If you look at the history of the Wayfarers, it is a style that has been through its rises and declines as a product and brand. Most companies that would have gone through this same path of a certain product would have left the product behind and move on, but Ray-Bans consistent push of the Wayfarers has proven to be a marketing strategy that should be looked at as UBER successful.

If we talk about this brand and product today, we can say a HUGE part of its success as probably the most popular style in the world, has been, without a doubt, the internet and its viral marketing campaigns. YES, movie stars, rock stars, etc play a GIGANTIC role in the success of the product, but its mostly though internet that the masses are on and spread the word through video, pictures, etc.

Ray-Ban has created a colorize campaign for this product with a chameleon and its Never Hide commercials.

The chameleon advertising video that has gone viral is still one of my favorite videos and it got over 1 million views: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMT1FLzEn9I

The latest video from Ray-Ban, that did spread online like wildfire, specially now with Facebook and social networks, is the viral video of the man tattooing a pair or ray-ban wayfarers onto his face ——> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH1tTlq5-Qk

This last video caught big buzz and generated millions of views. So, as an old company, it’s very important to keep up with the latest trends that arise where you may find a whole new level of success and new playing field to market to a different demographic.

Here are some great Ray-Ban Wayfarer resources:
-History of the RayBan Wayfarer
-RayBan Wayfarers from Ray-Ban

#9. Nike

#8. BlackBerry

#7. Sony

#6. Honda

#5. Target

#4. Apple

#3 Amazon.com

#2 Google

#1 Microsoft

Notice that the top 3 companies in 2009 are all online based. We can say that Microsoft is a tech company but a lot of their business does come from the internet, so technically, it COULD be considered an internet company as well as tech with BING being a very big focus for Microsoft at the moment literally pouring millions of dollars into the search engine.

“As an advertiser, you’ve probably wondered from time to time what people thought about your marketing efforts. How are they responding to your ads? Do they like them? What do they think about your brand? With many advertisers running display campaigns across the Google Content Network, we’re starting to test some interactive ways for brand advertisers to get feedback on their marketing efforts. In the coming months, we’ll be experimenting with some new approaches that help measure the impact of AdWords campaigns beyond traditional click-through and conversion metrics.

The first is a way to gather feedback on display ads. We start by taking a display ad and removing all traces of the advertiser’s brand. We then show this de-branded ad on the Content Network, and present a few basic questions: 1) Have you seen this ad?, 2) Did you like it?, and 3) What was the product or brand being advertised? This simple and approachable ad encourages users to provide feedback, and it also gives advertisers more information on whether people liked the ad and whether they remember the ad and were able to link it to the brand.”

Here is what users will see:

Full Image

Are you currently doing any display advertising? Are you having success? Feedback is always welcomed!

It comes down to a few things. The number one reason I think it is very important to establish a brand name is long-term value to your business. Creating a brand can pave the way for success if it is branded right. How many people purchase products or services just because they have heard of the brand before? How many cool things have you seen out there that you havent purchased because you’ve never heard of it before?

So, that brings about the next key point which of course is consumer confidence. You’ll never have the confidence of a consumer unless they’ve heard of you before or you’ve been reffered. That is why if you are trying to establish your unknown website online I can tell you (from experience,) customer service is CRUCIAL. The downfall of a new established company is bad customer service which will lead to too many problems you do not want to deal with and you’ll see a domino effect that comes along with it.

Of course, building a brand is truly important both on and offline. Here are some tips to develop your brand online:

- Press Releases: Write continous press releases on your brand and what is new with your company, products you are carrying, ANYTHING that may be of interest to a consumer or media outlet.

- eMail List: Make sure you capture all your customers emails and if you can, collect emails on your website to capture future customers and send weekly or monthly emails about offers, updates in your company, etc. Engage your customer or potential customer as much as you can.

- Post Cards: This is an offline strategy but it works well to get the customer or consumer back to your website. If you can send a post card with a coupon with a code or something to have that person coming back, now you’re ahead of the competition since they are probably not doing any offline tactics to engage the customer back.

- Standout Logo: A logo is a very important part of your marketing strategy but also of course of your branding strategy. Look at the big brands, they ALL have logos. Whether you like the logo or not, it is still a logo. One that will define your company and bring about brand recognition.

- Publish Free Articles/Blog Contributing: As the owner of a big site, you should be hiring someone to make sure they are out there promoting the brand whether it be from blogs to trade magazines, to mainstream media. Establishing a brand also means being an authority in your niche.

Here is the deal, as you know, it is time consuming in our busy lives to read every story that pops up and start commenting on every blog. So, what do you do?

Comment on stories that have a lot of comments already! The people are already involved in the conversation and they are reading the comment above them.

Where do you find these stories? For example, if you’re a bit short on time, find 10 stories on the top of the sphinn home page and go from there. See what stories are really hot, where the buzz is, and get involved.