
physical-world business might enjoy. Fortunately, the
range of economic opportunity for a digital brand
expands dramatically as it draws from traditionally
unrelated revenue and profit pools.
The economic model must be expanded because building
digital

brands

around

consumer

experiences

is

expensive. A number of different sources of revenue

ultimately makes it possible for a digital brandand the
e-business that supports itto deliver a richer experience
to

the

consumer.

Since

on-line

consumers

expect

combinations of product types and functional benefits

different from those expected by off-line consumers,

46

marketers must adopt several different economic models

to succeed.
There are six basic economic models (Exhibit 4.2). The
success of an Internet brand rests on the skill with which
it combines two or more of them.

4.2 New Business Model Combinations On-line

I.

Retail model

46

Vendors

or

products

are

aggregated

to

facilitate

transactions for buyers.

II.

Media model

A company aggregates audiences to generate revenue

from third parties, such as advertisers, in the manner of
the music channel MTV, the CBS television network, and
Newsweek magazine.
III.

Advisory model

An expert (such as an investment adviser or a personal

shopper) offers consumers unbiased advice for a fee.
IV.

Made-to-order manufacturing model

business

manufactures

customized

products,

such as locomotives, in one-time production runs.

V.

Do-it-yourself model

A business (such as McDonalds or IKEA) provides for or

facilitates consumer self-service.
VI.

Information services mode

A business (such as ACNielsen or J. D. Power

Associates) collects, processes, and sells information.

and

46

Priceline, for Example, combines the retail and media

models and therefore enjoys economics that are vastly
superior to those of other travel agencies, both on- and
off-line.

Applying

the

retail

model,

the

company

aggregates suppliers of travel services, such as airlines.

Applying the media model, it "monetizes" its audience to
third-party

advertisers

by

suggesting

products

and

services to its customers.

Dell also combines two modelsthe made-to-order
manufacturing and do-it-yourself models. The company
offers computer shoppers an unparalleled choice of
features and permutations. In addition, its on-line menu
and instructions guide consumers through a selection
process that is speedier and less prone to error than one
handled by live customer service representatives. For
Dell, the superior process is also less costly.
Creating winning digital brands requires managers to
reconsider how they view both the Internet and branding.
Off-line brands have long thrived by delivering narrow
solutions to limited customer needs. On-line, however,
customers have learned to expect that the companies
they patronize will meet a much fuller spectrum of their
needs and desires. To succeed on-line, those companies

46

will have to create full-fledged Internet businesses, or

digital brands, that can fulfill this expectation.

46

5.0 BUILDING TRUST IN BRANDS

Can a marketer be trusted with sensitive personal and
financial information? Consumers increasingly expect
their

identity

and

personal

information

to

remain

confidential when they go on-line to shop, and that,

coupled with fear of on-line fraud, is what stops many
consumers from even considering digital transactions.
The Georgia Institute of Technology, in its "Tenth WWW
User Survey," found that only 4 percent of on-line users
routinely register at Web sites, and at some sites twothirds of those not registering report a lack of trust as
one of their reasons. They will become buyers only when
marketers overcome the lack of trust that paralyzes
many would-be Net shoppers. In response to those
security concerns, marketers are working to build trust
with consumers through their on-line interactions. The
level of trust grows as marketers and consumers engage
in a gradual "value exchange," through which consumers
provide marketers with personal information and are
rewarded in turn with products they actually want.
McKinsey research on more than 50 e-businesses shows
that the on-line marketers pacing their industries do so
by

embedding

trust

into

their

interactions

with

consumers. They are forging a broad logic of trust based

46

on constant and interactive value exchange between the

buyer and seller. A company that creates and nurtures
trust finds that customers return to its site repeatedly.
CDnow, Amazon.com, and Onsale generate well over half
of their sales from site loyalists. Contrast this with a
typical underperforming retail site, where only a quarter
of sales come from repeat buyers. Sites without a core of
loyal customers must devote more capital to acquiring
customers and eventually may find it difficult to survive.

5.1. CLIMBING THE TRUST PYRAMID

Building trust that leads to satisfied customers is complex

but essentialfor marketing executives. We have
identified six elements that build a "trust pyramid"
(exhibit 5.1). The base of the pyramid shows the three
core elements needed just to be in the game: state-ofthe-art security, merchant legitimacy, and robust order
fulfillment. Winning marketers move well beyond the
basics with more subtle trust builders that differentiate
them from the also-rans: consumer control, tone and
ambience,

and,

at

the

highest

level,

consumer

collaboration. As the baseline level of trust and security

rises, these points of distinction become more critical.
Taken together, the six elements of trust create the

46

confidence

needed

to

turn

browsers

and

ordinary

customers into site loyalists.

I.

State-Of-The-Art Security

Use the best security measures on your site, and tell your
consumers

5.1 Building Trust: Creating Site Loyalties

about them in

easily understandable language. Shoppers at Netmarket

are assured of "guaranteed safe shopping" with a nocompromises promise: "At Netmarket, you can shop with
confidence. We use the latest encryption technology,
digital

certificates,

secure

commerce

servers,

and

authentication to ensure that your personal information is

secure on-line." Marketers at Lands End also understand
how to reassure their customers on security issues. Its
site states, "You have no credit card risk. Period."
II.

Merchant Legitimacy

46

Brands are important on the Web. They help shoppers

sort out their choices when they have a limited range of
clues as to the quality and function of a product. Familiar
names with established records of performance go a long
way toward building trustso long as marketers continue
to deliver that performance through their Web ventures.
If your company lacks a recognizable consumer brand,
three tactics can get you in the game:
1. Sell branded products. Netmarket, for Example, depicts
thousands of brands on its site, from Panasonic DVD
players to Reebok shoes. The sites tag line is "name
brands at warehouse prices."
2. Ally your product or service with an established brand. Tel-Save,
an unknown phone service provider, secured a privileged position
on America Online, a brand recognized by 40 percent of US
households. Now known as Talk.com, Tel-Save signed up 1.8
million new customers in the year after the deal was signed in
December 1997. Its sales increased by 47.2 percent from 1997 to
1998.
3. Encourage prospective customers to sample your services through
low-risk trials and creative offers. E*trade lets prospective
investors take part in contests without risking real money. The Wall
Street Journal offers a two-week free trial of its interactive edition.

46

If consumers like it, an annual subscription costs $59 (print-edition

subscribers pay $29 for it).
III.

Fulfillment

Great security and brands can go only so far; a trustbuilding site must also fulfill orders efficiently and with
minimal hassles. Nothing alienates a buyer more than
getting thrown off-line, finding the site frozen, or making
a wrong entry that causes the loss of pages of entered
information. And at some sites, prospective buyers must
slog through a lengthy registration process before
discovering that sales taxes, shipping, and handling
charges greatly increase the total price of their purchase.
The best practice: explain all costs, and have an
infrastructure that gets the right product to the right
buyer in a reasonable period.
Leading Web companies are streamlining the purchase
and fulfillment process. Amazon.com has led the industry
with a "1-click" mechanism, through which buyers enter
an address and credit card information for the first sale
only. After that, Amazon.com remembers the details.
Marketers also are beefing up customer service to
provide fast and accurate answers to queries arriving online and through call centers.

46

In practice, even the best companies will sometimes

stumble

in

fulfillment.

But

mishap

can

be

an

opportunity for a company to show its best face and build

trust with its clientele. Consider the experience of
Hastings Entertainment and its gohastings.com site. The
company announced its site with newspaper ads offering
a package of three popular video movies for $9.99. The
trouble was that buyers reaching the site found a notice
saying it was still under construction. By afternoon, the
message had been replaced with a toll-free number
through which users could place an order for the videos.
Buyers also got a T-shirt as part of gohastings.coms
apology. What could have been a marketing meltdown
was transformed into a reasonably happy story.
IV.

Control

Even with credit card security assured, consumers learn

to trust the marketers they deal with only when they
know that theynot the marketerscontrol access to
personal information. Marketers who ask permission for
personal details are taking the smart approach. E*trade,
for Example, discusses the benefits provided by cookies
on a users hard drive (the cookie ensures that preferred
settings appear without the customer logging in each

46

time), then asks the user for permission to place a

cookie.

Some marketers are recruiting consumers to serve on

panels that independently audit privacy policies. Others
use third-party audit services such as those of the
Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB). Sites may
qualify for the BBBOnLine seal when they adopt robust
privacy policies and agree to consumer-friendly dispute
settlement procedures. More broadly, consumers like to
feel that they are in control of the buying process.
Accordingly, marketers at the GMBuyPower site provide
consumers with comparative information on competitors
cars. After all, consumers will go somewhere to find that
information. GM builds trust by letting consumers know
that it understands that they have a choice and that they
control the buying decision.
V.

Tone And Ambience

Trust building encompasses more than the strictly

technical aspects of a Web site. Consumers want to know
that marketers will handle their personal information with
sensitivity. Without ironclad confidentiality, consumers

46

will never move ahead with a value exchange. Leading

marketers post an easy-to-read privacy statement and
explain

how

they

collect

and

handle

customer

information. Lands End addresses this issue on its

Landsend.com site, stating, "Well never misuse the
information you provide us."
Design and content are other critical elements. "ECommerce Trust," a January 1999 study by Cheskin
Research and Studio Archetype/Sapient, points to the
importance of ease of site navigation as one influence. A
sites appearance also says a great deal about a
marketer. Value America, a virtual retailer, stresses the
importance of "white space" and presents products in an
uncluttered, friendly setting that shoppers find appealing.
Drawing

on

the

next

wave

of

personalization

technologies, marketers will be able to customize the online store ambience for each consumer. For Example, on
a music site, a classical music aficionado might receive
an audio selection and visual merchandising that would
reflect that sensibility; a heavy-metal fan would enjoy a
more raucous presentation.
Marketers set the right tone with their customers when
they are straight about all aspects of the relationship,

46

such as how they deliver services. Amazon.com now lists

all its "publisher-supported placements" and explains its
acceptance of co-op funds after controversy over its
unstated policies. Other marketers carefully indicate that
pricing may vary according to the channel through which
a product is sold. The home page of Tower Records notes,
"Pricing

at

towerrecords.com

applies

for

on-line

purchases only. Sale pricing may not apply in Tower retail

stores."
VI.

Collaboration

A site nurtures trust when it encourages its customers to

inform each other about the companys product and
service offerings. A Yankelovich Partners survey reveals
that consumers consider other users of a product to be
the most trusted source of advice when considering a
purchase

of

that

product.

Thus,

chat

groups

let

consumers query each other about their purchases and

experiences. Amazon.com customers, for Example, have
posted hundreds of wildly divergent opinions about a
single book.
One site that built an entire business and brand by
innovatively collaborating with consumers is eBay. Its
governing model of trust is its feedback forum, where

46

buyers and sellers rate each other. The detailed records

of transaction histories show eBay users what they can
expect from other users. The Web site also uses its
network of users to spread the word about its activities, a
tactic known as "viral marketing." That is, users can email auction notices to their friends.
Corporations also can choose to separate themselves
from the opinion process by linking customers to external
sites. Auto manufacturer Saturn has links to auto
magazines and price and ratings guides.

5.2. BUILDING TRUST

Bringing the six elements of trust to your Internet value
proposition, though, does not automatically lead to deep,
trusting relationships. That comes through a step-by-step
process in which the consumer and marketer exchange
value. Each time the consumer volunteers some personal
information, the marketer rewards the consumer with a
more personalized service. This mutual give-and-take
eventually leads to an advanced collaboration based on
trust.

46

The research has identified four stages of trust building:

I.

Attraction

At the first stage, the consumer browses the site and

even makes a transaction. No real relationship exists
between the marketer and the consumer, and none may
be warranted. The best strategy is to provide the
consumer with information, without demanding any in
return. At first blush, this may seem like an imbalance
between what marketers give and what they get back.
But what the consumer is giving the marketer is
something quite valuable: time and attention, along with
a view of how the site is traversed.
The time and attention translates into the "mind share"
needed to create a brand preference. The average
consumer on Ralston Purinas Dog Chow Web site, which
offers no product for sale, spends more than six minutes
per session learning how to care for pets. Thats far more
timeand concentrationthan consumers devote to a
30-second TV ad.
II.

User-Driven Personalization

At the second stage, consumers start shaping Web pages

to their specific tastes. For Example, CDnow customers

46

can personalize their home pages with favorite artists

and wish lists. The company shows that it is willing to
deliver some value to the consumer before gaining
financially. Charles Schwab now invites users to set up a
personal page through the MySchwab service, where
users can not only track stocks but also get customized
sports news, weather information, and even cartoons.
Users arent required to open a Schwab account to do so.
III.

Marketer-Driven Personalization

In the third stage, marketers begin using insights

provided by consumers to beam information back to
them. Thus, CDnow uses its knowledge of consumers
developed at the earlier stages of trustto suggest
products they might like which consumers then rate as
either on- or off-target. As the process continues, CDnow
learns consumers preferences and zeroes in on what
they really like. It is worth emphasizing that marketers
should rein in their urge to make immediate use of data
and personalization technologies. This approach takes
patience, a trait lacking at many marketing organizations.
Too often they bombard consumers with promotional
offers as soon as they get their hands on an e-mail
address. We suggest a gradual approach, as nothing

46

aggravates many Internet users more than unsolicited email.

A best practice is to let the user set the pace of
personalization and contact from marketers. User-driven
personalization should precede marketer-driven offers.
Recent research by Professor Youngme Moon of the
Harvard Business School has shown that premature
personalization can backfire. Moon found that consumers
were less likely to buy products pitched to them through
messages if the messages were based on information
they

had

not

given

to

the

marketer

themselves.

According to "Is Your Web Site Socially Savvy?" a May

June 1999 Harvard Business Review article, consumers
were more likely to buy when the message was
personalized

and

based

on

information

they

had

volunteered.
IV.

Trust-Based Collaboration

At the final stage, the marketer and the consumer work

together closely. The consumer gives the marketer
access to the most sensitive personal information (family,
finances, or health) and in turn gains customized
experiences and consultative problem-solving assistance.

46

In our view, very few on-line marketers have reached this

level of trust with their consumers.
The pace of value exchange varies by industry and
situation. For Example, mortgage shoppers may provide
financial information in their very first interaction if they
need a quick answer. In other situations, the process
moves more slowly. And because costs rise as marketers
go up the trust staircase, they must decide just how far
they

need

to

go

to

create

the

most

profitable

relationships. Trust building at a basic level may be

enough for some marketers, particularly if greater trust
does not bring greater spending by consumers.
Only by sustaining trust can marketers expect to
establish enduring relationships with consumers, and it is
by keeping a central focus on that idea that marketers
build a value exchange that delivers consistent and
progressive mutual benefits. With the six building blocks
of trust in place, marketers should be able to chart a
course for building great on-line businesses.

6.0 CASE STUDY - C2W & HUNGAMA

The first full-fledged website in the Indian market to start
broadcasting to cater to this need was Contest2Win

46

(www.contest2win.com), now simply c2w.com, keeping in

mind the impatience levels of users online. C2W edged its
way slowly but steadily into the minds and onto the
fingertips of Indian users by striking barter deals which
involved their URL (Internet address) being mentioned in
traditional media in exchange for hosting contests and
promotions on their site. With enthusiasm that ran deep, but
pockets that didn't, Alok Kejriwal, CEO, did not spend on the
traditional advertising and PR channels from the time they
went

live

in

November

1998.

On

the

other

hand,

Hungama.com took the other route, living upto its name

when

it

launched

in

March

99.

Online

advertising,

professional PR, and attractive promotions in prominent netsavvy community hangouts like night clubs and cybercafes
in Bombay, Bangalore and Delhi all went towards literally
raising a hungama about this new website in almost no time
at all!
The business model of sites like C2W and Hungama is
simple - they believe in the Internet maxim: "content is
king". And they keep that content fresh. Of course, content
for them is not news and features, but contests, promotions
and incentives rewarding users for spending time on their
sites. And there are four steps involved in making this
business model pay off for them:

46

6.1. CREATING CONTENT

Both Hungama and C2W have aggressive teams that
interact with various brand and marketing managers to get
more brands on their sites, with hundred of big brands like
Philips, HLL, UDV and Sony already enticed by what the
medium has to offer. Contests and promotions are either
created exclusively for the Net, or are online adaptations of
existing traditional world contests.

6.2. ATTRACTING USERS

C2W has emblazoned its brand - their URL - into the minds
of current and potential members by cross promotion in
traditional media like outdoor, print, television, and even on
product packaging. Hungama chose to storm the market
and create an identity and brand through physical contact in
the real world where their target audience cannot miss
them. Special incentives to cybercafe owners also ensures
prominent display and rewards for getting their members to
sign up.

6.3. KEEPING USERS

By constantly adding new contests and promotions to their
sites, C2W and Hungama ensure that their visitors keep
coming back. Hungama.com has even gone to the extent of
giving away prizes every hour, by the hour, with over 100
prizes being distributed daily from their office!

46

6.4. SELLING EYEBALLS

Today, C2W has a database 35,000 strong (growing at 35%
per month), all with authentic registration details - after all
fake details means that your prize may never reach you.
Hungama, though a recent entrant, is fast catching up. As
these numbers grow, these eyeballs will attract advertisers
to the sites, bringing in advertising revenue, either for
banners or for paid promotions. C2W already has Intel
advertising on their pages, while the Hungama pages are
still banner-free.

6.5. THE FUTURE

C2W has already finalised plans for Pan Asian reach, and are
looking

for

strategic

partners

for

the

American

and

European market, to become the world's contest portal - a

one-stop site for contests and promotions. "Free" seems to
be a four lettered f-word for Neeraj Roy, CEO, Hungama.com
who emphatically states that his site is not a contest freebie
site - it is an ePromotions site that will continue helping
brands get their message to online customers through
incentives.
Whatever tag you put on them - be it freebies, incentives,
contests,

promotions,

or

brand-building

exercises

in

cyberspace, there are more eyeballs being attracted, and

46

slowly but steadily, more brands being attracted by these

eyeballs.

46

7.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

7.1. MARKETING RESEARCH:
Definition of marketing research research as approved as by
the board of directors of the association of American
marketing association is:
Marketing research is the function which links the customer
and

public

information
opportunities

to

the

used

marketer

to

and

identity
problems

through
and

information

define

generate

marketing

define

and

understanding of marketing as process.

Simply, marketing research is the systematic design
collection analysis and reporting of data finding relevant to
a specific marketing situation facing the company. Carefully
planning through all stages of the research is a necessity .
Objectivity in research is all-important.
scientific

method

is

the

objective

The heart of

gathering

of

the

information.
The function as marketing research with in the
company as to provide the information and analytical
necessary for effective.
Planning of the future marketing activity.
Control of the marketing operation in the present.

46

Evaluation of marketing results.

A research may under take any of the three types of

research investigation depending upon the problem. These
type of research included:
1. Basic research
2. Applied research
3. Designated Fact Gathering

7.2.

STEPS IN RESEARCH

Research process can be out through following

steps.

Define the problems and research objectives

Develops the research plan
Collect the information
Analysis and interpretation
Present the finding.
7.3. PRIMARY DATA:
It consists of information collected for the specific purpose,
survey research was used and he all the details of Ford and
their competitors were contacted. Survey research is the
approached gathering description and information.

46

7.4. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

OF PRIMARY DATA
Analysed Survey Report
Total participation in survey=20
1. How often you use internet?
a) Frequent user
b) Less frequent
c) Non user

Data
CUSTOMER PREFRENCE
Frequent user
Less frequent
Non user
Total

% of customers
7
8
5
100%

46

8
7
6
5

Frequent use r

Less fre quent

Non use r

4
3
2
1
0

Interpretation:
From this question we get to know number of user of internet that effect digital
branding as above data show as maximum people are Less frequent
2. What do you like most about your digital market ?
a) Easy to get information
b) Time saving
c) Larger variety at home

Data
CUSTOMER PREFERENCES
Easy to get information
Time saving
Larger variety at home
Total

% of customers
5
9
6
100%

46

9
8
7
6 Easy to get information
5
4
3
2
1
0

Time saving

Larger variety at home

Interpretation:
As in his question show what does people like about digital market as most
of the people think that its time saving also liking towards variety available

3. What do you feel better?

a) Digital market
b) Physical market

Data
CUSTOMER PREFERENCES
Digital market
Physical market
Total

% of customers
11
9
100%

46

12
10
8

Digital market

Physical market

6
4
2
0

Interpretation:
The above question show how does a local people feel about the digital
market that they are willing to purchase but still due to no less access
digital does turn out to more physical purchase

4. How do you do your shopping?

a) Online
b) Visit shop

Data
CUSTOMER PREFERENCES
Online
Physical market
Total

% of customers
7
13
100%

46

14
12
10
8

Online

Physical market

6
4
2
0

Interpretation:
As above data shows that still people are more attached to
visit shop that the still feel better see product and have a
live demo

46

5. Do you research and get information through internet for purchasing

products?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Sometimes.

Data

CUSTOMER PREFERENCES
YES
NO
UNKNOWN
Total

% of customers
9
5
6
100%

9
8
7
6
5

YES

NO

UNKNOWN

4
3
2
1
0

Interpretation:
Now a days due to higher access to the internet people
prefer to once look and compare the product that the
customer want to purchase.

46

6. Do you think that brands are getting more closer to consumer?

a) Yes
b) No

Data
CUSTOMER PREFERENCES
YES
NO
Total

% of customers
15
5
100%

16
14
12
10

YES

NO

8
6
4
2
0

Interpretation:
Yes as a good influence can be seen as more and more
brands is giving information apart from that it is providing
and getting mor closer o the consumer by the digital
branding.

46

7. Do you trust online market?

a) YES
b) NO

Data
CUSTOMER PREFERENCES
YES
NO
Total

% of customers
9
11
100%

12
10
8

YES

NO

6
4
2
0

Interpretation:
As the online transaction is still considered as a risky one so
still people dont fully trust for the transaction for any
purchase .

46

8. To which media do you get expose regularly?

a) Televisions
b) Internet
c) News papers
d) F.M/Radio

Data
CUSTOMER PREFERENCES

% of customers

Televisions

Internet

News papers

F.M/Radio

Total

100%

8
7
6
5

Televisions

4
3
2
1
0

Interpretation:

Internet

News papers

46

People seems to be more exposed towards television at

their daily basis and then other medium bus still digitally
branding themselves is very appropriate as television and
then followed by internet and newspaper

9. What kind of internet user are you?

a) casual
b) Information purpose
c) Official purpose
d) Social networking

Data
CUSTOMER PREFERENCES

% of customers

casual

Information purpose

Official purpose

Social networking

Total

100%

6
5
4

casual

3
2
1
0

Information purpose

Offi cial purpose

Social networking

46

Interpretation:
As above data people that is using for casual, information and social purpose
are more than can be used for digital branding.

10. What kinds of offers do you like or expect from the online dealer ?
a) Free insurance
b) Special discount
c) Extending the service period
d) Finance availability with 0% interest

Data
CUSTOMER PREFERENCES

% of customers

Free insurance

Special discount

Extending the service period

Finance availability with 0%

interest
Total

100%

46

9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

Free insurance

Special discount

Extending the service period

Finance availability with 0% interest

Interpretation:
Digital dealer need to penetrate the market by lower price or discount to
built their brand.

11. Whats your opinion about importance of Digital Branding?

a) Very necessary
b) Not needed

Data
CUSTOMER PREFERENCES
Very necessary
Not needed
Total

% of customers
9
11
100%

46

12
10
8

Very necessary

Not needed

6
4
2
0

Interpretation:
As still the people in India has not more use to the online
and digital India as still people is unaware about the digital
needs in the near future

12. Can you share your experience with after sale service support given by
digital market?
a) Very much satisfied
b) Satisfied
c) Ok
d) Not satisfied

Data
CUSTOMER PREFERENCES
Very much satisfied
Satisfied
Ok

% of customers
3
10
3

46

Unknown
Total

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

Very much satisfied

5
100%

Satisfied

Ok

Unknown

Interpretation:
As above data a decent number of people is satisfied but
still to go for a long run a there is a need for improvement
in services

46

7.5. SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION:

The secondary data consists of information that
already existing somewhere having been collected for
another purpose. Any researcher begins the research work
by first going through secondary data.

Secondary data

includes the information available with company. It may be

the findings of research previously done in the field.
Secondary data can also be collected from the magazines,
news

papers,

internet

other

service

conducted

by

researchers.

Books
1.
2.
3.
4.

E- Brands by Philp carpenter

Global E-commerce and online marketing by Nikhilesh Dholakia
Internet marketing research by OOk Lee
Principles of marketing by Philip Kotler

Magazines
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Business & Economics

Advance Edge MBA
Global Educator
Global Educator
Business & Economy

Internet
1. Thomsonlearning.com
2. Bloonet.com
3. www.infotech.com/MR/Industry%20Center/Wholesale%20and
%20Retail/ Governance/Building%20Digital%20Brands.aspx

46

4. www.mckinseyquarterly.com/ ab_g.aspx?ar=860&L2=16&L3=16
5. www.ceoexpress.com/asp/mckinseyalls4.asp?id=m0173
7.6.

Over all Interpretation

As the project digital brand project I Deepak P. Shetty

has prepared a questionnaire and other secondary
information as above with an objective to know what
is the current status of digital branding as a model for
a business to come up according questionnaire and
other secondary information I found few things as
follows:
In India internet user are very less frequent and less
access to internet.
More over youth is more

influenced towards digital

market.
Consumer those purchase online with an expectation
of offers and discounts.
By above question we come to know that people need
more satisfaction with respect to service.

And consumer in general dont trust due to fraud by

few Defaulters.

As few of them thing the brands are getting more

closer to the consumers as the update different
information digitally.
As we saw that people is having a mixed perception
for digital branding with different needs

46

8.0 SUGGESTIONS
Need to improve service.
India can be seen has a good market for digital
branding.
Digital

brands

should

try

to

build

trust

among

consumers.
As major population does not access internet but there
is a higher scope for digital brand to grow as a market.
Need to penetrate market with higher quality and
lower price.
And have a special team to know needs of the
consumers that may help branding.
And as can be considered the future market.
Customer should be educated about about the brand
and its advantage.
Regular feedback should be taken by the consumers.

46

Should keep an eye on defaulters or unwilling brand

that may effect the trust of consumers for whole of the
market.
Should take a responsibility to make trade safer.

9.0 CONCLUSION
The world of consumer products is quickly changing and
developing through new technology and an evolving
knowledge of what consumers really prefer both online
and in the real world.
The explosion of Web content has grown faster in the last
year than Web usage. As a result, it is actually harder to get
noticed and have people stay around a site than it was
three years ago. Marketers not only must get people to their
site, they must get them comfortable enough to place an
order. As a result, one of the biggest challenges on the Net

46

is creating brands-strong ones like E Bay, Yahoo, or Amazon

that achieve an image of quality, trust, and familiarity.
Online building brands has presented us with a whole new
kind of channel. The concept of the brand building has
taken on a new, more experiential shapethe ability to
surprise and delight in the moment. That is the really
important aspect of the medium thats not yet as prevalent
in more traditional advertising and offline direct marketing
models. But fundamentally, there is no difference between
an offline and an online relationship. Consumers are still
people, and they still form relationships with brands by
making emotional connections, regardless of the channel.

I.

One thing is for sure

The Internet is changing the methods of product selling day

by day. Instead of having a supermarkets and malls the
days are not far when the basic goods will be sold through
Internet and these will create a true millennium generation
and hence at that moment of time we can show our little
one a perfect, Generation Gap.

46

10.0

BIBLIOGRAPHY

10.1. INTERNET

1. Thomsonlearning.com
2. Bloonet.com
3. www.infotech.com
4. www.mckinseyquarterly.com
5. www.ceoexpress.com
6. www.themanagementor.com
7. www.yahoo.com
8. www.google.co.in
9. www.rediff.com
10.www.timesofindia.com
11.www.hinduonline.com
12.www.indiainfoline.com
13.www.cavindia.com
14.www.mouthshut.com

46

11.0 QUESTIONNAIRE:
Name :
Address:
Contact no.
E-Mail address:

1. How often you use internet?

a) Frequent user
b) Less frequent
c) Non user
2. What do you like most about your digital market ?
a) Easy to get information
b) Time saving
c) Larger variety at home
3. What do you feel better?
a) Digital market
b) Physical market
4. How do you do your shopping?
a) Online
b) Visit shop
5. Do you research and get information through internet for
purchasing products?
a) Yes
b) No

46

c) Sometimes.
6. Do you think that brands are getting more closer to
consumer?

a) Yes
b) No
7. Do you trust online market?
c) YES
d) NO
8. To which media do you get expose regularly?
a) Televisions
b) Internet
c) News papers
d) F.M/Radio

9. What kind of internet user are you?

a) casual
b) Information purpose
c) Official purpose
d) Social networking
10. What kinds of offers do you like or expect from the
online dealer?
e) Free insurance
f) Special discount
g) Extending the service period

46

h) Finance availability with 0% interest

11. Whats your opinion on a Digital Branding?
c) Very necessary
d) Not needed
12. Can you share your experience with after sale service
support given by digital market?
e) Very much satisfied
f) Satisfied
g) Ok
h) Not satisfied