Correctly understand brand awareness

Brand awareness can make customers recognize and remember the brand, and it can also make the brand name more prominent and enhance the brand characteristics. So how to correctly understand brand awareness? The author of this article gives a detailed answer.

01

Brand awareness refers to the ability of potential customers to recognize or think of a brand in a certain category of products. This includes the association from a certain category of products to a certain brand, for example, when mentioning energy drinks, people may think of Dongpeng and Red Bull. However, promoting the Metropolitan Museum of Art may not necessarily increase the awareness of MetLife.

Similarly, putting the word "Levi's" on the ferry on the Huangpu River in Shanghai may make the Levi's name more prominent, but it may not help to increase its popularity. However, if a cruise ship is specially packaged to look like jeans, consumers can easily associate the name with the product, so the cruise ship's effect in creating popularity is also improved.

At Wuliangye's headquarters, Wuliangye made its classic bottle shape into the Wuliangye Building. Many people say that this is stupid and tacky. In fact, this is very valuable in enhancing Wuliangye's popularity in the liquor field.

02

Brand awareness changes in this continuous range, from uncertainty about the brand to the firm belief that there is only one brand for a certain type of product, that is, from no awareness, to brand recognition, to brand recall, and then to the first mention rate of the brand. Back to the example of functional drinks, if you talk about functional drinks, many people may still mention Red Bull first, but if you ask, what else, many people may remember Dongpeng.

However, since Red Bull has not advertised much for a long time, while Dongpeng Special Drink has been advertising continuously, perhaps when a new generation of consumers grow up, the functional beverage brand mentioned first will become Dongpeng Special Drink, and Red Bull will no longer be the first mentioned brand. Therefore, when conducting market research, brands need to pay special attention to the first mention rate of the new generation of main force groups for the brand. If the first mention rate of the new generation of main force groups for the brand decreases, then the brand is declining.

Brands can be classified at three different levels (brand recognition, brand association, and first mention awareness), and the role of brand awareness in brand equity depends on the specific context and level of awareness.

03

The lowest level of brand awareness is brand recognition, where customers can recall a brand in a prompted recall experiment. For example, in a telephone survey, if a group of brands of a certain product category is given, the respondents can identify the brand they have heard of. Therefore, although the respondents need to establish an association between the brand and the product category, this association does not need to be strong. Although brand recognition is the lowest level of brand awareness, it plays a particularly important role when customers shop and choose products.

04

Brand recall is the second level of brand awareness, which means that the respondents can directly name some brands in a certain category of products. It is also called "unprompted recall" because the respondents do not have ready-made brand names for reference, which is different from recognizing brands. Unprompted recall is much more difficult than prompted recall. In unprompted recall, the brand needs to have a higher status in the minds of customers. However, in prompted recall, the number of brands people remember is much greater than that in unprompted recall.

05

In unprompted recall, the first brand that comes to mind is often the most well-known brand, and this type of brand has a certain special status in the minds of customers. From the most realistic perspective , the first brand that comes to mind has a much higher status in the minds of customers than other brands. In some cases, the status of the second brand will be second only to the first brand that comes to mind.

06

There is also a special recall situation. A large part of the survey subjects can only think of one brand. For example, for yeast powder, many people can recall Angel Yeast; for green wasabi, many people can only recall KingBoss green wasabi; for Band-Aid, many people can only think of Band-Aid; for orange juice, many people can only recall Uni-President.

In such special cases, with a dominant brand, customers will hardly consider other brands when purchasing products.

07

Customer recognition of a brand is the first step in brand communication. It is futile to communicate brand characteristics without establishing a brand name . Without a brand name, there is no way to associate brand characteristics. A brand name is like a folder in the mind, in which facts and feelings related to the name can be placed. If there is no existing folder in the memory, facts and feelings cannot be matched to the folder, and cannot be retrieved from it when needed.

Take the most familiar fast food brand as an example. The associations of golden arches, clean/fast, Ronald McDonald, children, fun, and Big Mac are all linked to the name of McDonald's in the form of memory chains. These chains are thick and thin, strong and weak. In addition, linking different associations can strengthen their structure, such as the chain between Ronald McDonald and children.

08

New products and new services especially need to be recognized by customers. Almost all models that predict the success of new products believe that whether customers recognize the brand is the key prerequisite for the success of new products; purchase decisions rarely occur without knowing the brand. Moreover , if customers do not know the brand, it is difficult for them to understand the functions and advantages of new products. After customers recognize the brand, the company only needs to supplement the association of product features.

09

With the initial understanding, customers will have a sense of familiarity with the brand, and most people like familiar things. Especially for unimportant products, such as chewing gum, tissues, and paper. Familiarity often affects people's purchasing decisions. If there is no special reason, customers will not deeply evaluate the specific characteristics of the product, as long as they feel familiar, they will buy it directly. For example, Wrigley is the leader in chewing gum.

Xuanmai once wanted to find a characteristic of "delicious and long-lasting, ridiculously long" to challenge Wrigley's leadership position, but unfortunately, it did not succeed. A large number of studies have shown that the number of exposures is positively correlated with the degree of liking, whether it is an abstract picture, name, music, or other such things, this conclusion is applicable.

10

Fame can be said to be a symbol of existence, focus and strength, and these characteristics are crucial for manufacturers of bulk goods and consumers of durable goods. Because a well-known brand must have well-known reasons, such as the company has invested a lot of advertising; the company has a certain history of operating related businesses; the company's products are widely sold; the brand is successful and most consumers are using it.

11

Even if people have not been exposed to advertising and know little about a company, when faced with a well-known brand, they will naturally infer that the company is strong and can use advertising to support its brand. When choosing a product, if there is a completely unknown brand in front of us, we will definitely think that the brand is mediocre and there is no dedicated company behind it to support it.

Sometimes, even when faced with a high-dollar, difficult purchase decision, the situation will be very different as long as the brand is well-known, familiar, and powerful. For example, when choosing a computer or advertising company, if you are still unsure of the final answer after in-depth analysis, brand awareness will often become the final decisive factor.

In our industry, H&H is the most aware of this and is advertising like crazy at various airports. Because there are not many companies in this industry, reputation is often the decisive factor in the final selection.

12

The first step in the buying process is often to select a group of brands to consider, i.e., the consideration range. For example, when choosing an advertising company, test-driving a new energy vehicle, or evaluating a computer system, you would consider three or four alternatives. Unless there are special circumstances, customers generally do not come into contact with too many brand names during the buying process.

Therefore, if a company wants to enter the customer's consideration range, it must make customers think of its brand. Who is the computer manufacturer? The company that customers think of first naturally has certain advantages. If a company is not remembered by customers, it may not even get the first chance.

13

The role of brand recall is also crucial for frequently purchased products such as coffee, shampoo, laundry detergent, toothpaste, etc. Customers often have already determined the brand before going to the store. In some product categories, there are so many alternative brands that it can be overwhelming for buyers. For example, milk powder is such a category. Although many brands are well-known, the final decision to buy is very important to the opinions and recommendations of relatives and friends.

There is also a certain relationship between brand recall and consideration range. Generally speaking, if a brand is not remembered by customers, it will not be included in the consideration range. Of course, people sometimes recall brands that they really hate. Therefore, brand favorability is also the key to purchase.

14

Although brand awareness is a key asset of a brand, awareness itself cannot generate sales for a company, especially for new products. Let’s take the brand “Hengyuanxiang”, which is familiar to all Chinese people, as an example. As early as the 1990s, Hengyuanxiang launched a controversial advertisement, combining Hengyuanxiang with “Sheep Sheep Sheep”. What’s more magical is that during the prime time of the Spring Festival one year, Hengyuanxiang carried out this strategy thoroughly and launched the advertisement of “Pig Pig Pig, Dog Dog Dog, Hengyuanxiang, Sheep Sheep Sheep”.

Although Hengyuanxiang is more well-known than Nanjiren, Nanjiren has already gone public and its GMV has reached 50 billion, while the GMV of Hengyuanxiang, which is more well-known, is less than one-fifth of Nanjiren. Why is this the case? Because Hengyuanxiang’s promotion did not provide a “reason to buy”.

The value of brand awareness without a reason to buy is far lower than that of brand awareness with a reason to buy. Therefore, when Nianzhi does brand management for clients, it emphasizes that it is necessary to find a reason for the client to buy before spreading the message. The advantage of doing so is that it can not only gain brand awareness, but also promote brand sales.

15

In the real business world, brand awareness will decay, especially the highest level of awareness (first mentioned awareness). But there is a phenomenon that deserves our attention: when a brand is truly established, customers will form a high degree of recognition of the brand after multiple contacts and multiple uses. At this time, even if advertising is cancelled, brand recognition will remain at a high level for a considerable period of time.

For example, one of our clients is called "Juxiangyuan". Juxiangyuan has not done large-scale publicity for many years, but in the category of almond cakes, the first mention rate of the brand in Zhongshan has reached more than 75%. Someone once conducted a survey on brand name familiarity among 100 housewives in 4 cities. In the survey, these housewives need to name as many brand names as possible, and the number of names is proportional to the remuneration they receive.

The average number was 28, with 40% of housewives naming more than 40 brands. Half of the brands mentioned were food names.

16

In the past few years, as the concept of "new consumption" was popular, many practitioners in non-food fields entered China's new consumption field. Many investors, especially non-professional investors and entrepreneurs generally believed that as long as there was enough advertising and the products were good enough, new brands could still succeed even in mature product categories.

But this is not the case. Let's take a look at the brands that have been in the leading position for more than 20 years in the 40 years since China's reform and opening up. How many brands can beat these brands? In some mature product categories, to become a leading brand, you must be born as a leading brand.

To win in mature product categories, it is generally best to revive an established brand rather than create a new one. If you really want to create a new brand, one way to do it is to expand the existing brand name into a related product category.

17

In order to make a brand famous, customers must recognize and remember it. This poses two major tasks for the company: the first is to gain brand identity, and the second is to link the brand with a certain category of products (behind the brand is the category). For new brands, both tasks are indispensable.

However, in some cases, if one of the tasks has been achieved, then the work arrangement will be different. How should awareness be achieved, maintained and improved? Although the best solution depends on the specific circumstances, we have finally formed the following guidelines based on authoritative research in psychology and advertising and observations of brands that have successfully established and maintained awareness .

The first principle is to be unique and memorable. To make your product well-known, you need to give others a reason to pay attention to it, and this reason must be memorable.

The second principle is to use slogans or rhymes. Using slogans or rhymes can greatly change the effect of publicity. Slogans such as "Drinking Huiyuan Shenbao will make him and me better" and "Managing the brand well will bring a better future" can help deepen people's impression.

Rhyme is a powerful weapon for creating brand awareness. When creating brand slogans for new brands, Nianzhi Brand Management pays great attention to the rhyme of slogans. Someone designed a new product model to predict the level of awareness of new products 20 weeks after launch.

After conducting an experiment on 58 new products, it was found that some products had a higher recall level than others. The reason was that catchy advertising slogans played an extremely important role. Shi Yuzhu once created a health care product brand called Melatonin. The slogan "I will not accept any gifts during the holidays this year. If I do accept any gifts, I will only accept Melatonin" had a very high recall level. Almost everyone, young and old, knew it.

18

Logo promotion: If a logo already exists or can be designed, then the logo can play a role in creating and maintaining awareness. For example , Nike's hook now represents victory, Adidas's clover, and KFC's Colonel image. These logos are closely related to the brand. Logos are visual images that are easier to recognize and recall than words or phrases.

19

Publicity: Advertising is very suitable for increasing brand awareness. In advertising, the advertising information and the audience can be accurately positioned to meet the needs of the brand, and advertising is generally an effective way to gain exposure. However, if there is good public relations communication, it can sometimes even play a major role. Tesla's Musk is a super public relations expert. Tesla and its brands hardly advertise, but each brand behavior has caused a sensation around the world. The cost of public relations communication is not only much lower than media advertising, but also more effective. Compared with simple reading or video ads, people often prefer to know news stories.

20

Event sponsorship: The main purpose of most event sponsorships is to create or maintain awareness. Therefore, BMW sponsors golf tournaments and the "Crossing the Mountains to the Sea" relay race, and Nike, Adidas, and Hisense sponsor the World Cup, which is currently in full swing. These actions expose the brand to the audience, TV viewers, online viewers, and readers before and after the game. Budweiser, a beer brand, was the first brand to discover this value. In recent World Cups, Budweiser has been a major sponsor of the World Cup, gaining widespread attention.

twenty one

Brand binding category: In order to make customers remember the brand and make it more eye-catching, the brand name needs to be bound to the category and product. For example, Coca-Cola is bound to the cola category and has continued to win success in the beverage wars over the past 100 years. Yuanqi Forest is bound to the large category of sugar-free beverages and is also growing continuously. Zhong Xuegao also uses this strategy, but because its founder lacks respect for consumers and products, the possibility of this brand continuing to lead the market is not high.

twenty two

Application tips: Product tips or brand tips can often play an auxiliary role in publicity activities. Among them, packaging is a particularly useful brand tip. Packaging is a stimulus factor that consumers directly face and determines whether consumers are interested in the product. The packaging of Chubang soy sauce is a special tip for the product, and the packaging of Juxiangyuan is also a special tip for the product. When Nianzhi designs packaging for customers, it will design the packaging as a special tip for brand purchase.

twenty three

It is more difficult for customers to recall a brand than to recognize it. We need to make the brand name more prominent and make the connection between brand, category and product closer. We know that as time goes by, customers may recognize the brand they have only come into contact with a few times before, but they may not remember it.

Brand recall is very difficult. It requires both in-depth understanding by customers and repeated promotion by the brand. It is even more difficult to become the brand that customers think of first. For example, among beers, Tsingtao Beer is always the first brand that customers think of, which is closely related to its repeated promotion.

twenty four

Maintaining first-recall awareness through continuous publicity can not only increase brand awareness, but also enhance brand characteristics and prevent customers from recalling other brands. There are many studies that show that once a brand name or a group of brand names are given, it is difficult for experimental subjects to name other competitor product names.

In one experiment, subjects who watched a TV commercial for Baijiahei thought of fewer cold medicine brands than those who did not watch the commercial, because the well-known brand Baijiahei blocked the subjects' brain memory search.

Author: Liu Yichun

Source: WeChat public account "Liu Yichun's Brand Business Innovation (ID: shangyeyiguohui)"