Online brand experience creation process model: theoretical insights

Abstract

Many brands are turning digital due to the changing market requirements and consumer demands. In order to digitize the brand, it is not enough just to move the brand to the electronic environment. Marketing plans and other brand activities shall be revised and adopted to the electronic environment. The focal point for the digital transformation of the brand is the online brand experience. It is increasingly recognized as a vital tool for the success of the brand. The impact of brand experience on the consumer trust and loyalty is empirically proven and explained in existing research, however the process of the online brand experience building is not well understood and in practice based on trial-and-error rather than research framework.This paper studies conceptual issues of the online brand building. Online brand experience concept is examined in order to set the framework for the online brand creation model. The study reveals that online brand experience may be based on the traditional brand experience models, that is - consumer’s perceptions and responses to brand evoked stimuli. This definition is assumed for further analysis of the online brand creation process. Comparative analysis of existing brand experience creation models allows identification of the main building blocks and creation steps for the online brand experience. The paper concludes that online brand experience creation is based on the adaptation of the traditional marketing models (“4P” marketing elements) to the specifics of the online environment and processes. The modified model nicknamed 3PoP is proposed. The 3PoP model embraces the 3 traditional P’s - product, place, people, filtered through the online process as the core of the online brand creation. The 3PoP model enables further research and management applications leading to the holistic online brand experience.