For web surfers who actually take the time to persevere with Wilson.com, there are some rewards: free poster downloads of Wilson-sponsored sports personalities and some decent animated content to spice up the experience, including a video of an official Super Bowl game ball being constructed. (Wilson has made footballs for the NFL since 1941.) Be warned, however, that anyone venturing too deep within the site will have as much fun getting home as a baseball player trying to score while the catcher's holding the ball securely in his mitt—none of the Wilson sub-sites open in a new window. This makes cross-navigation impossible and can wear out the patience of a user who has to consistently click the "back" button.

This lack of cohesion that seems to pervade the Wilson site is a really unfortunate undercurrent, as the brand is steeped in history and has a large customer base. This is all the more reason, then, for Wilson to set up an online community where everyday users of its sporting goods could meet and share stories, photographs, and experiences—which would make them more emotionally attached to the brand. Likewise, some sort of loyalty scheme probably wouldn't go amiss—nor would anything that would make the Wilson web experience just a touch more interactive and a little less one-dimensional.

Unfortunately for Wilson, this perception of a lack of brand affinity is very much set from the homepage, where the lack of an "About Us" section presents something of a vacuum for anyone wishing to learn more about the history of the business and the markets that it serves. These days, people want more from a website than just superficial information—they want to be engaged. If a website cannot engage its users, then it can't expect much traffic. So until things change, Wilson can expect the majority of its customers to get no closer to its brand on the Internet than they would to returning a serve from the likes of Roger Federer.