The Open Brand: When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World

Chapter 03. Web 2.0 and the Alpha Openers

In the first decade of the web, most traditional businesses viewed their online initiatives as merely tactical. They created a basic “brochureware” site with linked documents and existing content, blasted a few emails to customers, and, if they were a bit ahead of the curve, advertised online with display ads and search engine keywords. Eyeballs, not consumer engagement, were marketers’ endgame.

Sound familiar?

That was the Web 1.0, a simple term describing the digital dimension of a push marketing era that’s currently giving way to the more dynamic, pull marketing-focused Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is a real sea change, not just a clever marketing moniker used to peg media stories, promote trade conferences and excite ...