If this title makes you feel like you’ve just won a game of Jargon Bingo, you are not alone. Us Web types are quick to latch on to names for things – Web 2.0 (and 3.0), LAS, “The Online Conversation” – and it’s easy to talk about a concept without really thinking about what it means.

Most people, by now, understand that a brand is a sum of perceptions; what do you, your staff, your business partners and your customers think about you and what collective meaning is then ascribed. So, when you apply this to the digital or information age, what exactly are we talking about?

I sought out the perspectives of people smarter than me – Mr. Academic guy, Dave Duarte and Mr. Cutting Edge Branding Stuff guy, Matt Riley. Dave teaches at the UCT Graduate School of Business and founded Huddlemind – a community of online learning. Matt is the guy behind Idea Bounty, our innovative crowdsourcing platform and is also a senior planner here at Quirk.

Matt’s view is that ‘the digital age’ just refers to the presence of digital tools that have made it easier for people to engage with your message.

“Branding is about creating a persona and positioning it in a way that allows people to engage with it and fulfill a goal that you have.”

Dave seemed to agree, saying that “branding in the digital age is more data driven than ever before. As people browse, connect and express online, they leave clues as to their preferences, habits and tastes.”

Good start, smart guys, but I wanted simple examples. Again, the two were talking about things that are fairly similar. Dave mentioned that a site like Brand Tags, that 'crowdsources consumer insights', lets people submit what they feel best describes a brand. Matt pointed out that tags on social bookmarking sites perform much the same function – people describe what they think brand related content is about and thereby define it for you.

This is not to say that digital refers only to the online world or mobile. For Dave, digital is any electronic device that can digitally connect to a database, like a point of sales system. “Digital is about the immediacy and personalisation that traditional broadcast media doesn’t cater for.”

As Matt explained, content can travel over digital in a way it simply couldn’t through traditional channels. Radio, TV, Print – these were all separate mediums that allowed you to target people at particular times. With digital, you can “share the same content over different mediums, people can see it everywhere … now they can choose when and how they would view your content.”

This kind of consumer control or interpretation has been in place for quite a while now, but as marketers evolve alongside the Web, I was curious to know how these ideas are being implemented or embraced by brands. If there’s a feedback system happening between brands and consumers – or an actual conversation – where can I see it?

Matt shared two fairly different examples with me that highlight how brands are engaging with their followers through digital tools.

The first is the creation of iPhone applications.

“Apple have taken one of their most amazing revenue streams and said, yes there are confines, but if you have a problem or solution, here’s our API and a software developer kit – build a solution and put it on our platform.”  

It’s all about allowing people to solve problems themselves and create their own experience – “embrace the glitch”. “That’s stepping from dialogue to control – create the frameworks through which people can engage”.

As a campaign example, Matt mentioned a recent Walker’s crisps initiative. The public were called on to suggest crisp flavours online which could then be voted on. Not only were the flavours eventually produced, but the ‘authors’ of the ideas were listed on the packets. “The level of conversation is down to the brand’s commitment to follow through” Matt said, “the next time Walker’s engage with their public they’re sure to have a better response, because they followed through”.

So with the campaigns and functionality being more successful when they involve the public (and consumers – although that term becomes less relevant now), what advice is there for brands in the “digital age”?

According to Dave, “they shouldn’t treat it as a once-off investment like an ad campaign. The web is at once a durable and adaptable medium - success is as much a matter of sticking around as it is about improving customer experience. It requires ongoing measurement, testing, communication, tweaking, optimising and production.”

A solid engaging and receptive presence provides more room for taking advantage of the creativity that is now “more likely to come from consumers than advertisers…seriously”. An idea echoed by Matt, especially given his involvement in Idea Bounty – the platform that allows anyone to submit ideas to solve a brief a brand publishes on the site.

“Every client we’ve been involved with has seen more value than they anticipated because they’ve received not just ideas, but insight into how people see their brands.”

It’s all about finding the right framework and platform for engagement and then making sure you follow through on what you learn. What does branding in the digital age mean to you? 

Also Check Out:

• Dr. Carla Enslin on eMarketing's Role in Brand Strategy
• 10 Rules to Recover from an Online Brand Attack
• Engaging as a Company