For the last ten years we’ve heard no end of tales about the triumph of the Internet over mass marketing.  Some robust sources like Wired have informed us that brands are in decline and some, like the American Marketing Association have even declared that “Brands are Dead“. Jonathon Salem Baskin announced in his book that “Branding Only Works on Cattle”. Through the publishing power of web 2.0 consumers are now empowered to make or break brands by the power of their aggregated reviews. One false move in the product or service department, coupled with no satisfactory attempt to remedy the situation can result in a cataclysmic descent in a brand’s fortunes. Ergo, today’s brands exist on a product quality, consumer service knife-edge. Given this new consumer-empowered situation, many a marketer may ask the question, “What is the value of a brand in the online world?”

Before we get to the answer we have to have a working definition of what a brand is. Surprisingly, many business-people (not necessarily marketers) still think that a “brand” is a “logo”.  That’s not true.  Crucially, a brand is not a thing, it’s a set of perceptions that exists in the minds of consumers. A brand is a collection of perceptions about pricing, quality and consumption experiences. Brands are defined in consumers’ minds by the recommendations, criticisms, tastes, and “jobs well done” they themselves have experienced or heard about.  On top of all this, the brand logo is the “brand mark”. To use an analogy based on roads, the brand mark is the sign that says “M1″, but it’s not the motorway.  The product is the motorway, the brand mark is “M1″ and the brand itself is what people think and feel about the M1 as means of transport relative to other options.

Now let’s swing back to the Internet. The Internet is of course a glorious place where the consumer reigns supreme and the truths about products and services are revealed to all.  In this Utopian dream, companies, brands, corporates and institutions can no longer ‘hoodwink’ the consumer. Consumers can “talk directly” with brands and have a customised one-to-one relationship based on “digital conversations”.  All things from the past are now aged and obsolete

Well that’s one point of view. The Internet is also something else. It is a ‘cesspit of false information’. With no barriers to entry and nearly frictionless production and distribution, it’s easy for false information, lies, doctored images, and other forms of deception to infiltrate the Internet. Now that’s not my point of view, it belongs to Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google and the engineer of its post invention growth.   Yes, the Internet is also the home of spam, cloaking, deception, bank account thefts, fraud, consumer scams, false and misleading reviews, viruses, trojans, hacking and many other types of cyber crime.

So, where does this leave brands in the digital age?  I’d argue that the truths represented by brands coupled with the complexities of increased choice and the realities of the darker side of the Internet mean that brands are more vital now than ever before.  The world is getting more complex because more choice is being offered.  Many sources of products and information can’t be trusted.  Consumers use brands to help simplify decision making.  Brands are ‘the solution not the problem’ according to Eric Schmidt at Google, ‘brands are how you sort out the cesspool’.