New Theory of Branding for the Online Environment?

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: A, University of Teesside (Teesside Business School), language: English, abstract: According to De Chernatony (2000) a brand is a brand regardless of its environment. Therefore, there is no need for a new theory of branding for the online environment, but merely a different approach to executing the brand s essence . The aim of this paper is to conclude whether brands in a mortal and bricks environment are different from brands in a click environment, and therefore, if a new theory of branding is required. De Chernatony (2000) believes that a brand is a brand regardless of its environment , which he substantiates by analysing the assumptions about migrating brands to the Internet, and the impact of online communities. In order to test De Chernatony s idea, it is necessary to define and understand a brand , its components and functions. For the consumer, a brand provides orientation in the product jungle , and facilitates the identification of a specific product among competitive ones. Furthermore, it lowers the purchasing risk, as the customer can trust the functional and emotional quality of the brand (Biel, 2000). Lasty, a brand allows the customer to transfer the brand image to himself. Bugdahl (1998) describes this as a personalisation function or snob syndrome , for example, a BMW owner has the physical and emotional experience of being sporty and having friends (Herrmann, 2000). Understanding the meaning of a brand, its components and functions, the following section discusses if the essence of a brand changes in an online environment.