The internet as integrator
Fast brandbuilding in slowgrowth markets
David A. AakerProphet Brand Strategy
Looking at the smouldering ruin that was digital mania, it is tempting to conclude that the internet was overrated and oversold, and that its appropriate place is at the margins of a company's brandbuilding, tucked somewhere between the catalogue division and pointofpurchase display design.
But the medium's growth alone indicates that something powerful and powerfully different is at work in the online world. There are more than 75 million active users each month in the United States and 260 million worldwide, says Nielsen/NetRatings,...