May 31, 2014

How to Think Like a Marketing Expert: Brand Awareness

Two Types of Brand Awareness - How to Think Like a Marketing Expert.Do you sometimes have difficulty explaining why graphic design is crucial for successful advertising? Maybe you don’t explain your designs in terms marketing experts use?

A central marketing term is “brand awareness.”

There are Two Types of Brand Awareness

  1. Brand Recognition
  2. Brand Recall

“Brand recognition” simply means that you recognize a brand when you see it.

“Brand recall” means that you can, without aid, recall a brand when thinking of the product category, e.g. when asked for exclusive cars BMW comes to mind.

Brand Recognition

When you typically choose what to buy at the point-of-purchase “brand recognition” becomes the goal.

Typical brand recognition products are toothpaste, toilet paper, chocolate bars, pain relievers (most things you buy in a supermarket.) Brand recognition products are typically low-priced, less exciting, uncomplicated products. You might even buy them out of habit. Typically they are low-risk purchases.

Brand recognition is relatively easy to create.

The main brand recognition tactic is to emphasize the package and the name visually in the advertising. The goal is to get the product recognized at the point-of-purchase.

You see a Colgate package in your local store and remember you need toothpaste – simple as that.There a two types of brand awareness. Brand Recognition

A brand recognition campaign only has to “inform” the buyer. Think of brand recognition as “educational.”

Brand Recall

When brand choice is made prior to purchase “brand recall” becomes the goal.

Typically brand recall products are more complex, have bigger price tags and/or are more important for the buyer's identity or ego, e.g. cars, homes or exclusive watches.

Brand recall is considerably more difficult to achieve. The “evoked set” is the set of brands that comes to your mind when thinking of a product category. The advertiser has attained brand recall when the buyer has accepted the new brand into his or her “evoked set.”

The main brand recall tactic is to repeat the link between category need and brand,  e.g. “Hamburgers = McDonald's,” or “Rock Music = The Rolling Stones.”

There a two types of brand awareness. Brand Recall.This link is a verbal association stored in the buyer's mind. Advertising builds that link by first illustrating the need, e.g. “exclusive car,” then give the brand to satisfy that need, “BMW.” Frequent repetition builds the links in memory, so when the need occurs in “real life,” the brand will come to mind.

Brand recall advertising requires more insights into the buyer's mind. Think of brand recall campaigns as “persuasive.” To include the brand in the “evoked set” the buyer has to really believe the brand qualifies for the product category – according to his or her own standards.

Conclusions

This is the difference between the two kinds of brand awareness:

  • When you see a Colgate package, you think “toothpaste.” (brand recognition)
  • When you think of exclusive cars, you think “BMW.” (brand recall)

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