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Brand experience

The frequency and depth 

of interactions with a 

brand can be enhanced 

through the Internet.

Brand identity

The totality of brand 

associations including 

name and symbols that 

must be communicated.

Traditional measures of brand equity  

(Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000)

Online measures of brand equity (from 

Christodoulides and de Chernatony, 2004)

Price premium

Online brand experience

Satisfaction/loyalty

Interactivity

Perceived quality

Customisation

Leadership popularity

Relevance

Perceived value

Site design

Brand personality

Customer service

Organisational associations

Order fulfilment

Brand awareness

Quality of brand relationships

Market share

Communities

Market price and distribution coverage

Website logs (see Chapter 9)

Table 8.9

Traditional measures of brand equity and online measures of brand equity

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Part 2  Strategy and applications

Mini Case Study 8.2

Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2000) suggest that the following characteristics of identity need to be defined at 

the start of a  brand‑  building campaign. Marketing communications can then be developed that create and 

reinforce this identity. Here, we will apply them to Napster.

● 

Brand essence (a summary of what the brand represents)

 

This is not necessarily a tagline, but Napster has been described as an ‘All you can eat music service 

which is fun and affordable’.

● 

Core identity (its key features)

choice – millions of tracks

value for money – under £10 per month subscription for as many tracks as you can listen to

easy to use – Napster runs as a separate application built for purpose

listen anywhere – on a PC or other computer, MP3 player or mobile phone

 listen on anything – unlike iPod, Napster is compatible with most MP3 players rather than being tied 

in to a specific hardware manufacturer.

● 

Extended identity

 personality – flouts what is standard for existing music providers thanks to its heritage as a 

peer‑to‑peer   file‑  sharing  service

 personalisation – Napster Radio based on particular genres or based on other songs you have 

downloaded

community – facility to share tracks with friends or other Napster members

symbols – Napster cat logo.

● 

Value proposition

functional benefits – ease of use and personalisation

emotional benefits – community,  non‑  conformist

 self‑  expressive benefit – build your own collection of your tastes.

● 

Relationship

customers value and will be loyal to a company that isn’t stuffy.

Napster.com’s brand identity

that imply a promise to customers from an organisation. See ‘Napster.com’s brand identity’, 

Mini case study 8.2, to see the different elements of brand identity which are effectively a 

checklist of what many e-tailers are looking to achieve.

Ries and Ries (2000) suggest two rules for naming brands: (a) The Law of the Common 

Name – ‘The kiss of death for an Internet brand is a common name.’ This argues that common 

names such as Art.com or Advertising.com are poor since they are not sufficiently distinctive; 

(b) The Law of the Proper Name – ‘Your name stands alone on the Internet, so you’d better 

have a good one.’ This suggests that proper names are to be preferred to generic names, e.g. 

Handbag.com against Woman.com or Moreover.com against Business.com. The authors 

suggest that the best names will follow most of these eight principles: (1) short, (2) simple,  

(3) suggestive of the category, (4) unique, (5) alliterative, (6) speakable, (7) shocking and  

(8) personalised. Although these are cast as ‘immutable laws’ there will of course be 

exceptions!