Investigating the impact of internet advertising on a success of a brand

Thesis Overview

<p> </p><p><strong>Introduction</strong></p><p>The Internet is a new communications vehicle that is changing brand marketing in significant way. In the few years the web has been available for marketing and sales, online advertising has already changed considerably. It has extended beyond the small, static web banner to totally interactive full-screen ads. Brand marketers now have more online advertising choices that help build brand awareness, comprehension, preference and loyalty. Some traditional brand marketing techniques, including sweepstakes and sponsorships, have made their way onto the web. Brand marketers are beginning to take further advantage of the medium for branding as audio and video can be used to a greater degree. Online advertising is beginning to behave much like a website in that marketers are primarily interested in the branding impact of the user’s experience with the ad. In contrast several accounts argue that Internet Advertisements itself is effective in generating sales. Gaffney (2001), Kranliold (1999) and Schlosser <em>et al. </em>(1999) found that people generally trusted the commercial content of an Internet Advertisement more than an add in general.</p><p>A number of recent papers have presented the issue of brand management on the Internet (Riley and Lacroix, 2003). The basic rules of branding and essence of the brand at the same off and online are accepted by Chan (2001), de Cliematony (2001) and Clauser (2001). However, new medium such as Internet advertisement may require adjustment at the executional level, for example, in the way information is presented (Riley <em>et al., </em>2003). In addition, the degree of control maintained over the brand may need relaxing, for instant, immoderate chat found and communities built within the brands website (de Cliematory, 2001 ). Ind and Riondiono (2001) indicated a brand’s presence on the web should be conceived in a way that is sympathetic to the technology and the environment; the web site should be consisted with the whole brand presentation and should reflect the overall brand identity. Brand literature like wise show how active brand communication helps to build and strengthen brand loyalty. Despite the potential of Internet marketing for building and maintaining brand and brand loyalty, it lias only recently started to gain impotency in corporate marketing (Merisavo and Raulas, 2004; Na and Marshall, 2005; Lace and Jomthan, 2004).</p><p>Building a successful major brand, whether for a company or a new product, requires strategic planning and a major investment. The new company then spent millions of naira to create awareness and position this new brand. According to Drmcan (2002), the basic steps in building a brand are shown in the following list. Although these brand building steps are numbered progressively, then often overlap, especially the second third and fourth creating awareness, positioning the brand and creating a brand image. The steps are: a) Select a name and symbol to represent the company or product; b) Create awareness/brand identity of name and symbol (if used) and what the product is or does; c) Position the brand to begin differentiating it from competing brands; d) Create a brand image to help further differentiate the brand and to make it easier to recognize and recall and e) Create trust in the minds of customers, prospects and other stakeholders about the brand by maintaining consistency and delivering on expectation. Based on this background the researcher wants to investigate the impact of internet advertising on the success of the brand</p><p>Nigeria can be considered a late starter given the recent spate of Internet interest. Although it has been a few years since the commercialization of the Internet, Nigerians still mainly regard it as a novel means of communication and entertainment, but not yet as a medium for commerce. A major obstructionfor involvement in electronic businesses is the enterprise attitude (Ng. 2000). Nigerians tend to be “followers” rather than “pioneers” or “first-movers” in creating intellectual property (Lee. 2000). Many fear failure and some dare not take the step into the Internet economy because it is an unknown space (Ng, 2000). Nigeria enterprises have to react fast to the rapidly changing environment. They need to grab the opportunities and take the risk to change the Internet space for business on the Net. Many companies in Nigeria are reluctant to advertise their products and services through Internet due to failure in the market of advertising campaign. Thus, the development of internet Advertisement is still in initial stage in Nigeria. Therefore, it is important issue to identify whether the Internet advertisement is capable to build brand among consumers and what are the attributes of Internet advertisement might help the marketers to build brand among consumers?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The objectives of the study are;</p><ol><li>To ascertain whether the Internet advertisement is capable to build brand among consumers</li><li>To ascertain whether the attributes of Internet advertisement can help the marketers to build brand among consumers</li><li>To find out the challenges of internet adverting on the success of a brand</li></ol><p><strong>1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES</strong></p><p><strong>Hypothesis One</strong></p><p><strong>HO</strong>: Internet advertisement is not capable to build brand among consumers.</p><p><strong>HI: &nbsp; </strong>Internet advertisement is capable to build brand among consumers.</p><p><strong>Hypothesis Two</strong></p><p><strong>HO:</strong>&nbsp; the attributes of Internet advertisement cannot help the marketers to build brand among consumers.</p><p><strong>HI:</strong>&nbsp; the attributes of Internet advertisement can help the marketers to build brand among consumers</p><p><strong>1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY</strong></p><p>The study will give a clear insight on the impact of internet advertising on the success of the brand. The study will be very significant to students and companies that are willing to advertise their product on internet. The study will also serve as a reference to other researchers that will embark on the related topic</p><p><strong>1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY</strong></p><p>The scope of the study covers investigating the impact of internet advertising on the success of the brand. The researcher encounters some constrain which limited the scope of the study;</p><ol><li><strong>a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL:</strong>&nbsp;The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study</li><li><strong>b) TIME:</strong>&nbsp;The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.</li></ol><p><strong>1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS</strong></p><p><strong>INTERNET ADVERTISEMENT:</strong>&nbsp;Online advertising is a marketing strategy that involves the use of the Internet as a medium to obtain website traffic and target and deliver marketing messages to the right customers. Online advertising is geared toward defining markets through unique and useful applications</p><p><strong>BRAND</strong>: A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers</p> <br><p></p>