An Application of Online Branding Design with Customisation, Culture and Communities Strategy : A case studies on six online store providers

Abstract

Abstract. In order to boost the value of an e-brand, we need to consider appropriate design strategies using the interactive capabilities of the Internet in an online marketplace. The purpose of this study is to investigate diverse experiential and emotional marketing strategies for online brands and to suggest various methods to create powerful emotional contents of e-brand’s sites. In this paper, we examine the effects of emotional branding on the current marketplace and explore the characteristics of e-brands. The research processes in this paper are to: (1) investigate diverse theories related to emotional and experimental marketing through literature review; (2) develop a “Customisation, Culture and Communities Strategy” model as an emotional e-branding method; (3) analyze well-established e-brands websites with this Customisation, Culture and Communities Strategy; and (4) identify the effects of emotional e-brand contents and the designer’s role of visualizing the emotional contents. This study provides a new perspective on online marketing and designing a virtual environment to realize the desired customer experiences. Key words: E-brand Design Strategy, E-branding, Emotional branding, Experiential Marketing.