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The arrival of the Internet provoked a storm of articles about why branding had to reflect the customer experience and detailed how, through the web-site, people could experience more immediately what the brand was all about. Branding was felt to be more transparent on the Internet, and the shift in consumer interaction dynamics was likely to make the experience itself a critical one (Figure 3). Here the discussion was all about making the on-line experience easy and accessible for consumers but essentially it was still focusing on the communications aspect. 
Figure 3: the on-line experience. Source: Why branding matters more on the Internet, Helena Rubinstein Journal of Brand Management July 2001
The debate is now moving into a new phase, which we refer to as 'branding equals building valued relationships'. Let me explain. All of the previous phases were valid - and remain so. But there was still a problem that was not being properly addressed. All the previous phases saw the transaction as a one way street - the company continued to tell people what they should think about the brand. But the very existence of the Internet has made this more and more difficult as people have much greater access to information. The key now is to consider all the relationships that the brand has with stakeholders (customers, employees, partners, the financial community etc) and to understand what is valuable in that relationship and make an emotional connection with each group about the things that they value (not as in the past about the things that the company values). The implications of this change in emphasis are radical and will be discussed later. But let's first address some of the problems that occur when the 'branding equals communications' equation is the one that dominates. Problems associated with the branding = communications equation In the early days of the dot.com boom talk about building brands was all the rage. Every self-respecting start up spent literally millions on choosing a snappy (but often irrelevant) name and building name awareness. Back in 2000, companies such as TheTrainline.com and Letsbuyit.com were spending between £300,000 and £500,000 each in one week alone. This was far in excess of what some of the more conventional advertisers were spending. The assumption seems to have been that name awareness was a priority (it was) but also that it was more important than getting the operational experience right because companies seemed to believe that the excitement of buying on-line was enough in itself to keep customers coming back. But customers are not idiots and if the real live experience of purchasing goods is not as easy or accessible (never mind the right price) as more conventional routes, then they will not return. The now demised Boo.com, a sports clothes retailer, learned the hard way. Even today, the three most common reasons for not purchasing over the Internet, according to GVU, are given as ease of use, navigation and privacy. Interestingly, some of the old off-line companies fared better on the net than the new on-line upstarts. Tesco, after some initial teething troubles, has expanded its Internet ordering & delivery service so that it is now the biggest on-line grocery retailer in the world. Their success has been because they not only managed to make the ordering experiences relatively simple (the site went through various phases before they got it right) but also because the experience of receiving the goods was operationally smooth. SimplyOrganic.com (a relatively small on-line grocery specialist) has also succeeded in making their site quick to use and easy to navigate combined with operational excellence, which is hard to beat. The branding = valuable relationships equation In the end, real branding is about creating relationships with customers (and also with employees) that they value and is, therefore, more than just about the communications. Successful operations such as Dell have understood this and the Internet has enabled them to leverage and build on these relationships better (and more immediately) then many other media. For example, the customer specifies what he or she wants and Dell deliver it. They do not spend a fortune on advertising and promotions and the customer gets what he wants at a better price. A relationship implies a 2-way dialogue. Old fashioned marketing and branding that focused on communications was a one way street. The product was made and then customers were informed; there was no opportunity for a discussion.
In his influential book, Right Side Up, Alan Mitchell writes that 'with the arrival of the information age, the familiar seller-centric world is being turned upside down' and that 'tomorrow's superbrands won't be those who simply apply the latest marketing tools but the ones who invent brand new win-win systems'
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