Branding in the post-internet era

The internet and its related e-technologies have to a large extent upset the asymmetry of information that for so many years worked in favour of brand managers. Consumers are now empowered to interact with brands and other consumers but also to create their own content on user generated content sites leading to a more participative approach to branding. Internet brands adopt a more relaxed stance on brand management, which involves the consumer in fundamental stages of the brand building process. In this context, the brand manager is no longer a `guardian' of the brand but becomes more of a brand `host'. The question is to what extent can traditional companies follow suit? Are they comfortable to cede control to consumers? Do we need a new theory of branding in an e-space?

Breaking free from the industrial age paradigm of branding

The paper aims to inform readers of the themes that emerged at the 2007 Thought Leaders International Conference on Brand Management and challenges academics and practitioners to rethink the basics of branding. The paper encourages academics and practitioners to escape from the continued confines of industrial age branding and the ‘influencing’ mindset and embrace the age of openness and co-creation. It is argued that we need to evolve from the industrial age paradigm of branding that informed brand management for decades and adjust practice and research accordingly.

Conceptualising and measuring the equity of online brands

Although brand equity is an important source of competitive advantage online, previous conceptualisations and measures overlook the unique characteristics of the internet that render consumers co-creators of brand value. In view of this, a threephased research programme was undertaken to identify the facets of online retail/service (ORS) brand equity and then develop and validate a scale for its measurement. ORS brand equity was found to be a second order construct with five correlated yet distinct dimensions: emotional connection, online experience, responsive service nature, trust, and fulfilment. A series of tests showed that the ensuing 12-item scale has strong psychometric properties. The implications of this research for marketing researchers and practitioners are discussed.