Brands that embrace the digital space have much stronger relationships with consumers than those that fail to exploit the power of the internet. By Louise Jack

As every marketer knows, digital consumers matter. Not just because there are ever increasing numbers of people using the internet or because online environments impact on almost every product category. New research from Millward Brown suggests that digital consumers also have stronger relationships with brands.

A “digital consumer” is one who uses the internet to both shop and research their purchases. The research, which was compiled using an analysis of WPP’s Brandz database, examines how this relationship varies from category to category, exploring what marketers can do to take advantage of this trend.

Millward Brown analyses all the consumers surveyed in 2008 and compares the brand relationships of digital consumers with those of non-digital consumers. On average, across all categories and countries, digital consumers appear to have a 15% stronger relationship with a typical brand than offline consumers.

Brandz global director Peter Walshe says digital consumers are better informed about brands, giving them a greater appreciation of the products involved. As a result, they also like brands better than their non-digital counterparts, which increases their importance to marketers.

The relationships between brands and digital or non-digital consumers varies by category and country. The largest difference emerged in the airlines category, where a 93% stronger relationship was observed between brands and digital consumers.

Walshe says: “If you are an airline, then a huge number of transactions will take place online. It’s also convenient from the consumers’ point of view. There’s a similar story in the banking category; a very high number of people use the internet to transact with their banks.”

What is less obvious is that the stronger relationship seems to hold true across all categories. Brand relationships are found to be 8% stronger in the hair care category and perhaps most surprisingly, 5% stronger in the motor fuel category.

Walshe says: “Strong brands will still be taking place and taking part with the online and digital community. In soft drinks, for example, look at the strength and engagement a brand like Coca-Cola gets with music downloading and its other initiatives, or in hair care brands like Dove and Pantene with social networking and engagement strategies.”

The stronger relationship is driven by a combination of factors that Walshe calls a virtuous “digital branding circle”.

First, digital consumers appear to be more interested in brands, according to the research statistics. Carrying out so much digital research before purchasing online helps them develop strong brand knowledge, which in turn reinforces their interest in the brand.

Additional evidence for this mindset is supported by the fact that the difference in relationships with brands is higher in product categories where there are a greater number of digital consumers. The more people are researching or buying the brand online, the more interested those digital consumers are than the non-digital types.

This relationship holds throughout the world; Japan and Taiwan, each with +36%, have the highest average digital relationship differences observed, but even in China, relationships are 2% stronger among digital consumers.

Stronger relationships tend to exist in countries with higher web penetration – a larger number of digital consumers generally seems to result in more informed consumers. However, although Canada has a far higher web penetration than India, both countries have similar average differences.

Looking at ways marketers can exploit the results of the research, Walshe says: “Strong brands stand for three things – first, great product experience. Marketers can underline that experience digitally. The car industry does that really well and some FMCG brands are really involving people with co-creation initiatives.

“The second thing is to have a very clear and differentiated association with your brand. That’s about being fair and truthful and consistent in style. It’s easy to think of dynamic brands that exploit that, such as Google and Apple, while Dove is also a brand that has done it in a surprising way that sets it apart.

“Third is about dynamism – people love brands that they think are leading the way; either challenging things or leading because they’re the best. That’s exactly what the fun and co-creation in digital engagement does”.

Walshe concludes that the research shows strong brands can have a massive impact on digital consumers and so brands should not ignore online areas or treat them as less valuable than offline ones.

He adds: “Digital adds colour, vibrancy and immediacy to brands.”

Posted 4 June 2009 | By Louise Jack