Report: Internet Brands Reach Public Consciousness

A new study shows that a whole new class of American
mega-brands — Internet
brands–have burst onto the scene, such as new household names America
Online, Yahoo!,
Netscape, amazon.com, priceline.com, Infoseek and Excite.

The study shows that these seven Internet brands have all reached household-
name status, each achieving a projected awareness of more than 50 million, or
better than 1 in 4 U.S.
adults. The study reports that these brands are also surprisingly strong with
non-Internet users.

In an omnibus survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. International of
Princeton, NJ, on behalf of priceline.com, the research
organization polled a nationally projectable sample of 1,013 adults by
phone over a four-day period in mid-September.

The poll measured consumer awareness of selected leading
Internet brands and their products. The study has a projected accuracy range
of plus or minus 3%.

The study found the adult awareness of the brands was: AOL, 152.9 million
(78.8%); Yahoo!, 99.7 million (51.4%); Netscape, 94.3 million (48.6%);
amazon.com 72.6 million (37.4%); priceline.com, 62.5 million (32.2%);
Infoseek, 53.0 million (27.3%): and Excite 50.8 million (26.2%).

Among non-Internet users, the seven best-known Internet brands were: AOL, 57.5
million (65.3%); priceline.com, 22.9 million (26.0.%); Yahoo!, 18.9 million
(21.5%); Netscape 15.3 million (17.4%); amazon.com, 11.8 million (13.4%),
Reel.com, 10.7 million (12.2%) and C/Net, 10.3 million (11.7%).

“The Internet is giving rise to a whole new class of brands that have
successfully crossed the 50-million ‘mega-brand’ threshhold,” said James
Dettore, president and CEO of Brand Institute, which says it is the nation’s
largest brand identity company. “The last time we saw the creation of a whole
new mega-brand category was with personal computers and software. Just as in
other consumer categories, leading Internet mega-brands have begun to emerge,
although that group will undoubtedly grow.”

“It’s also becoming clearer what it will take to join that group,” Dettore
said. “As noted in ‘Discipline of Market Leaders,’ by Michael Treacy and
Frederik D. Wiersema, brands ‘can’t be everything to everyone.’ Like brick-
and-mortar leaders, Internet brands need to target at least one of the three
consumer propositions to be successful–best product, best price or best
service. Each of the Internet mega-brands has successfully built on a unique
consumer proposition and a well-executed, often highly targeted marketing
strategy. It also doesn’t hurt that six of the seven brands are publicly held
companies, with high levels of investor buzz.”

According to the Opinion Research poll, Internet brand awareness was as
follows:

Internet Brand Awareness Among All U.S. Adults
Total Interviewed = 1013 Projected Total Adults = 194 million