Contributors BrandNEWS collects top industry minds. Read other reader responses. The internet represented a new branding challenge because it redefined commerce and the relationship between buyers and sellers. It may be early to discuss the next branding challenge, since many have yet to come to terms with the branding challenges raised by the Internet, globalism and increased consumer power. But it's important to start thinking about the implications now, so that the groundwork for the necessary alliances, technologies and processes can be laid.
Conventional wisdom says the next branding challenge is wireless.
Wireless introduces a lot of unknowns, but most of them are derivatives of current branding issues. B2B exchanges are online environments that use ebusiness technologies to enable individuals and organizations to do business electronically. The advantages of such exchanges include cost-savings, operational efficiencies, expanded choices and a larger marketplace. Exchanges are growing in importance in the B2B marketplace, which is far larger than the B2C marketplace. But B2B exchanges change that model dramatically to many buyers, many sellers.