Exotic Spam Recipes And Adopting A Ribenaberry – The Rise Of The Brand.com

Ever been out supping your pint and enjoyed it so much that you wished you could learn about the brand’s historical background? Or thought that the chunks you feed the cat were so cool you wanted them as a screensaver? Probably not, but according to researchers BrandNet, brand websites are becoming essential kit in the fight to make you feed your cat the chunks FMCG manufacturers want you to.

“The World Wide Web has brought with it unrivalled opportunity for quick and cost effective one to one communication with trade customers and consumers,” says the latest BrandNet FMCG eLeague Report. “For more progressive brands two-way communication can help form deeper relations with the brand and enhance the experience.”

Sounds fantastic, but as the report points out, while the internet has been evolving since the early 90’s, top UK brands remain slow to cotton on to the potential of new media. “Many brands don’t utilise digital marketing communication to its full potential,” continues BrandNet. “Most brand websites fail in delivering simple elements.”

The question is, once a need for a brand website has been established, what do you put on it? Food brands have an obvious answer in recipes, with the delightful www.spam-uk.com displaying what is either a touching naivety or a deep sense of irony with its “Exotic Spam” recipes which include Spam Rogan Josh. However, featuring largely amongst the top 50 brand websites on BrandNet’s list are beverages of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic variety, snack foods and bathroom items, which present more of a challenge in getting the consumer involved and having the “great brand experience” suggested by BrandNet.

The sites rated by the survey have several common content ideas which can apply across the board. These include company history; games and downloads which tie in with any characters/themes used in other above-the-line advertising; competitions, usually to win the product; usage advice; editorial which relates to the brand image (eg. family skincare advice from Persil; music and film articles on young, trendy drinks brands); merchandise and a customer service contact or advice area. In addition, the majority of successful sites require plug-ins and a reasonably powerful computer for the flashy graphics, interactive games, video footage and animation they involve. Customer surveys and encouragement to register or join a fan club play a dual role of increasing interactivity and conducting a spot of market research.

BrandNet’s ratings score for domain location, site navigation, content delivery, brand proposition and effectiveness. However, looking at the top brand websites this system produces, what is apparent is that, while money has obviously been spent on the look of them, the content struggles to hold the attention. The fact that the Coca-Cola site makes it to number 4 when it still contains out-of-date content about the Euro 2000 football tournament gives some indication of the standard out there.

Even if content can be improved, it is still a leap of the imagination to picture who would deliberately seek out the websites of Cusson’s Imperial Leather (No. 42), Muller Yoghurt (No. 35) or Andrex (No. 8), unless they had a complaint or were motivated by a competition on the site that had been flagged elsewhere in the media. It may be that these sites will not come into their own until interactive TV takes hold, allowing viewers to click through to the corresponding sites while viewing advertisements.

If this is the case, then brands like Persil, Nescafe, Ribena and the other brands with established websites should be one step ahead. All of which begs the question, is it ignorance or a better sense of where to invest which means, according to BrandNet, major UK brands including Anchor, Comfort, Galaxy, HP Sauce, Mr Kipling and Weetabix are still resisting the urge to go online?

BrandNet: 020 7203 4517

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