INDEX Content

1. INTRODUCTION Page No 2

Introduction to the Advertising and Branding Industry Page No 3 Introduction to online branding Page No 5

2. Major Trends Affecting Online Branding Page No 7

2.1 Online Branding industry overview Page No 7

2.2 Social media for online branding. Page No 10

2.3 Television Attempts to Evolve to Face New Challenges Page No 12

2.4 Internet and ecommerce Page No 19

2.5 Technology and Online Branding Page No 21

2.6 Role of Outsourcing Page No 24

2.7 Mobile Marketing Page No 27

3. Research methodology Page No 29

3.1 Research Strategy Page No 29

3.2 Case Studies Page No 31

3.2.1 Mc Donald’s Sweden Page No 31

3.2.2 Coca Cola Page No 33

3.2.3 Salon du chocolat Page No 34

3.3 Data Collection and Analysis Page No 38

4. Research Findings Page No 40

5. Discussion Page No 42

5.1 Accesses to the Internet and its Usage Page No 42

5.2 Branding on the Internet Page No 43

5.3 Search Engine Marketing Page No 43

5.4 Email Marketing Page No 43

5.5 Viral Marketing and Affiliate Marketing Page No 45

5.6 Blogs and Banners Page No 45

5.7 Shopping online or Ecommerce Page No 44

6. Summary and Conclusion Page No 45

7. References Page No 47

INTRODUCTION

As we are going through the massive transformation at this digital age there are some fundamental

mindset or business model changes that need to be changed. In my opinion digital media is a

feature not a destination. From the early days of branding and advertising the companies have used

different mediums to woo the customers;there has been never an only one channel. It is not about

TV or it is digital, it is about coexistence of old and new media. Itis about engagement with the

customer, it is about putting the customer into the centre of whatever advertising and marketing

mediums are used. While we can turn around and debate about the changing face of media, it is

going to continue to change and evolve. At the end of the day, the implications are on the consumer

and the changing consumer behaviour. The changing consumer behaviour always challenges

marketers to keep up with the pace and finding new ways of customer engagement. This research

will focus on some trends and ways to address the upcoming challenges. Marketing in the digital age

is evolving at a pace when we cannot cope and it is not driven by social media, it is driven by

technology. As an example, let us look at how Volkswagen launched one of its cars in Brazil1. This is

one of the best examples of how digital media could engage and how the online and offline media

could coexist. Today it is high time for all the marketers to understand the role of technology in

branding, also the role of digital media in changing the consumer behaviour. The applicability of

digital media will differ from region to region but fundamentally the trends are the same. The major

problem with the digital age is the abundance when consumers have too much, know too much and

can get access to too much of information. The new consumer media dynamics is changing very

rapidly and it is no more about the one way communication, now it is all about conversing. With the

surge in digital technology, the users have now taken control and brands have now lost control. They

may own the brand but they have no more control on them, as now the consumers trust other

consumers, not the brand owners. There is quote from Rupert Murdoch talks about the

fundamental change that is happening today.

"To find something comparable, you have to go back 500 years to the printing press, the birth of

mass media – which, incidentally, is what really destroyed the old world of kings and aristocracies.

Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media

elite. Now it’s the people who are taking control…. the internet is media’s golden age.” 2

The digital media paradox now is that it is making easier for customers and difficult for the

businesses, and I call it a paradox because technology is meant to make things easier for businesses.

1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSYxDz22DqY 2http://tocqueville.richmond.edu/digitalamerica/?p=155

Now consumers trust more recommendations of a business rather than their advertising. Evolution

of marketing in the digital age is all about engagement, experience and conversation. As of today,

the internet can effort of traditional media. Most brands do not only deal with only select group of

people. So the measurability of a medium of channel is a huge issue. There is a trend now that many

big organizations are on digital media not for building but for protecting their brands.

1.1 Introduction to the Advertising and Branding Industry

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as “a name, term, design, symbol, or any other

feature that identifies one seller's goodor service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal

term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that

seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is trade name.”3 Brands are seen

everywhere we go from store chains to fast-food restaurants easily recognizable. Media

technologies such as newspapers, news channels, television commercials, billboards, posters, bus

and bus stations ads, bench ads are just to name a few - have perpetuated culture and influence

consumers on a day to day basis. We are advertised to everyday. Cars, t-shirts, shoes all have logos

and this brand shadow acquire more customers than repetition to develop recognition, trust and the

brand identity. Brands want to develop recognition and stimulate spending by consumers. The value

of a brand has changed over the last few years. One of the major things is that there are lot of the

brands we see now are being built by the consumers. Given the fact that the Internet is becoming

more attractive to advertisers, the need for overarching standards is understandable. It can be said

that the purpose of advertising and branding is to initiate a communication where the aim is directly

or indirectly to influence and increase the sales of goods and services, regardless of where it occurs

and the methods used. Advertising is all about communication. Advertising Industry firms deal with

how people, companies, organizations and authorities shall communicate to each other and to us as

customers, users, citizens, etc.Advertising is always more than just advertising. It is a mirror of the

time, as it is helping to create the culture. The influence goes both ways. And the line between

advertising and reality becomes increasingly hard to draw. Advertisements have a tremendous

impact on brands as well as the consumers, it could be good or bad. Advertising is a company's

presentation of its product through various media, such as brochures, newspapers, magazines, radio,

television and Internet, etc. Advertising in its best form could be solid consumer information,

advertising can be memorable and can make huge impact on the way the generation

thinks.Advertising is meant not just to deliver a message, but to open a dialogue. It may be between

the brand and consumer groups, it may be between a company and its employees, or between

state and citizens.The advertising industry sees itself today not only as a facilitator of messages, but

3http://www.esp-conference.de/handouts.pdf

it creates and maintains the relationships between people. Advertising agencies provide a personal

relationship between brand and customers. Today, however, it is not so easy to build a brand

through advertising because many companies operating today are advertising and of course each of

these companies claim that their products are the best for consumers. Brands are doing everything

these days to get consumer’s attention. Therefore nowadays more often we find advertisements

that break in with certain taboo topics and we gradually begin to wonder where all this will lead

to. This is one of the classic examples of fact that the brands are driving today so hard to create a

particularly striking advertisement.

4

The picture shown above is a very good example of how the brand have changed their appearance

over the period of time. One can also say that the branding is the combination of art and science of

4http://www.aef.com/pdf/landa_history_rev2.pdf

differentiating a brand from others. One has to remember that there is a big difference between an

identity and a brand. Logos and graphing are just the trappings and window dressing of the brands.

1.2 Introduction to online branding

Understanding and Measuring the ROI of their investments online and i mpact on the growth of your

brand / business . Internet investments now exceed 10% of media spend and are growing

continuously double-digit year. Being present on the Internet is no longer an option but a

necessity .Though the branding industry is centuries old but the online branding part came into

existence in the decade of 1990s. It was 1994 when the first online banner advertisement of AT&T

was shown on hotwired.com5. Below is the picture of first online banner. At that point of time,

companies just started to build their own websites. Most importantly 1994 was the year when

online branding was invented.

6

Back in those days, getting an advertisement on a website had very simplistic model. It was as simple

as picking up the telephone, calling the website sales team and placing the advertisement. There

was not too much of sophistication in it. It was late 1990s when great evolution of online advertising

started. It was beginning of “.com” bubble. The digitization of media changed the role of traditional

branding methods and techniques.Use of technology has also overall changed the consumer

behaviour. With the digital revolution, we have a whole new world which is filled with mobile

phones, smartphones, tablets and ever increasing internet consumption. Over the last five years the

steady growth in online advertising and branding is seen and it has become a very important channel

for all the organizations to position their brands in the correct way. The largest share of money is

spent on classic online advertising that is search engine marketing and affiliate networks. All the big

brands have increased their budgets astronomically for the marketing in the online space. In these

days, companies are not only concerned about building their brands online, they have to be also

very careful about managing their reputations as anyone can write anything about them on the

internet. It could be a unsatisfied customer or a competitor using dirty tactics. There is a whole new

term emerged in the online branding era which is called as reputation management. Big and small

companies are using various software to find out who is writing what about them on the different

digital channels. There have been some fundamental changes that technology has done to the 5http://www.businessinsider.com/behold-the-first-banner-ad-ever--from-1994-2013-2 6http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/first66.html

branding industry. The most consequential is the skill sets. We can see now that the publishers,

agencies and overall branding industry now relies on different type of individuals which is

completely different then couple of decades ago. Online branding methods have also changed the

efficiency. It simply makes it more efficient for the advertisers by allowing them to target audiences

more effectively. Online branding has allowed companies to use data more effectively by having the

option of sending customized advertisements to the hyper targeted audiences. It also gives a

freedom of holding a medium accountable by making it more measurable in a way that advertisers

really check the statistics like number of views, sales conversions etc.

If we look at the other side, Research firm Edelman Berland conducted an online survey of 1,250

adults, 18 years or older, including 1,000 general population and 250 Marketing Decision Makers,

each in the U.S.

This gave a very interesting fact that most of the consumers find online advertisements annoying

and disturbing. They have also mentioned that best time to view an advertisement is while reading a

magazine or while watching their favourite television show. People know that companies pay to the

different providers to advertise their brand on the internet and it is a fair business. But there are lot

of times where it becomes unbearable. Internet is one of the fastest growing medium on this planet

right now so obviously there are lot of good things as well as bad things about it. Needless to say

that it has a huge worldwide coverage but there are some downsides brands need to consider. In

7http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pdfs/Adobe_State_of_Online_Advertising_Study.pdf

case of lack ofinternet advertising knowledge, an organization may present or broadcast wrong

message in front of the wrong people. There are a lot of ways the internet marketing can be done

for example, aiming to micro-communities instead of aiming to advertising the business to

international clientele - companies can consider targeting people in their local regions.

Major Trends Affecting Online Branding

2.1 Online Branding industry overview

One of the great features of internet has been online advertising which is a tremendous revenue

earner. The online branding is mainly done by two ways, one of them is organic google search and

other one is online display as in pop ups, banners etc. When we look at the direct response

advertisements which are mediums like search which are transaction oriented, they take about

three quarters of online advertising. Meanwhile display advertisements which are also known as

branding cover one quarter of all the expenditure done in the online space. Interestingly in the

traditional advertising world it is the other way around. About 60% of all traditional advertisements

are display which we can see all the time as billboards, TV ads, radio ads etc. No one clicks on

television or radio to buy the things which are displayed as advertisements but they do create a

positive image in the consumers’ minds. A consumer may not buy them today but in the long term

probably he or she is more influenced to buy them. So when we look into brand advertising versus

direct response, it’s been interesting that since the beginning online is all about direct and

traditional is all about branding. In the coming future the growth of money spent in online is going to

increase many folds and one day we will see that the money spend for online branding and direct

marketing will be almost equal. Another great aspect about the internet is that it is a two way

channel. A report published at Hubspot in 2013 says

“Mass marketing gets a 2% response rate, if you’re lucky. Inbound marketing, on the other hand, can

produce conversion rates 10x higher or more. That’s because prospects respond to valuable content

that is more helpful and educational. More so than ever before, budgets spent on outbound

marketing (paid media) will shift to inbound marketing (earned media and original content).

According to 2012 study, one-third of CMOs say that more than half of their budgets have shifted

from traditional to digital marketing in the past year.”8

8http://cdn1.hubspot.com/hub/53/2013-Marketing-Trends-01.pdf

As mentioned above that in the online world three quarters of money spent is on transaction based

or direct response advertising whereas only one quarter is spent for branding. It has been not very

successful to do brand adverting online so far. Now there are whole bunch of new tools emerging for

example one called real time bidding which allows advertisers to control the appearance of their

display advertisements. In the past, it was not possible to take real time control of the

advertisements online. Another emerging trend in online branding is brought by social networks

recommendation sharing. It turns out to be that the spending money on the social media

advertisements is more effective than the spending money on the world wide web or the free for all

environment . The final one is use of videos in the online environment which is also called as web TV

or video TV. There are online ad campaigns which produce high quality video commercials on online

display and having massive success with thousands and millions of views making them top 10

watched videos of the year. A report published by Vizu said

“ …As further indicator that online brand advertising is finally coming into its own: 60 percent of

brands responding indicated that they are allocating dollars away from direct response to brand

advertising initiatives. Agencies mirrored brand marketers’ comments, saying 54 percent of digital ad

dollars would be spent on brand advertising, designed to foster or shift consumer perception, with

the remainder spent on direct response advertising. Agencies were even more bullish on growth

projections for brand advertising, with 71 percent projecting overall growth in 2012.

Media sellers are also predicting that online brand advertising will become increasingly important to

their businesses in 2012 – 67 percent say most of their online ad dollars will be generated by brand

9http://cdn1.hubspot.com/hub/53/2013-Marketing-Trends-01.pdf

advertising in the coming year, and just over half say they expect brand advertising sales to grow.

Just under a third – 32 percent of media sellers – said they expect sales growth in direct response

advertising.”10

11

The figure above shows the predictions of 2012 and we saw exactly that happened last year.

2.2 Social media for online branding.

10http://www.magnetic.is/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/2012-Online-Brand-Advertising-Outlook-1.pdf 11http://www.magnetic.is/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/2012-Online-Brand-Advertising-Outlook-1.pdf

Social media represents activities that combine technology, social interaction and creation of

media. Social media in other words is combination of all online forums where people can exchange

their views with the help of available technology. Examples of social media are Facebook, blogs,

MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Delicious and Flickr.In the old days the brand was what

companies make it but now the brand is what other people make it through different social media

channels. This is same for small companies to the large brands. The social media landscape has

changed dramatically since 2008. At that time the social media was evaluated and lot of brands were

deciding whether or not commit to it. Now the topics which were so controversial are the common

place and now it is absolutely essential for brands to have strong digital presence and ability to

adapt to quick changes in technology and new best practices. The big brands like Coca Cola use

social media as integration tools instead of using it as sales tool. The most important thing on for

being successful in social media is engagement, brands post the things on social media which are

related to consumers so that they can comment and share them which ignites a good conversation

about them. If we see any successful campaign on social media then we will find that they were all

meant for engagement, not selling. Social media has definitely changed the way the marketing and

business is conducted. Couple of decades ago, branding was all about broadcasting the message.

Social media had changed this tradition as now as people are talking back to brands and literally

telling them about their experiences. There are organizations which adapted to that and taking

advantage of having more personalized branding approach on the other hand there are also

organizations which are slow in adapting and still giving more preference to the old model.

Marketing on the internet is constantly changing. One day an organization feels that they are doing

the right things to attract more customers to the website and the next day they might feel that their

method is no longer effective. To keep up with the changes, and in some cases to even survive in the

virtual world, businesses must constantly adapt their activities in social media branding. Two trends

in social media marketing those have occurred during 2012 which are important for online

businesses to understand and apply: mobile marketing and social CRM. These trends in social media

strategy offer new ways to attract new consumers and retain existing customers and generate more

sales.

Social CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is used to create relationships with customers

through social channels which can have a big impact on business and has become a vital part in

your social media strategy. Social CRM strengthens the relationship between customer and company

by creating a communications platform that allows customers to interact with the company. Good

activities within Social CRM will often result in the customers feel both important and respected,

which increases customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Organizations rarely think that social media marketing can generate more sales due to a shortened

sales process. Traditional Internet marketing can get customers to contact a company but social

media streamlines the process by reducing customer queries generating more sales in less

time.Social media offers new opportunities for brands to take advantage of views, trends and

observations. But above all, companies can also actively participate in discussions relating to their

brand or idea. Most of your customers and prospects are already using social media for a variety of

other things. And where your customers are, there your brand should also be available. But it's not

about spreading traditional advertising or web advertising. It is about sharing information and

knowledge and to pursue research questions and debate.The whole point here is all about

convertingmarketing communications into marketing conversations. It is not about buying

advertising space on popular websites. It's not about spamming people, copy the link to website in

forums and blog comments or to stubbornly and persistently alone argue for your product

excellence. In social media everyone is a participant in a conversation, and the purpose of brands is

firstly and foremost to understand how your customers think and feel. And when companies

converse they should remember that conversation is to talk, not to inform. It is to listen, not to

investigate. And to be alert, but not to attract attention. To succeed in social media, a brand must

have a clear and consistent personality. It must have a pattern that can be recognized. It must be

open to the flow of ideas and opinions that they face in their conversations.Forrester Research,

which executed the study, polled 58,068 US and 5,635 Canadian adults ages 18 to 88 in April and

May. The study was a mixed bag for marketers looking to capitalize on changes in consumers' media

consumption.12 This survey was all about the role of social media as a channel between the brands

and consumers. The survey also gave emphasis to role of social media acting as a platform where

consumers can share their experiences with the brands.

12http://mashable.com/2012/12/19/45-percent-engage-with-brand-forrester/

Social media offers new opportunities for us to share opinions, trends and observations. It also gives

us opportunity to actively participate in discussions relating to the image of ourselves or our brand.

2.3 Television Attempts to Evolve to Face New Challenges

When we talk about the television, targeting advertising does not make as much sense as it makes in

online branding. The advertising in television is targeted by the program the viewers watching. It

costs a lot to make the television advertisements at times it goes up to millions of dollars. So one

cannot go into the multiple versions of the same advertisements as it costs too much money. So on

television, brands have the limitation of having one advertisement for targeting as many markets as

possible. If we compare the online video and universal television in terms of the viewership we can

see thatin an online environment, about 1.3% of time spent on viewing videos in the internet is

spent in viewing advertisements. In television, roughly 25% of time is spent viewing advertisements.

E.g. in one hour show 44 minutes is the actual content and the rest of 16 minutes are

advertisements. To break this down even further, let’s look only at the premium television content

websites.

13http://www.slideshare.net/kendalltravel22/comscore-consumer-video-insights

There is not much clutter in the online video advertisement space as it is in the television. This

means high exposure to the brands which are advertising in online videos. There are statistics which

suggest that the viewers are responding more to the online video advertising due to the less clutter.

A white paper issued by YuMe networks came to conclusion that stated

“Online video ad spending is projected to increase 39% in next 5 years , totalling $2 billion. And,

online video consumption has now reached the point of mass market penetration across all

demographic and age groups, making in-stream video advertising an essential element of a

marketer’s media mix. There is clear evidence that a well-planned campaign combining online video

and television is greater than the sum of its parts.”15

Technological developments have led to more viewers than ever are free to choose the time of day

they see on television. But how and where they do it? In the computer, mobile phone or tablet

device. On the bus, beach or job?

One can say that the number of media channels increases as consumers' attention decrease. To

achieve the noise a company has to adapt the message for viewers' behavior. So the combination of

digital and television advertising will just do the needful.

14http://www.slideshare.net/kendalltravel22/comscore-consumer-video-insights 15http://www.swissmediatool.ch/_files/researchDB/587.pdf

Another report published by Deloitte stated that

“This is likely to leave traditional TV advertising to evolve testing new forms of the thirty-second

spot, exploringproduct placement, and seeking new opportunitieswithin linear TV. New forms of

advertising will emergearound the content on second (third and fourth)screens.”17

Combining traditional TV advertising with advertising in digital media for increased range is a

common practice in the branding industry now a days. Even when a consumer is outside his or her

home, screens in a variety of environments are there, including in the health care centers, airports

and public transport. There are lot of companies which are offering TV commercials on those screens

which is a again a new invention of TV advertising.

16http://www.swissmediatool.ch/_files/researchDB/587.pdf 17http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-Colombia/Local%20Assets/Documents/El%20futuro%20de%20la %20publicidad.pdf

Now a day with the huge surge in the regional channels all across the globe, the regional TV channel

advertising has also taken a big leap. This has the advantage of cost effective and more targeting

audience which a company has on the online platforms. While a company is conducting a major

national campaign it can also utilize local television advertising to reach out with specific

messages. A company can use the film's final seconds to locally adapted material, for example, they

tell the consumers where the local dealer is. Or simply reinforce their campaign with more

impressions in the areas of most interest of them. Local television advertising also allows you to

customize your campaign season. For example, a beer company can advertise more on a local

channel during October Fest in Germany. Another smart option with local television advertising is to

select a test area where a brand wants advertise locally to see if the campaign gives the right result.

Television is still the predominant way for us to get the huge amount of content. One can say that

the digital media services that we see are just complementing the television. If one goes through the

history of mass media, it can be seen that no medium has ever replaced any other medium, they co-

exist side by side. Few years ago it was said that internet is going to kill television but now it is seen

that they are working together. In fact people are watching more television than ever before but

they are doing it differently. Now, the question is that where do people get time to watch more

television as well as getting engaged with new mediums such as internet? The answer is

multitasking. Now the people have accustomed themselves to use different types of mass media

simultaneously. The new generation is on Facebook and Twitter while checking emails.

Carol Edwards, senior vice president for cross-platform sales and marketing at Arbitron in Columbia,

Md., said: “There isn’t cannibalization. Other platforms are complementary to television.”

“TV continues to play such a dominant role,” she added, “though there is content available on other

platforms.” The tests are important, Ms. Edwards said, because “all the media companies are trying

to monetize their content platforms and to be fully monetized, they need to be measured.” Among

the findings of the Arbitron test that may be surprising was that of all the people who viewed

content on all three screens, the largest demographic group was not the youngest. Adults ages 35 to

49 led, at 36.6 percent, followed by adults ages 50 and older, at 34.8 percent, and then by adults

ages 18 to 34, at 28.6 percent.18

A report published by TV20 gives a very clear picture of how the television is going to evolve in the

future. This report categorizes future of television in five parts as follows:

CONNECTED TV (The Merging of TV and Web)

SOCIAL TV (Virtual Get-Togethers in Your Living Room)

IMMERSIVE TV (3D Intensity and Gaming)

MOBILE TV (TV Anywhere)

SERVICE TV (Managing Everyday Life with Your TV)

PERSONAL TV (Made-to-Measure Programming)

18http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/06/12/497672/two-new-studies-and-the-future-of-television- advertising/?mobile=nc

The world of media is a fast paced industry which is continually adapting to the needs of its

customers. The near future for the television industry has to take into account these changes.

Advertisers are also going to adapt to reach new audience to build their brands. Since the 1990ss

television has made rapid advancements in its technology there has been a shift in how people

watch TV with introduction of set top box, internet television etc. Until recently the TV viewer was

stuck to a structured schedule and a cable. Now viewers can create a selective schedule that works

for them. Now there are tools such as TIVO which collect user behaviour, their interests and viewing

patterns. Advertisers are tapping into these data collections to create customized advertisements

which will be more relevant to viewers. By using targeting technology, specific commercials will be

sent to each television set. Parents with the young children will see more diaper advertisements

than the middle aged retiree. So, two neighbours could be watching the same channel but with the

different commercials based under consumer profile. Another recent idea is interactive television

advertisements. For example, TIVO started rolling interactive advertisements appear across the

screens when the viewer pauses of fast forwards the show. If the advertisement is appealing to

viewer, it can be clicked using the TV remote which will lead to more information. The thing that

makes television interesting today is the same thing that made it interesting when this medium was

introduced in 1950s which is its ability to be consumed by the large audience in a relatively short

period of time. There is still no better way to reach mass audiences and often times it is the 30

seconds advertisement spot that ignites the conversations online. Bill Patrizio, chief executive

officer, Red Bee Media says “Automobile brands, soft drink brands, sneaker brands etc. Have very

19http://www.z-punkt.de/fileadmin/be_user/D_Publikationen/D_Zukunftsreports/TV- 2020_The_Future_of_Television.pdf

large target audiences so obviously television is the great medium for attracting the mass audience.

In order to create a deeper relationship with prospective customers, they have to take advantage of

interactivity of television.”20 Advertisers really believe that the primetime is going to be really very

important because it’s only place where audiences can be reached in that kind of number.

“Advertising will become much more centric around the viewer so that paradigm of measuring

households going to become less and less relevant . It will be about connecting with right kind of

viewers in right demographic of audience of a particular brand or an advertiser.”21 In the future we

will see that four family members watching their own programs on television and they will get the

messages or advertisements relevant to them.

2.4 Internet and ecommerce

Ecommerce in the digital age is one of the biggest moves made by the business across the globe.

Many ecommerce service providers got huge funding from venture capitalists and there are lot of

those companies which became big enterprises now. In terms of growth areas of ecommerce, the

horizontals are big and now a lot of niche segments can be seen like health, beauty, apparel etc.

There is also a huge transition of offline brands to online. One of the primary advantages of

ecommerce is that people can shop anytime they want to be it day or night. People can shop on the

weekends, after work or anytime that suit them. Another advantage is that the website is accessible

globally from anywhere in the world which means that the number of sales that the ecommerce

generates literally mushrooms. Also in the traditional shops, owners have overheads like staff, rent,

and maintenance of the building which leads to the higher prices. In the ecommerce websites there

are very few overheads which leads to lower prices and finally leads to higher volumes of sales. Also

in case of traditional shop, a person has to be there and has limited working hours. In case a

consumer needs to buy something from a traditional shop, he needs to spend time and money to

reach there.

If we talk about future of ecommerce, there are three critical factors which are offline discovery,

new online discovery, content & commerce. Let us take each point one by one:

Offline Discovery: It could be from the sources like billboards, television commercials or word of

mouth. It is very important for an ecommerce portal to do offline marketing to create awareness and

familiarity with the brand. We can clearly see long television commercials of portals like eBay during

20http://www.thinktv.com.au/Media/2020_Vision/ EPISODE_4_THE_EVOLUTION_OF_ADVERTISING_TRANSCRIPT.pdf

21http://www.thinktv.com.au/Media/2020_Vision/EPISODE_4_THE_EVOLUTION_OF_ADVERTISING_TRANSCRIPT.pdf

the prime time. So the term offline discovery could be defined as the various offline channels which

can lead the consumer to log in the ecommerce website of a brand.

New Online Discovery: New online discovery can be defined as the various online channels like

social media marketing, search engine optimization, blogs and good customer reviews which lead a

user to land on the ecommerce website.

Content & Commerce: Once the consumer has landed to the website, it is the content and

commerce of the website which will lead to the sale. There are factors like ease of navigation, ease

of understanding by user and good deals which can lead to a good user experience followed by

creating a strong brand for a company. In the info graphic below we can see the type of brands

which have got most benefit from ecommerce:

In 2011 Visa acquired CyberSource23 which is a gateway of ecommerce retailers into their network.

There is another very interesting aspect which is intersection of brand marketing with ecommerce.

All the brands which are active on ecommerce are the transactional brands and they always do their

brand development based on the transaction. A brand is mainly combination of two things. It is

representation of the culture of the company and secondly it is manifestation of the stories told

22http://www.liketopost.com/wp-content/uploads/ecommerce-infographics.jpg 23http://corporate.visa.com/newsroom/press-releases/press1010.jsp

about that brand by its customers. And as we look at the intersection between brand and

ecommerce, one feed the other. When the internet came on board to a number of retailers, they did

not have any idea of how to manage the brand in that way. Today all the retailers who have

successfully branded themselves via ecommerce have one thing in common which is consistency of

brand message which is the same when the consumer sees the picture on the website, he gets the

same thing delivered to him within the delivery time. It is the true combination of digital marketing

and superior customer service which can lead to a brand to become successful through ecommerce.

The multichannel evolution has caused a number of challenges but it is about making sure that the

companies should learn the ecommerce business. There are few very structural changes in the

world of retail that changing the ways of doing business. A report presented by interactive media in

retail group in 2012 which was published after collecting data from small and large retailers shows

that the online retail sales are growing by 15% year on year since 2000. It also shows that 20% of the

retail purchases made in the UK are online.24 With the rise in multichannel retailing where a brand

has a number of channels to be able to get to their marketplace, the consumers have got the

freedom of dealing with the brands in the way they want to deal with them. It could be online,

telephone or offline retailers.

2.5 Technology and Online Branding

Social media, mobile computing and cloud computing are examples of fourth wave technologies and

they are all tools those brands are leveraging to differentiate themselves from the market and add

value to their businesses. A brand always wants to measure and monitor their community and they

want it to be free. There are tools like Twitter and Facebook like mobile and gaming which brands

are using to enhance and create their community. The intersection of emerging technologies and

digital media are completely transformative. Brands have now understood the difference between

doing something and doing something smartly. Now most of the CEOs and CMOs are seeking for

analytics that drive decision making and the analytics those ensure that they are hitting the

productivity matrix what they are held being accountable for. In the complicated media landscape,

the way of trying to find an audience has become as important as content of the message that gets

to the audience. That means necessarily one needs to have technology capabilities in an alignment

with marketing knowledge. Now media agencies and marketing teams need to have a broad

spectrum of talent. On the one hand one can see an engineer who is doing extensive data analysis

24http://www.imrg.org/ImrgWebsite/User/Pages/IMRGReportsForSale.aspx? pageID=100&isHomePage=false&isDetailData=false&itemID=0&pageTemplate=14&isAllRecords=true&isArchiveData=False&parentPageID=0

and coming up with very data rich branding programmes on the other hand the person next to him

may come up with a great content idea for new programmes. It is a bold new world. Today there

are more ways than ever for marketers to connect their brands with consumers. For example, smart

phones are not only phones now, they are powerful wireless computers with an amazing ability to

gather and store information and allow people to connect and share with unprecedented speed and

convenience. The apple Appstore currently has over 100 thousand applications designed just for the

iPhone many of which are designed for branding purposes. Also the electronic tablets are

revolutionizing the way people are using media. They may be the biggest development in printing

since the first printing press was built in the 15th century. As we know that social media not just 12

years old tweeting to each other. Let’s consider that fact the if it was a country, Facebook would be

the fourth populous country in the world. 34% of bloggers post their opinion about products and

brands and 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations over the traditional advertising.

In today’s digital world, the branding is focussed on three major ideas which are entertainment,

commerce and content. In the digital world the online platforms those give access to the content

give a unique opportunity for consumer to recommend products or services. And advertisers in

return use algorithms to understand consumer’s habits in order to offer the desired

experience.Earlier there were only offline recommendations by friends, family and peers but now

the online recommendations as consumer gets them is of totally different scale. In the early days of

digital evolution it was easier to build one advertisement of a website but now for a brand to reach

effective critical mass through different devices, at least nine different experiences have to be built.

It has to be for laptops, tablets, mobile applications which are on the different platforms like iOS,

Google platform and Microsoft platform. There is also an eventual fourth screen coming in to the

play which is the television as this is now a new challenge with connected boxes and internet TV.

In today’s world everything that was analog is going digital. Today there is a huge increase in

connected TVs. The same is true with mail. This is also true that the landlines are going down and

mobiles are going up. Everything that can be digitalised will be digitalised.

If we look at the chart by eMarketer, they are predicting virtually a twice the spend in the internet

in the digital advertising by 2015. That is coming out of newspapers, magazines and directories. TV

is also going to grow but it is not going to grow as fast as the digital world. So, everything is

becoming digital and everything that is digital, becomes social. For example in 2011, Motorola

Mobility launched an application for their own appliances which is channelling the simultaneous

media consumption. The interesting thing about this initiative is that the people are working to

channel the multitasking of consumers so that it reinforces the other media consumption.

Everything is changing including consumers. The product designs are dictated by the users, not by

the brands.

The figure below is taken form a report named “The Impact of Internet Technologies: Search” which

was published by McKisey& Company in 2011. This clearly shows the role of technology in branding.

25

2.6 Role of Outsourcing

Outsourcing these days has become a worldwide phenomenon some companies are happy about it,

some are unhappy about it and the rest are curious. Outsourcing is a quite complex process then it

seems at the first look. It is not as simple as hiring an individual or a firm located offshore or near

shore and start working the next day and your life becomes easier that way. There are different

types of outsourcing methods, models and agreements in the market now. In the traditional

outsourcing companies find an offshore, on shore or near shore company who is going to do

everything for them. For example, there are lot of companies which have outsourced partners of

search engine optimization part to offshore companies. The other kind of outsourcing is done on the

online job marketplaces like elance and odesk where companies hire an individual for a fixed price

small jobs. Because of the recent increase in globalization, companies today face greater

competition from within and outside their countries. To increase or remain competitive and keep

costs as low as possible offshoring has been a strategy for many companies. Much has been said and

25http://tinyurl.com/cqywbe7

written about the phenomenon of offshoring to low-cost countries in recent years. India is an

example of a country trying to attract business, especially on the IT enabled services side with cost

savings of up to 40-50%. In India there are growing number of English speaking professionals each

year. The major reasons for outsourcing are as follows:

• Cost savings

• Skills shortages

• Quality Savings

• Improved? Time to Market?

• Production in low cost countries? lower taxes and wages

• Freeing up capital, capital efficiency

e-commerce companies can reduce costs by millions of dollars while being able to streamline its

business by focusing on sales and offering.The solution is to let somebody else take care of part of

the company's logistics. The main driver for outsourcing tends to be cost saving but it is important

that a brand also achieve a more efficient process, that is, that the party can outsource to have this

as their core competencies and thus can perform this function better than the party who want to

outsource the function. In a recent survey done by the IT Sourcing Europe Limited, executives from

764 German companies were interviewed and asked about top three reasons those influence them

the most for outsourcing. Majority of people said that the most important factor is the reduction of

operating costs and the other two factors were to free in house resources for other business

processes and focus on core competence. The fact that outsourcing is a very broad term, we want

this paper to create a larger understanding of IT outsourcing means.

Companies need to start somewhere, either in a spare bedroom or a garage and most companies

reach a point where they need to expand and meet the growing demand of its consumers. So what

happens when your small craft businesses go from having a handful of customers to hundreds? I f we

are talking about e-commerce, it is not only the factor of how beautiful or well made is the product

product but delivery and website usability factors also matter. All the companies especially the small

companies cannot afford to have a in house team of developers to make constant changes to the

website. Even if they have money, most of them do not have the expertise to build and manage the

team of developers. For these kind of businesses it is a good option to outsources their operations

which can be anything like call center operations, electronic storage, returns processing, distribution,

delivery, pick and pack and not to forget the most important part that is website development and

maintenance. If a company selects the right vendor, it will give complete peace of mind with proper

functioning of their business.

The current trend of software outsourcing companies seem to get advance momentum with more

and more organizations realize their goals. The benefits of software outsourcing to countries like

India, China and Ukraineare many many due to the fact that they have a good IT infrastructure,

better communications facilities and its well-qualified manpower, well versed in English-speaking

workforce.In this time questions about the safety and privacy is stronger than in recent years if we

talk about outsourcing. SO, one should be really careful while selecting the offshore vendor and

make sure that they comply to the international safety and quality standards.

Many ecommerce companies rely on outsourcing and information technology (IT) is one of the most

outsourced functions available. There are both benefits / opportunities and disadvantages / risks of

the phenomenon, companies need to weigh these factors against each other to see if outsourcing is

the right solution. There are three main different interpretations in outsourcing: outsourcing as

outsourcing of existing activities, outsourcing as purchasing and outsourcing relationship. It has been

noticed that the greatest benefits / opportunities of outsourcing is that companies can spend time

on the right information and that they can focus on their core business operations. The biggest

downside / risk found is that the employees of the company that outsources adversely affected even

if the right vendor is selected. In case the decision of choosing the partner has gone wrong, it can

affect the whole business of the company. Significant savings can be obtained if all pieces of a e

commerce IT business outsourced with the added advantage that is it’s easier to make demands to

the outsourced vendor. A major disadvantage could be the increased dependency on the

outsourced firm. ewThere are no two reports which have included the same benefits / opportunities

and disadvantages / risks as the other, which fits into the various main interpretations. This has

meant that no conclusions regarding these fits better into a main interpretation has been

drawn. However, it has emerged that outsourcing is a very broad concept which makes it difficult to

define or describe it in only one way.

2.7 Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing and mobile advertising is all about marketing to users of smartphones such as

Apple, Samsungphones, HTC and Blackberry phones. The are lot of reasons for brands turning

towards mobile marketing especially smartphones becoming a replacement for usual desktop

computers, which means a smartphone user looking for information in a whole new way. Mobile

marketing and advertising gave lot of opportunities for companies to communicate with their

customers in new ways. Mobile phones are now available in every man's hand, but they are still

relatively little used as a marketing channel. Many consumers are demanding mobile solutions that

support their shopping, but chains have not kept pace with developments. There is a lot of ongoing

research on mobile marketing and its opportunities, challenges and pitfalls.Today most of the mobile

phones are connected to the internet. The speed of data transmission becomes faster and

faster. Applications of various kinds can be downloaded in smartphones. Smartphone users have

higher average spenderbar income and spend more than other mobile users. This development has

meant that mobile marketing has become increasingly attractive for retail trade. One of the

challenges is to integrate mobile marketing in the company's other strategies and operations. These

26http://tinyurl.com/cfkx6rn

include the development of so-called apps (applications / programs that are downloaded and

adapted to the mobile phone software and functions).Apps often have excellent functionality and

user experience, anyway "dies of itself" usually after 90 days. It is not uncommon for consumers

download 30-40 different apps. Then they simply forget to use them while companies find it difficult

to drive traffic and use by other marketing activities. While the debate surrounding mobile

marketing is great today, so mobile marketing is not something for all consumers of all purchasing

situations. Another important aspect of mobile marketing is mobile websites. The mobile site gives a

very professional impression. The visitor feels immediately that the web app gives the company a

very serious impression and rather tricky and tough as mobile surfing often becomes the browsing

experience on a mobile a pleasure. Many think even that it is more comfortable to surf on your

mobile than a computer when he or she visits a mobile website. It is transparent, fast and many of

the features of the mobile site is integrated with the phone's internal functions.

Mobile marketing is becoming increasingly more and more popular. Many people prefer to search

information on the web from their smartphones instead of waiting until they have access to a

computer. Mobile marketing is thus important and search engine optimization in mobile and search

engine optimizationon the internet are two different things. An organization can be successful in

achieving top placement in search results on a desktop computer or laptop but might not have the

same rankings on searches via mobile and social media those play a vital role in mobile search

optimization.

Mobile marketing is a relatively startup stage, the possibilities are limitless when it comes to this

new marketing channel.Many brands have already found success by mixing mobile marketing

strategy with other digital marketing techniques for example Mc Donald’s and Pizza Hut. If a person

is searching for an burger joint or looking for pizza nearby on his mobile, they are directed to the

mobile applications of the respective companies which gives a consumer further insight to the

offerings of these companies. Often a varied and comprehensive approach best way to reach many

customers and maximize your marketing budget.Efforts to mobile marketing is often very

convertible and high target, making them very attractive for professionals who are interested to find

new customers and keep up with the mobile revolution.The cell phone will not replace existing

channels, but will initially be seen as complementary. In pace with the increasing use of

smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices with the ability to measure user behavior, search

terms, places and positions, increases naturally the mobile marketing, which also is becoming

increasingly tailored to the recipients' preferences. Many companies are uncertain over which laws

and regulations that apply to mobile marketing.

Below is the report published by Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Which showed 14% increase in mobile advertising revenues in the first half of 2012.

A mobile does something that no other device has done before as it has a unique capability of

combining different media channels. Consumers perform different activates while they are with their

mobiles for example watching television or reading newspapers. Companies are utilizing this

opportunity by unique ways. For example let’s consider aa television advertising directly refer to an

activity in a mobile. Another example is when we go to the McDonald’s mobile application, there is

a call button and once a consumer clicks on that, a call s made to the closest Mc Donald’s using his

phone. This is possible because of the unique blend of mobility and connectivity of the mobile

phones or other mobile devices like tablets.

Chapter 3: Research methodology

3.1 Research Strategy

Scientific approach: In science theory usually two main areas mentioned, and the hermeneutic

approach and both the positivist approach.Hermeneutics stands forinterpretation theory, and is a

scientific direction in which this study has been conducted. The researchhas been done based on

their subjective understanding of researcher.In positivism, knowledge built up by sciencemodels

27http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2012/10/11/mobile-ad-spending-doubles-in-2012s-first-half/

where the context is described by cause and effect, and where the researcher must be an external

relation to research the item to ensure objectivity.

This essay does not aim to measure the exact phenomena, but to create a greater understanding of

online medium from a brand-building perspective, the authors have chosen the hermeneutic

approach. Since the purpose of this paper was to find some absolute truths gave the hermeneutic

approach authors more freedom to interpret the collected information based on the authors' own

frames of reference.

Theoretical approaches: Induction and deduction are two alternative approaches that can be used

to draw conclusions during an investigation. Deduction belongs to the theoretical research work

area while induction belong in empirical data. The two roads to reach knowledge are different, but

the research writer pursued both the roads together. Initially, the authors chose the inductive

approach to examine the brand -building using online mediums.

The study aims at understanding how old and young brands are using the Internet marketing

channels to build their brand. In this research, theoretical information is gathered first based on a

thorough literature review and the information was analyzed to create a thorough report. To create

an understanding of how the brands use internet marketing channels, an observational study was

also conducted on brands by checking their online market channels, website, facebook fan page and

business. A semi-structured and non-participant observation study was conducted on the

selectedcompanies.The problems that can arise with selected observational study is that it is

limitedbased study based on selected perspective and observation planes, thus, relevant

information missed due to selective perception and the result is limited.

Therefore, I chose to do a semi-structured observation structured by first looking atthe different

elements on websites such as headline links and information for each link, then how the elements

belonged together, they contributed to the whole of the website and the brand. Thus the first step

was to analyze the descriptive web sites. Observational study was conducted on Facebook by the

same process, however, I focused only on the company’s Facebook pages and news feed. Due to

time constraints, I had to define the collection of material. If the observational study is not designed

for a structured plan, the bias that may arise, namely the risk that relevant information is missed out

or reduced. Observational study is thus qualitative, since the goal of this study is to describe and

understanding of brand communication through the digital media. The selected companies have

been based on the study's purpose that is to study brandsdoing branding on the internet. The

selection criteria was based on:

The company has existed for at least 40 years so that it already had a good brand value

before evolution of digital media.

The company has its own website and using Facebook for at least 3 years so that one can

compare their online brand value and compare with the offline branding techniques.

Since it takes time for companies to get started properly, I think 4 years is long enough for a

company to established its market channels. The brands were chosen for this study were Salon du

chocolat, Mc Donald’s and Coca Cola. The research questions were designed as a semi-structured

model, which means that I had prepared questions, but with room to research on the topics that are

relevant depending on what information we got from the research findings. This method is suitable

when the focus is to increase understanding of market trends and the use of internet, research

questions were thus ina qualitative character. The research wasconducted to find out if companies

cooperate with bloggers, if they measure their marketing, how the Internet affects their activity and

that they have strategies or objectives for their marketing communications. The purpose was thus to

obtain a deeper understanding of what the big companies think about their work with brand

communication. I was able to examine the validity of each material collected with two of the

studiedobjects, then I could compare the materials and see if they point to the same fact, thus

increasing credibility in my analysis and interpretation of the material. Web pages do not change

every day so the validity of this study would have been somewhat limited if only websites were

observed. On the other hand the corporate Facebook pages are updated continuously not only from

the companies but even by customers. To investigate the question of how companies can measure

and evaluate the performanceof investments in digital media was required first and foremost an

exploration of themethods that are currently available.

3.2 Case Studies

3.2.1 Mc Donald’s Sweden28

McDonald's has 221restaurants in Sweden and about 80 percent of them owned and operated by

local business owners, called franchisees. The headquarters of McDonald's Sweden is in Skärholmen

and has approximately 100 employees. Big marketing campaigns are often national (television, radio

and print) and supplemented with deals in the local media. National campaigns facilitated by all the

restaurants have the same menu.

Basic values in all McDonald's communication is the genuine desire to serve good food. Besides the

passion for good food, almost all franchisees have a tremendous entrepreneurial desire and they are

28http://www.mcdonalds.se/se/newsroom.html

driven by the desire to make guests happy. The driving force is that they want to buildplatform for

all customer dialogue, both offline and online. Therefore it was extremely important for them to

have a continuous contact with the innkeepers. They meet the their approximately 430,000 guests

every day, may take part of what they want, what they are unhappy about, hear what they love and

what they lack.

At the head office in Skärholmen they have a team to post and reply to Facebook and Twitter.

Unhappy, sad, and disappointed guests are treated always, and when warranted, customers can be

compensated with vouchers at McDonald's restaurants. They are very transparent, and they

always correctmisunderstood messages in social media.

McDonald's is working with security firms Retriever and MediaPilot29 to monitor topics and events,

analyze how they are connected to traditional media and to evaluate how the brand is reflected in

social channels.

But it is clear that as company that McDonald's has a challenge to make an impact of their own,

positive news. Since all people are eating or have eaten at McDonald's leads the large "noise" of

statements and texts online. It is a goal to find and highlight encouraging, happy and positive

mentions.

This is also the biggest reason why people "like: s" company Facebook page with 21,500 fans today -

they like the food! McDonald's uses Facebook for advertising, promotional news and customer

service. To publish surveys and questions, so called polls, do you do to encourage "likes" the page.

McDonald's also see it as their role to educate and inform the employees on how to use social

media in privacy. Many of those employed in restaurants are young people who live out much of

their lives on Facebook. The company does not limit what employees can post and discuss about

them as an employer - but the impact analysis, tips, advice and information about social media is

now a part of every employee training.

Therefore the key points of McDonald's Sweden and Online Media

One big advantage is that McDonald's Sweden is not top-down as to if, how or where they

get involved in social media. Therefore, the presence adapted to the Swedish market.

It has invested in a proper tools and a process of competitive intelligence in social channels.

29http://www.mcdonalds.se/se/newsroom.html

The company's values are shared by the employees and therefore permeates everything

they do, even when they use social media in private.

It has a system for the unique cases compensate disgruntled guests with vouchers. Thus, to

extinguish fires in a popular way.

Communications and Customer Service on online medium is purely organizational.

Some more things that Mc Donald’s Sweden can do: I think McDonald's can do a lot in Location

Based Services especially considering that the whole business idea is based on local franchisees. It

has already launched a successful mobile app: McNavigator for iPhone that helps you find

restaurants and a complete nutrition and allergy guide. Other unexplored land is to find a natural

digital channel where you can reach Sweden's pensioners, who are actually constitutes a large part

of McDonald's most loyal guests.30

3.2.2 Coca Cola

Online buzz for many brands is a must do thing now. The fact that huge presence of the brand in

theonline space is taken as a mark of success. That is why all the brands are using viral tricks and

techniques to increase engagement on social networks. Coca Cola has always used innovative

branding methods since 1886, the year it was founded. In addition, the company's long history an

interesting aspect from a modernization perspective, as it is a company that has grown in step with

modernization process that has been at the forefront of marketing in this period.

Last month, Coca Cola became the first brand to have reached the threshold of 50 million fans on

Facebook, it is over 61 million today31. Coca Cola has used this opportunity to announce the launch

of its social innovation.32Like its slogan "Open Coca Cola opens happiness," the Atlanta firm offered

its 50 million fans to participate in brainstorming with a great thread for the "happiness" .33The aim

is to propose an idea, a social innovation , which for Coca-Cola, will enable participants to be more

active, engaged, to give to others or to engage in creative happiness. The most creative participant

will be supported by Coca Cola and he/she will participate in their brand strategy for 2013.

To participate a person just need to go to the Facebook page of Coca-Cola and clickthe

application which is dedicated.This is the first time that consumers of Coca-Cola or any brand over

the world are invited to participate in such a project .The information is still recent, Coca Cola plans

30http://www.mcdonalds.se/se/newsroom.html 31http://www.facebook.com/cocacola 32http://www.facebook.com/cocacola 33http://apps.facebook.com/coca-cola-sharing/

to broadcast details of the selection process ideas and the progress of the program in the coming

days.

In France, Coca-Cola has 3 million fans34 , enormous progress compared to 2008 figures where the

community reached the 300,000 fans. Coca is already planning a surprise for the French after the bar

reached 3 million.

This is the first time that the brand innovates as much about social networks and also always

managed to talk about it in all campaigns in funniest or unusual manner.Last year in Australia, having

conducted a survey showing that 50% of adolescents and young adults hadnever drank Coke35, the

U.S. firm had just replaced its logo with the names most commonly worn in the country. The

campaign was very successful, and all new customers Australians had discussed on the web and the

press had also relayed information.36France to also received the same kind of event in early summer

with the truck of happiness Coca Cola.The truck crossed the whole of France and offered gifts to

passing while filming their reactions. 37

3.2.3Salon du chocolat

How to communicate on the Internet when organizing an exhibition? What tools to use?What

editorial strategy should be implemented? To answer these questions, I offer you a digital

communication analysis of the "Salon du chocolat" also known under the name of "World chocolate

and cocoa" which takes place in several cities ( Paris, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, New York,

Bologna, Tokyo, ...). I would like to highlight the tools used by the show and their joints. You will see

that the strong point of this case study lies primarily in the design of a coherent ecosystem(website,

blog, social networks, etc).

Websites

The organizers wanted to develop a website for each city . Here, below, three examples:

34http://www.meltybuzz.fr/coca-cola-aime-ses-3-millions-de-fans-sur-facebook-galerie-416124-1241735.html 35http://urbanpeek.com/2012/04/20/coca-colas-genius-marketing-campaign-in-australia-share-a-coke/ 36http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2X8Bd3-G6IU 37http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NDtSUzqiWc8

Bordeaux site

Site Bologna

Site for Cairo

Each site has its own graphics and content. Of course, each site pointing to other, thus creating a

mesh rather favorable to SEO.I believe the idea is interesting provided harmonize sites :

- In terms of graphics

- At highlighting communities (some sites highlight the Facebook page and blog, some not)

Also, if you use this technique, you have to be really careful about the text content of each site. They

must be unique to avoid Duplicate Content that would penalize the ranking of your website on

Google.I also noticed another weak point at the generic website (which serves as landing page to

refer users to living rooms close to home) is developed with Flash technology. Result: the site is

unreadable on a large part of smartphones (we see only a blank page).

Newsletter

The site offers two newsletters, one for visitors and one for professionals . The idea of a newsletter

dedicated to two public interest is to continue to inform a more targeted way. It is also a way to

work a file called.

Blog

As I stated earlier, the blog is not highlig\\hted at all sites. This is unfortunate, because there is a

really interesting and rich content: texts, pictures and videos .38

38http://newsroom.salonduchocolat.fr/

39

The publication rate is regular and headings are clear: Parades, Exhibitors, Recipes, News, ...Note the

good Page Rank: 4.

Facebook

The Facebook page gathers 44499 fans.40

41

39http://newsroom.salonduchocolat.fr/

40https://www.facebook.com/salonduchocolat 41https://www.facebook.com/salonduchocolat

However, the publications are regular and frequent interaction which generates a high level of

commitment . For example, the publication below 264 there I like, 25 comments and 67 shares.We

also find on this page a tab contests, fairs upstream assets to win free tickets.If you are organizing a

show, do not hesitate to get inspired by good practices of this page.

Twitter

The Twitter profile has 4388 subscribers and relays especially blog posts.42

Youtube

A Youtube channeldedicated to lounges is active. Videos got 120,868 views. They are also shared on

Facebook and the blog.43

General conclusion

What I find particularly effective is the creation of a coherent ecosystem combined with actions

of digital PR. It seems to me that the digital media is the most important tool of this

ecosystem. Indeed, it is theheart of the editorial content of the show. It centralizes articles, news,

photos and videos. In short, the content that will appeal to chocolate lovers and certainly

contributes to the visibility of the show. Social networks, meanwhile, are there to distribute this

content to different audiences and create interactions (exchanges, questions, comments etc.).

3.3 Data Collection and Analysis

42https://twitter.com/salonchocolat 43http://www.youtube.com/user/mondialduchocolat

Marketing is customer centered more than ever, but paradoxically, it has never been so difficult to

understand, anticipate needs and expectations of a consumer more than ever "liberated".

The markets have always been conversations , they are more than ever today because of the

Internet. At the same time and for sharing media, the web is now the first exchange of customers

and consumers more involved. We have closely monitored those communication in the real time

and we have also studied a large number of market reports which indicate the growth in this

phenomenon. What was difficult or impossible to do a few years ago is not only possible but

necessary today.More than ever, brands and companies who earn their markets are those that are

listening to their customers and clients. Blogs, forums, community sites and social networks, the

famous web 2.0, can anticipate trends and developments markets. We exactly did follow the online

same pattern while doing the research for this assignment.

In the analysis chapter empirical data in relation to the theory is analyzed. Empirical applied thus on

the theoretical models to create a complete picture and get a deeper understanding of the problem

area.On a general level, it has been written a lot about advertising on the Internet and how it works

technically and commercially. Internet is an information forum where information spreads very

quickly. Italways creates new ways for marketers to reach out to consumers, one of which is to allow

consumers to create their own market offer.With the Internet's help it is now easier for consumers

to compare price differences between products and services and also find information about

detailed offerings of each product. There are plenty of companies now which are only selling on the

internet using e-commerce and catalog sales. However these companies use all marketing channels

for branding purposes. A person an ecommerce website could be either a curious visitor or a

customer, brands these days work hard to give the right message to the right person. Major

ecommerce brands are constantly encouraging their customers to leave comments on the products

they bought so that the new customers will then be able to access the information.Different media

have different advertising requirements. Some advertising mediums have low impact and thus

require many repetitions as it takes longer for the advertising to be noticed by the consumer.

Internet media have a high impact and the reason for this is that the Internet is an active medium.

When a visitor comes to the site, he or she has chosen to go in there and find it impossible to escape

advertising.Another reason for the big impact is that there are few distractions in the environment.

As a user, you are focused on what you do and the site has even full attention, that unlike, for

example, TV advertising where it can be plenty of distractions around. Today brands are using many

marketing channels which includes the Internetas well as the more traditional methods such as

television, radio, outdoor, events and PR. One of the major benefits of marketing on the Internet is

that everything can be measured and registered online. More traditional marketing methods such as

TV and radio advertising does not provide the specific measurability. Lot of companies also

believethat there is special difficulty with measurability of impact that makes traditional marketing

methods inferior to marketing on the Internet. On the Internet, you can instead make use of highly

advanced and specific metrics that will help the company to evaluate their campaigns and then place

advertising where the majority of the audience are. The challenge for the marketer is to first and

foremost to get the consumer's attention and then managing to retain consumer interest in the

product or service. By creating an awareness of the company, increase audience loyalty and

communicate in a personal way over the internet, the company can strengthen its brand. One of the

relatively new methods of internet marketing is affiliate marketing. This type of marketing is a kind

of digital performance-based marketing which consists of a cooperation between advertisers,

affiliate programs / business and affiliate and whose goal is to communicate the right message to the

right audience. In short, it is about driving traffic to the advertiser's web based performance models

using target-specific banners or text links. Affiliate marketing is one of the best marketing methods

on the Internet, especially at start-up of an e-commerce business now it is a significant part of their

total Internet marketing budget. Affiliate marketing is an effective way to reach out to many

customers at the same time able to segment target groups, so that the right message reaches the

right customers.

A customer actively seeking information about a particular product or an item on internet ends up

pretty quickly on web pages that have links to the product sought. In the context of blogs, visitors

can read the various comments and then form their own opinion about the product that is being

sought.

Lot of brands are using push strategy bysending their message in many different marketing channels

to as many consumers as possible to have the chance to see their message. Online media enables

and facilitates this function online which is often in combination with blogs, social media and online

advertisements. Variation Search is one of the factors that makes consumers happy to choose

different brands just to get some variety and variation. Other factors such as price, brand availability

and marketing also influence consumers in their choice of brand. The aim of this paper is to describe

how the audience receivesmarketing on the Internet and how they communicate and exchange

information on products with each other. Consumers have tendency to trust other consumer

reviews and recommendations on the Internet and to the qualitative value of these comments

generate more credibility than purely quantitative grading system. There are few consumers in the

current situation who are likely to buy products that require a higher commitment without finding

out what existing customers have to say about the product.

4. Research Findings:

Many companies have adapted themselves and their marketing initiatives along with the evolution

of online or so called “.com boom” which started in late 1990s. These were companies who noticed

their direct consumers or end customers are there. For example, coke, pepsi, fast food joints, online

and offline retail companies etc. Most of the companies which did find their consumers online for

example construction companies, shipping corporations etc , stayed away from the internet tough

they were doing their constant advertisements on television, posters and event sponsorships. It took

a while for the companies to realize that online efforts are as efficient or at times more efficient than

the traditional methods. Initially companies as well as consumers had a perception that internet is a

place to get information and it overall it is a marketplace. That’s all! This perception has changed a

lot since last four or five years. Both companies as well as people have accepted that the internet is

not just a marketplace. And now, we can see that there are lot of consumers who buy product from

the stores but check the product online by reading what people are saying about it. It was found that

the internet marketing is must have for all the companies irrespective of their sizes. There are lot of

methods and channels of managing and creating a brand on the internet and with each channel,

there are its unique challenges. Some may have long term impact some have small time impact on

consumers, some are reversible some of them are irreversible, some need technical skills some do

not. In fact if we talk about the online advertising or branding, it is the constant evolution of

technology which is rapidly changing the scenario. At times it is pro consumer, at times is pro

advertiser and at times it is both. This really depends upon the situation and is not same for all the

brands or all the consumers.

As discussed in this paper that since 1994 a banner appeared for the first time on a website

(HotWired). In the following five years the online display and e-mail marketing together dominate

the sector of online advertising. With the development of broadband internet, the nature of online

advertising was also changed. The online advertisements became multimedia rich and appealing

with the emergence of high speed internet technology to the consumers. During the period of 2000

to 2005, few new platforms emerged such as online search engines (google), blogging, micro

blogging and social media (at initial stage) which has changed things as a lot in the field of online

branding and the way companies see the internet as a platform for branding. It was found during the

research that online branding trends change along with the technology evolutions. If we look for the

start, the internet marketing could be divided into different phases since it started in 1994. The

online branding process could be categorized into four categories:

Banner Advertising:Banner advertising is a very effective means of internet

marketing. Companies can reach thousands of potential visitors through ads on websites

and portals. Especially banner advertising is more effective when it is combines with

combined with search engine marketing. Banners are simply advertising space on the

internet that will generate traffic, visitors and new customers.Banners can be created in

different sizes and for different purposes, such as sale of products, services, promotions or

to profile a company or brand

Email Marketing: Email marketing is one of the most cost effective tools to communicate with

customers, build strong business relationships and bring down the cost of traditional

marketing communications. Lot of companies send out the newsletters and e-mails to their

existing and potential customers and this is a an important part of their entire marketing

strategy.

Blog Marketing: Blog marketing is a way to communicate messages that combines a blog

with the right marketing purposes. A very effective way to bring to life the message and

generate discussion and feedback.

Online Video Marketing:Video marketing has become the fastest growing part of internet

marketing in the past year. With web TV and video marketing, companies got new

opportunities to communicate with their target even if they are a small business.Videos can

be used to reach out with press releases, product news, training, advocacy, advertising

services or products, video greetings and blogs, reports, etc. It is a perfect tool to

communicate in a vivid and personal way with your audience.

Social Media Marketing:Social media is a huge community of people online which is

combination of social networking, online communities and member portals, blogs, wikis,

forums, member-based image and video portals like Youtube. Everywhere where people

socialize and share digital life and information with each other.

Search Engine Optimization: This is a process where companies make their websites, blogs

and landing pages search engine friendly so that consumers can easily find them when they

are searching for their product or service online.

5. Discussion:

The Internet's rampage plays an important role for companies and their future is in the current

situation.It requires new strategies to reach customers and to capture their interest because they at

Internet themselves choose what they want to watch. The Internet offers new and faster means of

marketing and customer contact. Marketing can be easily adapted to the correct individual or

audience. Deeper customer relationships will therefore be easier to build and maintain.It is

important for companies to express themselves simply and concisely on the Internet because it user

decides what they want to see, read and so on. The consumers censor themselves so the website

must provide added value to the visitor.More and more companies realize today the benefits and

savings that can be gained by a transition from traditional marketing to the Internet.

5.1 Accesses to the Internet and its Usage

Manymethods of Internet marketing offer the opportunity to make it easier for the companies to

focus on the right segment or target audience. Information on how these target audiences are

moving and what they do on the internet can be easily obtained, and promote further development

of marketing and branding initiatives. The company can easily place their ads, you know what the

customer is interested in and so on andcan also design offers customized to the customer. We also

recognize quickly the cost savings a company can do by utilizing theinformation they receive.The

activities carried outcost less than traditional marketing activities and provide better results. There is

another important aspect that the online branding target group belongs to aslightly younger

generation where the Internet has taken hold. We believe that people around thirty years in today's

society have access to and use the Internet daily. The new generation, who have grown up with the

Internet, within a decade have becomethe company's target audience they tend to be more loyal

internet branding followers or in other words we can say that these are the consumers who will be

most affected by the online branding initiatives of the companies. We see thus that the Internet now

and especially in the future will be a major marketing medium and it is already important to prepare

for the future and identify opportunities to attract Internet consumers. If the explosive development

of the Internet just keeps going in the future, one cannot imagine banding possibilities tomorrow.

We believe that more emphasis will be placed on the Internet part of the marketing mix compared

to what will be on traditional methods. We do not believe that the traditional marketing types will

disappear; rather they will be developed and adaptedin accordance with the internet evolution.

Mobiles are now used also to receive alerts, links to pages containingoffers and information

etcetera.The opportunities and access has increased exponentially which makes mobile a critical

aspect of online branding these days. There are endless opportunities to reach people via their

mobile, we believe, mobile is nowone phenomena that every person owns and frequently uses.

Search engine marketing is one of the best forms of marketing on the Internet.

5.2 Branding on the Internet

There are lots of ways of doing direct marketing on the internet which has turned out to be a very

effective method for lot of big and small companies. People are really exhausted by traditional direct

marketing methods like telemarketing etc. The best part of doing direct marketing on the internet is

that the consumer is not disturbed or annoyed. The consumer can go through the marketing or

branding material as and when he gets time. With the growth of internet in the future, the direct

marketing methods will also increase which will be suitable for everyone. It is important for brands

to realize the impact of internet on society now and in the coming years. By doing appropriate

prediction of the future, companies can fine tune their internet branding initiatives accordingly.

5.3 Search Engine Marketing

The main goal of any internet surfer is to look for the information about his hobbies, interests and

requirements. Search engine marketing is therefore one of the key aspect of online branding for any

organization irrespective of its size. This is also a big challenge for the organizations to present

themselves where the target audiences move. Today’s largest search engine is Google which is also

the world’s most visited website. This is considered as one of the best forms of online branding as

the customers are pulled towards a brand instead of any push techniques such as advertisements

which direct consumers to the company website or promotion page.

5.4 Email Marketing

Email is one of the important tools that the companies are using to reach out their customers. We

see that attitude toward e-mail marketing is very good if it is right, that is if it is sent to the right

person in right time. For a successful email marketing campaign, the emails should be sent with

offers and to the relevant audience else it could be perceived as intrusive andannoying.

5.5 Viral Marketing and Affiliate Marketing

Viral marketing is a very positive marketing form for a company to use. It may be to send a link to

customers with a short video, game, or similar.If the customer then likes the movie or game he can

send this link to colleagues, friends, etc.The website will then receive new visitors and potential

customers. However this kind of marketing should not be overused as this may annoy the customers

which can lead to a bad brand image. Affiliate marketing is actually ads. The advertiser pays for

traffic arisingwhen someone clicks on the ad and follow. We believe that this kind of marketing has

the sameproblems as we have with banners. This has low click through rates and is expensive

compared with the responseit receives. This is not a kind of marketing that each company can

follow, this could be a great tool if it is done in the proper way with the supervision of experts. I can

conclude that this not as relevant to the big brands as it is to the small ones since big brands already

have lot of exposure.

5.6 Blogs and Banners

Making use of banners is not preferable as they have low click through rate and do not give as much

as search engine marketing.Many timeseven this is perceived as a disturbance on the website, which

we believe makes people do not click or read what it says but just ignore it.We can just go to

ourselvesand realize that we do not actually read these ads to any great extent. Since a blog as a

marketing tool is both cheap and easy, a little time consuming,should be able to become a channel

in the future, then again, the new generation is growing up. Since it does not cost anything, there

should be an opportunity to try to make contact with customers and other stakeholders.

5.7 Shopping online or Ecommerce

During our research on this paper, we have found out that the people are felling more and more

comfortable and secured while spending money on the internet. The credit for this goes to

technology for making is secure and user friendly. Even there is a increase in the number of baby

boomers who are paying their bills online. If the ecommerce is done in a proper way, this is going to

increase the sales as well brand value of a product or service.

6. Summary and Conclusion:

In this research we have found that there is re two ways of looking at the internet branding. One is

how companies are using online medium in their marketing and how it is to be a consumer in a

family of targeted onlineadvertising? As usual, no black or white, and there are pros and cons with

everything. While some may think it is practical to have ads and searches are personalized, others

may consider it intrusive when, for example, social media especially facebook takes advantage of

personal information in order to direct the message.Many things! Above all I hope for less

interruption advertising and social media opens up dialogue between consumers and

businesses.Consumers can take advantage of the opportunity to actually be able to select and

deselect, searching for information and advertising when they want to have it and help each otherto

find good products. We also noticed that the future of marketing in the right combination and

complementarity of strategies called "push" and "pull" make participation a central points of

successful brandsand businesses of tomorrow. In this sense , the online dialogue is a participatory

platform secure a steady source of new ideas Exclusive, always available and accessible in real-

timeCompanies can take advantage of opportunities when your products are wanted and needed.I

also believe that there is a limit to how Facebook and others can take to avoid losing the trust of

users. Additionally, it is important that we all become more aware of how the web and social media

works, and act based on a conscious choice. For although we are not entirely " stuck in the Facebook

network "(it's a free choice to have a Facebook account and you can choose what information you

put on yourself) then both businesses and consumers to be aware that we are in some way more or

less dependent on privately-owned businesses today. Imagine what Google knows about you, for

example. What you are looking at, how to travel and so on.

On the other have emerging technologies like e commerce which have given a huge leap to online

branding opportunities for the organizations. In fact, these emerging technologies have revived the

overall branding process of all the companies. This has also assisted in globalization where lot of

companies have started using ecommerce outsourcing so that they can focus more on their core

business model which had its own pros and cons which have been discussed in detail.

Through the huge opportunities and potential that the Internet has this topic was very interesting to

study and it has been interesting discoveries which we now look forward to summarize and draw

conclusions from. We choose here to once again present our view and the research question we

started from to give the reader an opportunity for more understanding of our discussions.The

purpose of our study was to study the marketing methods that are available at Internet marketing

and to give suggestions on what we think is the best one.Since the Internet is rapidly growing, there

is as great opportunities to succeed Internet marketing. It is important; we believe that identifying

its target market and where these people moving on the Internet and what habits they have.It is

important, when it comes to Internet use, to realize that different people from the different

countries have different preferences, buying habits and perceptions. In our paper we have focused

on the ability of companies to new ways to market them on the Internet. We therefore wanted to

find out how two modern brands and e-commerce businesses use online medium. Is this marketing

strategy itself orit serves as a complement to more traditional marketing? We then compared few

leading brands in this in relation to how consumers perceive, receive and convey communication.A

bad reputation is hard to wash off, and often spread much faster than a good reputation. The

conclusion after conducting the research is that companies should keep in mind that consumers

listen and read comments and reviews on internet, they rely more on recommendations from

friends, acquaintances and other consumers. Making use of as many internet branding channels as

possible does not automatically mean that it can be seen by most consumers but it is rather

irrelevant. It is all about getting consumers sympathetic to the brand and products. A satisfied

customer spreads positive marketing on and we believe it is one of the main objectives of a business

endeavor where such advertising is very reliable and virtually free.We believe that the Internet is the

best and most efficient source to successfully place the right message to the right person. Internet

rampage has created changing conditions in the market for communications and

marketing. Companies marketing themselves increasingly on the Internet and e-commerce has also

increased substantially. There is a constant debate on new ways to market on the Internet and how

consumers react to information is in full swing. Here comes the concept of word-of-web-in, a

concept that is very important on the Internet regarding credibility.The Internet has paved the way

for open discussions and conversations among both consumer and consumer and between

businesses and consumers. In this way, the Internet is a highly active medium, unlike traditional

marketing channels. Ecosystem around these modern communication models and marketing

channels are changing behavior it brings to consumers the more they become accustomed to using

the Internet. With this new phenomenon called Internet awareness, consumers are increasingly

difficult for marketers and companies to influence and set new and high standards of the channels

and the information that consumers take in. Subsequently, this study has convinced us to make the

assumption that consumers are actually listening to friends, acquaintances and other consumers. It

has also emerged that companies use online marketing as a pure marketing strategy, as well as being

a complement to other more traditional marketing.

7. References

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11. http://www.pwc.se/en_GX/gx/entertainmentmedia/pdf/ IAB_SRI_Online_Advertising_Effectiveness_v3.pdf

12. http://www.mckinsey.de/downloads/publikation/social_media/ Social_Media_Brochure_Turning_buzz_into_gold.pdf

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onlineat http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/126872.pdf

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