Last week I was visiting mainframe 101 in Frankfurt.
On invitation of Saatchi & Saatchi, Neckermann.de and Messe Frankfurt, 101 managers of the media and marketing business gathered to discuss economical aspects of online media.
A lot of the talks centered around brands and web2.0.
An interesting point was made by Axel Schmiegelow, CEO, sevenload GmbH. He basically stated, that the effects of branding on revenue or value can not be measured and therefore branding itself is an insignificant excuse on marketing spendings.
That seems to be a really cheap argument to promote investing in sevenloads special interest tv channels.
I think, a brand has more than just a short term revenue stream to consider.
As we consumers maneuver through the djungles of information, things we buy, objects we lust for, a brand is not only asking to be worth your next buy. Besides the money, I add two more dimensions to map the value of a brand:
Gravity represents the general interest we have in a brand. Does a brand get our attention even if we are not buying it (yet)? Do we consider news from a brand worth watching?
Applause on the other hand is a form of appreciation to a brand. Even more so if we are not in the process of deciding a purchase. But telling your friend, praising a product or a youtube clip adds a lot of potential buys.
The simple revenue is in itself only a short-term indicator for brand evaluation.
Gravity and applause are indicators for a steady, long-term growth of brand significance. And that's where practically all so called internet brands come into play.
They didn't start with loads of revenue.

And this seems to be somewhat around blog number 84 109 129. But I could be considered old school, as a genX with somewhat around 19 years being in online media, mailboxing, internet, and such.
So, when these blogs came up, an old dog like me just waited for this to settle. Maybe it'll pass, maybe it'll fly.
But finally: why miss out all the fun right now?
And, as soon as I got more then 3 entries in this blog, I'm in the top 9 million most active blogs!