From Bricks to Clicks: 5 Steps to Creating a Durable Online Brand [Hardcover]

Serge Timacheff (Author), Douglas E. Rand (Author), Mark Eppley (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 27, 2001

The convergence of the Web and branding profoundly changes our world and resides at the heart of the New Economy. Particularly in the "post-crash" period of the Internet age, where financiers and customers are looking to companies with profitability and endurance, branding is the critical differentiator used to distinguish one company from another. Few executive or marketing staff understand how to build a Web brand thoroughly, much less its purpose, its opportunities or its contribution to the bottom-line; however, many experts regard brand as arguably a company's most valuable attribute, and venture capitalists often today look first to the brand and then to the technology or the business plan. We begin the 21st century in every bit as much of a brand revolution as the Industrial Revolution-sparked 20th century. Foremost in the minds of executives is, "How can I extend my brand on the Web and continue or establish my success in unfamiliar waters?" So, how do you take a successful offline brand and make it a successful online brand? Walmart, arguably one of the strongest offline brands in the country, failed (twice!) to establish their brand online. It found that its offline customer was indeed very different from its online customer. Barnes and Noble faced similar challenges developing their online presence by noticeably hesitating because of lack of expertise in extending their strong offline brand online. Now they are playing a game of catch-up. Industry experts believe that this issue may be the biggest issue facing companies for the next 3-5 years. This book offers advice and a proven method for developing and managing an online brand that coordinates and compliments the offline brand. A state-of-the-art, authoritative and comprehensive treatment of the most important factor in building a Web presence, the book should become a useful guide for every CEO, marketing executive and anyone else interested in building a brand online. At the very core of the book is the Web brand development process that Timacheff and Rand live by. This proven and effective process includes five stages: discovery; framework; verbal articulation; sensory (visual, auditory) design and articulation; and execution. It is a sure-fire way to ensure a successful online brand. This book will address a variety of brand topics and how they all relate directly to the Web. Case studies and interviews with various people will punctuate the brand text, emphasizing the various points. Because many books exist on the fundamentals of brand development and brand management, this book does not focus on the 101 of online branding, but rather focuses on the various aspects of branding and branding challenges relating directly to extending offline brands to the Web.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

How Market Leaders from Coca-Cola to Disney Harness the Strength and Value of Their Offline Brands­­Online!

A company's Web site must grab a prospective customer's attention­­while gaining full benefit from its carefully nurtured offline brand. Problem is, conventional wisdom says that established bricks-and-mortar companies can't easily transfer tried and true, proven brand credibility onto today's fast-moving, point-and-click Web environment.

Conventional wisdom is wrong. From Bricks to Clicks arms managers with the techniques and strategies they need to successfully extend well-positioned offline brands to the Web. Case studies, interviews, and examples from a wide range of companies provide proven guidelines for top-to-bottom Web branding success, including:

• A battle-tested five-step approach for transferring an offline brand online
• Strategies to combine new sound and video technologies with proven branding techniques
• Methods to launch a brand on the Web and seamlessly relate it to existing corporate activities

A company's Web site is its product catalog, salesperson, showroom, and brand identity­­all wrapped into one package and accessible to any potential customer with the click of a mouse. From Bricks to Clicks focuses on the challenge of extending a solid offline brand to the Web and shows you how to both secure the attention of your target audience and provide them with instant brand recognition and value­­from the moment they enter your Web site.

"From Bricks to Clicks emphasizes a thoughtful integration of old economy business and marketing principles with New Economy acumen. Neither pop-marketing nor pure philosophy, it is a book about an extensively field-tested, methodical approach adaptable to virtually any business problem involving brand development."
­­From the Preface

IBM ... UPS ... Toyota ... Each of these corporate names invokes a carefully developed and nurtured brand image. Yet these recognized industry leaders can't rest on their laurels. They have discovered that, in today's take-no-prisoners competitive battleground, they must work diligently to maintain their successful brands­­and transfer that success to their companies' online efforts­­if they are to hold off fast-moving, Web-savvy competitors.

From Bricks to Clicks offers solid, market-tested techniques for developing and maintaining an online brand that coordinates with and complements your organization's existing offline efforts. Filled with examples of successful­­and not so successful­­Internet brand building, it walks you through the essential process of designing a Web site that both maximizes the attributes of an established brand and helps newer brands establish an identity that is sustainable, memorable, and profitable.

Utilizing the authors' carefully researched five-stage Internet branding process, From Bricks to Clicks shines the spotlight on the critical stages of creating a powerful Internet brand:

• Discovery­­The facts about the brand, its core message, and its overall business strategy
• Framework­­How the brand and its various components will work together
• Verbal Articulation­­Communication of the brand's many traits through names and taglines
• Visual, Physical, and Sensory Articulation­­Design and implementation of a fully integrated, engaging Web site
• Execution­­Actual launch, maintenance, and reevaluation/rediscovery of the Web site

In today's ebusiness environment, top marketers design Web sites to immediately secure each customer's attention and emotion. And even as numerous decades-old marketing standbys are either reconfigured or discarded to capitalize on the Internet's unique strengths, these forward-thinking marketers have come to understand the power­­and responsibility­­of the brand to communicate a core brand message. From Bricks to Clicks describes how they do it, and how any marketer can ensure brand development­­and promote brand consistency across every medium.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 303 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies (June 27, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071371893
• ISBN-13: 978-0071371896
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,524,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Brand Book..., July 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: From Bricks to Clicks: 5 Steps to Creating a Durable Online Brand (Hardcover)

This book answers a lot of my questions about how to make branding more of a tangible part of business. It is not so much written about the dot-com failures and successes as it is how the web is integrated with a method that's worked for a long time ... which I think is much more compelling. The international/global elements also added a lot because U.S. companies really need to understand this side of things better. It's an interesting, quick read. The only pseudo-negative I might add is that the cover information actually does the book an injustice ... it sounds too web-centric when in fact the book goes far beyond that. A great alternative and next-step book after the trout/ries and geoffrey moore texts.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Brand Perspective, July 30, 2001

By 

Oscar J. Mooneyham (Colorado Springs, Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Bricks to Clicks: 5 Steps to Creating a Durable Online Brand (Hardcover)

This book is pleasantly different from the other brand books out there, not only because of the method, but also because it logically articulates branding on and off the web-- and integrates it with other areas of marketing. Lots of times branding is a distant cousin to marketing and corporate communications, and this book makes it all fit together. As the creator of a small business, it's useful to me but I can also see how it will help big corporate executives as well. An enjoyable read, and very useful.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Knowledge and Info -thanks for sharing!, August 9, 2001

By 

"thedrtoothfairy" (San Leandro, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Bricks to Clicks: 5 Steps to Creating a Durable Online Brand (Hardcover)

"From Bricks to Clicks" is an easy read that provides a straight forward framework, or process if you please, for creating an Online Brand. In my opinion, I trust that the 5 steps could easily be applied to any business whether online or not! I am flabber-gasted to think that finally in 2001 that this is the first book I have read which clearly addresses these complicated and sometimes overwhelming marketing issues that most every company faces from time to time.

The book's real world examples highlight the authors' experiences, knowledge and how they arrived (step-by-step) at excellent solutions to the problems. Implementing the defined process proves its value time&time again in the book. The 5 step framework they describe is simple and should be easy to apply to small and large projects at any size company.

I am pleased that they would share this knowledge and their 5 Steps Framework in this book. I recommend "From Bricks to Clicks" for any high-level Marketing Executive and I look forward to future books or seminars by the Authors.