I am trying to find a case study (or seven) about a business that has used search engine marketing to enhance their brand and improve their brand equity in the public eye.  For example (this would never happen), but if McDonalds were to optimise their site for keywords like 'health food' or 'lose weight'.  The effect would (in theory) be that people who were searching using such generic terms would come to associate McDonalds with losing weight and healthy food.

Put simply, I am after a case study of a company that has used SEM to enhance their brand equity and that has tried to measure the ROI in terms of brand perception equity.

If you can help, or know someone who can, I'd be much obliged.
My company (Wheel) has just merged to form LBi.  That is why my email signature is LBi, but our E-Consultancy membership exists under Wheel.

Many thanks,

Andrew

Thanks for the reply John, but it's not quite what I'm looking for.  I need an example of a bigger business that uses SEO to improve brand equity and awareness, not just to drive sales.

Thanks anyway,

Andrew

By the way, Andrew, I guess you've already got loads of studies showing how search marketing drives 'consideration' (usually for purchase)? There's been quite a bit on this e.g. most people research buying a car online (no surprise there then...).

Depends if you consider "purchase consideration" or the "research" part of the buying cycle as brand metrics? Not really the stuff of FMCG.

Also, there's the iProspect research study (see details at http://www.iprospect.com/about/whitepaper_seuserbehavior_apr06.htm) which says:

"36% of search engine users report that they believe that companies whose  websites appear at the top of the search results are leaders in their field. This belief has increased slightly over the last four years (33% in 2002). Surprisingly 40% of users 25-44 years old associate top search results to company prominence. Traditional and “brand” marketers need to become involved in the initiatives that their colleagues on the search engine marketing side are undertaking, as those efforts are apparently helping to achieve branding goals. "

So search rankings (paid or natural) could well drive brand equity in the minds of users?

Ashley Friedlein
CEO
E-consultancy.com

Andrew

I remember reading a study a few years ago that said ranking in organic results does have a positive impact on brand because it is perceived as a sign of approval by Google, but don't ask me where that was now.

Mostly for big existing brands with good offline exposure I see SEO protecting the brand rather than developing it:

- Protecting from technical issues

- Making sure navigational queries resolve properly

- Making sure they rank for the brand name terms...

Though it pains me to say it, if we look beyond the SERP, it is possible to argue that the company that got the best 'overall' brand exposure out of search recently was BMW, and they did that by getting kicked out. Most brands couldn't get away with it, but lets look at it logically, it's BMW, a brand a lot of people love to hate, did getting their wrists slapped by Google do any harm to the brand not at all. As far as your average Jo in the street is now concerned BMW is at the cutting edge of online marketing, and all most can remember is the words BMW and Google in the same sentence.

 Teddie

http://www.neutralize.com