Let me ask you a question. How long did it take Nike, Starbucks, Coke and Cadbury to build their brand to the level its at now? One year? Five years? Ten years? Twenty? Forty?. And now, let me ask you this. How long did it take Skype, Google, Apple, etc. to build theirs? 1 year (Skype)? 4-7 years (Google)? A decade or two (Apple)? Well, here’s some news. Apple, Google and Skype, are much more well-known brands than Nike, Starbucks, Coke and Cadbury, well at least for 2005 and at least that’s what these awards (readers’ choice) say.
Quite interesting, I think. All three, if not at least two (Google and Skype) are completely Internet companies and have existed for less than a decade (Skype for only about an year or two!). This shows the real power of the Internet, or if not, pure word of mouth. Another addition to the questions I asked above. How much do you think Nike, Coke, Cadbury, etc. spend in physical (eg. a tennis player, a stadium, billboards) sponsoring and advertising? Few million, if not hundreds of millions, for sure. Skype? Zilch. Google? Zilch. No, you don’t see Google sponsoring that soccer stadium in Lords or Skype sponsoring Roger Federrer (imagine that!) and yet they’re much more well known brands than the ones who do spend millions.
Anyway, I think I have proved my point. Basically, it all equates to word of mouth and global-reach, which the Internet delivers, no doubt. You can spend hundreds of millions of dollars, or nothing, and still get the same value.
