The New Golden Goose Of Branding?

These four issues are, we believe, the reason why interactive medias are taking, and will take even more into the future, such an important role for advertising and branding.INTERACTIVE ADVERTISINGCompanies and professionals have been talking about this for a decade or so already, but it is only in the recent few years that marketers have begun to conceive and launch interactive advertising campaigns. And apparently the initiative has been really successful, as more and more brands are now following pioneers' example.One of these examples goes back to 2004, when Converse launched one of the first interactive advertising initiatives to date: consumers were asked to create videos showing what the brand meant to them. The result - the Converse Rosetta Stone
Gallery - is a collection of 24 second-videos, made entirely by customers, the best of whom were broadcast on the Converse website, as well as on cable networks. Getting consumers involved in the creation of ads promoted the brand image among target audiences. Also, videos developed by brand fans could quite intelligently address the real meaning of the brand in consumers' minds, in a way likely more meaningfully than traditional promotional messages.And what about the more recent Nokia project 95 in China? The brand launched a blog-supported N95 road show: Peter Schindler, an experienced traveler, has been called to do a one man road trip across the country and maintain a mobile blog of the whole experience. What a smart way to show and advertise the mobile capabilities and functionalities!What is really important to note here is that even if brands want to ignore interactive medias, interactive medias are not likely to ignore them!Online communities, networking sites, industry or users blogs...brand fans and consumers groups are well up and active. Moms talk to each other from one side of the world to the other about diaper brands (very often enabled by the brand itself i.e.: P&G's research section), while sports fans get tuned in on the latest trends and models of their favorite brands through communities. Communities suggest, advise, judge, and complain about brands, creating buzz that can affect the brand both positively and negatively. And they do it regardless of brands themselves.By ignoring them, brands can be swept up by the noise. However, by using them smartly, brands can participate and somehow lead the conversation inside the community. And if it is true that "buzz advertising" is not easily controllable, it is also true that it can spread virally and it can arouse immediate awareness about new products launches and brand messages in users' circles.BRAND EXPERIENCEAnd what can be said about initiatives in interactive brand experiences? These Rosetta Stone Italian
might not be called direct advertising, but they surely end up creating relatively more brand awareness among industry fans, while performing better than any ad in spurring customer loyalty.Take Nike ID for instance. The sport brand website gives people the instruments to build on-line customized shoes which can then be bought to order. The attractiveness here is not really in selling customized shoes (even if triggering sales can never be discarded - and what is advertising about if not triggering sales?) but rather in letting customers play, experience, and live Nike, eventually feeling unique and irreplaceable.Exemplary interactive brand experience campaigns in Asia can be found in the Adidas "The Rook" campaign. This ran throughout 2007 across China, South Korea, Hong Kong, and the Philippines and was based entirely on an interactive digital web platform that enabled users to "live" a rookie's first season in the NBA. Web users were given Rosetta Stone Japanese
access to exclusive footage and 3D video games designed to create a 360-degree experience of the games. Ultimate goal? Naturally, to bond Asian basketball fans to Adidas' brand, but also to create buzz advertising, drive sales of the NBA related products and leverage the sponsorship agreements in the Asian region.RESEARCHIf it is true that the aforementioned uses of interactive medias for advertising and brand experience can be extremely valuable for creating a consistent, multilayered and integrated brand communication strategy, it is equally true that interactive media can be even more advantageous for conducting consumers and trends research.Especially when identifying lifestyle changes and tracking trends over time, researchers can use interactive media to build or use existing online communities, web and mobile panels and then treat these as a dynamic, real time instrument to tap into targeted respondents' brains and uncover invaluable insights.However, be aware that that simply data-mining existing blogs cannot bring about meaningful market and consumers insights by itself.