Jackie Cohen Nike has built one of the world's biggest brands. But pay a visit to Nike's Web site and you can see how hard it is to take an offline brand and replicate it online. The swoosh is omnipresent, but the superstars' images take forever to load. Hardly an environment conveying speed, strength and athleticism. Just don't do it.
Advertisers agree that it's difficult to pull off a branding strategy on the Web.
Many of the techniques that are most successful in offline ads are complete bombs when duplicated online. The Net may be an interactive medium, but it defies all brand logic. Only six of young consumers' top 15 brands show up among the most-visited sites. The most successful online agencies are taking a broad approach to branding, integrating it with an overall advertising and marketing strategy. Consequently, Web brand-building is not cheap.