By now it is clear that in order to survive, let alone thrive, in business it is imperative for brands to have a clear, strong and synchronised presence in online channels, such as social media and websites. Designing, creating and managing integrated, multi-channel branded experiences for key audiences – on and offline – is a mission-critical skill set for brand marketers.

A recent example of how things can go badly wrong is PepsiCo’s iPhone application (app) called “Amp Up Before You Score”, which was ostensibly designed to help men pick up women by providing what some critics have termed “a mating-game toolkit”. Not only has PepsiCo been forced to issue an apology amid torrents of negative articles in new and mainstream media, but it generated a noticeable movement on Twitter to boycott all PepsiCo products. If the true goal of this effort was to simply generate buzz for the energy drink Amp, then PepsiCo’s creative team scored well.

However, this reaction probably is not what they had in mind (although the whole New/Classic Coke brouhaha of many years ago reminds us that anything is likely in the soda war). PepsiCo withdrew the app and claims it was meant to be humorous and show the lengths men will go to attract women. It doesn’t take much creativity to imagine that upsetting half of your clients is not a good approach to brand building.

There aren’t many corporations, let alone employees or agencies, with the gumption to attempt such a risky campaign. Thus costly mistakes are made, apologies given, corrections made and (hopefully) all is forgiven and the next branding exercise is planned with much caution and little room for error.

Situations like this are not just happening in the newest of new media, such as smartphone applications and social media. Unfortunately, the internet has long provided much fodder for ridiculing the websites of even the “biggest and best” brands. In 2009, according to webpagesthatsuck.com, prime examples of the bad genre include those of Harvard, Dell and Chrysler (which, of course, is having all sorts of problems this year).

For all of the bad examples, great websites are still being produced, according to creative director Dwayne Serjeant of the digital marketing company wwwins Consulting Hong Kong. His list includes: Apple, Peninsula Hotels, Harley-Davidson, Louis Vuitton and Nike.

“They feel as you would expect them to – and in most cases offer you deeper and richer interaction,” Serjeant says. “Look at how Louis Vuitton expands on the notion of travel bags with the celebrity stories of Francis Ford-Coppola and others. See how Nike’s ID system allows you to totally customise a unique sneaker for yourself or how Harley Davidson’s site lets you ride with your bike along some recommended ride routes. Engaging online is about offering your customers what they want, in a manner that befits your brand – and that’s much deeper than just a pretty brochure image.”

Start-ups and emerging companies are also good places to look for examples of best practices in developing brands, services and websites, he says. TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com) is a micro-blogging tool for Twitter and is a leader in a small, fast-paced and increasingly crowded market where attention spans are limited to ten minutes and 140 characters.

“They’ve done a great job across the board in terms of initially establishing a strong brand,” Serjeant says. “The site has a number of best practices – from the bold, consistent use of identity and visual language, through rich visual explanations of the product itself, strong calls to action and clear legible content. They’ve also followed what customers are starting to expect as ‘the norm’ when engaging with a brand – transparency through blogs, social network presences and sharing through them, and a rich help and support section.

“While you may not know the product, spend ten minutes on the site and you get the feeling that this brand knows what its doing, understands its customers and is pretty well placed for a strong future.”

Serjeant points out that not articulating your brand correctly in any channel is a recipe for disaster, let alone online: “Your website today is one of the very first touch-points with any of your consumers and therefore it has to properly reflect your brand, arguably better than any other channel. But the perception of a brand online is far more about the interaction that it offers your consumer over just its style – don’t confuse your look with your brand.”

Andrew Kane, Senior Consultant of Brand Strategy at Eight Partnership, explains that brands must connect with their audiences across multiple channels to deliver their proposition to market. As channels proliferate, it has become critical that these channels be in sync. If a corporate website delivers a customer experience that is not in line with other major channels then customers get confused, propositions get diluted and ultimately brands suffer long-term damage.

"A company’s web presence is increasingly about what happens beyond the corporate site," Kane says. "Success is also defined by how well a company manages the brand “off-site”, in an environment it cannot fully control. The massive uptake of social media is empowering customers to an extent that they may be creating more content about a brand than the company. User-generated content is often perceived as independent and more credible than the branded content found on a corporate site."

The best companies are embracing this shift – and creating online branded experiences that are open, engaging and credible. In doing so, they develop enough goodwill with customers that they can contribute to the discussion off-site and even facilitate or lead the discussion on the corporate site.