Brand awareness

src: storage.googleapis.com

Brand awareness refers to how far a customer can pull or recognize a brand. Brand awareness is a key consideration in consumer behavior, advertising management, brand management and strategy development. The ability of consumers to recognize or remember a brand is very important to buy a decision. Purchases can not proceed unless the consumer first knows the category of products and brands in that category. Awareness does not necessarily mean that the consumer should be able to remember a particular brand name, but he should be able to remember the differentiating features sufficient for the purchase to be processed. For example, if a consumer asks his friend to buy him chewing gum in a "blue packet", the friend will be expected to know which candy to buy, even though his two friends can not remember the exact brand name at the time.

Different types of brand awareness have been identified, namely brand remember and brand recognition . The lead researcher believes that these different types of consciousness operate in fundamentally different ways and this has important implications for the purchasing decision process and for marketing communications. Brand awareness is closely linked to concepts such as the generating set and the set of considerations that describe specific aspects of consumer purchasing decisions. Consumers are believed to hold between three and seven brands in their consideration defined in different product categories. Consumers will usually buy one of the top three brands in their set of considerations.

Brand awareness is a key indicator of the competitive market performance of a brand. Given the importance of brand awareness in consumer purchasing decisions, marketers have developed a number of metrics designed to measure brand awareness and other measures of brand health. These metrics are collectively known as A wareness, A ttitudes and U sage (AAU) metrics.

To ensure the success of a product or market brand, awareness levels must be managed throughout the product lifecycle - from product launch to market downturn. Many marketers regularly monitor the level of brand awareness, and if they fall below a prescribed threshold, advertising and promotional efforts intensify until awareness returns to the desired level.

Video Brand awareness

Importance of brand awareness

Brand awareness is linked to the function of brand identity in consumer memory and can be measured by how well consumers can identify brands under various conditions. Brand awareness is also important to understand the consumer purchase decision process. Strong brand awareness can be a predictor of brand success. This is an important measure of brand strength or brand equity and is also involved in customer satisfaction, brand loyalty and customer brand relationships.

Brand awareness is a key indicator of a brand's market performance. Every year advertisers invest large sums of money trying to increase the level of brand awareness as a whole. Many marketers regularly monitor the level of brand awareness, and if they fall below a prescribed threshold, advertising and promotional efforts intensify until awareness returns to the desired level. Setting a brand awareness goal/goal is a key decision in marketing planning and strategy development.

Brand awareness is one of the major brand assets that add value to a product, service, or company. Investing in building brand awareness can lead to sustainable competitive advantage, leading to long-term value.

Maps Brand awareness

Brand awareness type

Marketers usually identify two different types of brand awareness; brand recall (also known as uniated recall or sometimes spontaneous withdrawal) and brand recognition (also known as < i> assisted recall brand ). This type of awareness operates in a way that is entirely different from the important implications for marketing and advertising strategies.

Brand reminder

A brand reminder is also known as unaided recall or spontaneous withdrawal and refers to the consumer's ability to precisely acquire brand names from memory when requested by product category. Brand reminders show a relatively strong relationship between category and brand, while brand recognition shows weaker links. When asked by product category, most consumers can only remember a series of relatively small brands, usually around 3-5 brand names. In consumer tests, some consumers can remember more than seven brand names in a particular category and for low-interest product categories, most consumers can only remember one or two brand names.

Research shows that the number of brands that consumers can remember is influenced by individual and product factors including; brand loyalty, consciousness set size, situational, usage factor and education level. For example, consumers who engage with categories, such as heavy users or product fans, may recall a slightly larger set of brand names than those who were less involved.

Brand recognition

Brand recognition is also known as withdrawal assistance and refers to the consumer's ability to properly distinguish brands when they come into contact with them. It's not necessary to require consumers to identify a brand name. Rather, it means that the consumer can recognize the brand when presented with it at the point of sale or after viewing its visual packaging. Unlike brand recall, where some consumers can spontaneously remember the brand name in a certain category, when requested by brand name, a large number of consumers usually can recognize it.

Awareness of the mind

Consumers will usually buy one of the top three brands in their set of considerations. This is known as top-of-mind awareness. Consequently, one of the goals for most marketing communications is to increase the likelihood that consumers will include brands in their series of considerations.

By definition, top-of-mind awareness is "the first brand that comes to mind when a customer is asked an undesirable question about a category." When discussing top-of-mind awareness among larger consumer groups (compared to one consumer), it is more often defined as the "most remembered" or "most remembered" (s) brand name.

A brand that enjoys top-of-mind awareness in general will be considered a genuine purchase option, provided that consumers are profitably disposed of in the brand name. Awareness of the mind is relevant when consumers make quick choices between brands competing in low-involvement categories or for the purchase of impulse types.

Marketing implications of brand awareness

Clearly brand awareness is closely related to the concept of the generated set (defined as the series of brands consumers can get from memory when contemplating purchases) and set of considerations (defined as "a set of small brands that paid attention to consumers when making purchasing decisions "). One of the main roles of advertising is to create brand awareness and brand image, to increase the likelihood that brands are included in sets or considerations that consumers raise and are considered good.

Consumers do not learn about products and brands from advertising alone. When making a purchase decision, consumers get information from various sources to inform their decision. After searching for information about a category, consumers can become aware of the large number of brands that are collectively known as sets of consciousness . Thus, the awareness set tends to change when the consumer obtains new information about the brand or product. An overview of empirical studies in this field indicates that the set of considerations is likely to be at least three times greater than the generated set. Awareness alone is not enough to trigger a purchase, the consumer also needs to be properly disposed to a brand before it is considered a realistic purchase option.

The process of moving consumers from brand awareness and positive brand attitudes through actual sales is known as conversions. While advertising is an excellent tool for creating brand awareness and attitudes, it usually requires support from other elements in the marketing program to change attitudes into actual sales. Other promotional activities, such as telemarketing, are far superior to advertising in terms of generating sales. Thus, advertising messages may try to drive consumers to a direct sales call center as part of a unified communications strategy. Many different techniques can be used to turn interest into sales including special pricing quotes, special promotional offers, attractive terms or trade guarantees.

Percy and Rossiter (1992) argue that two types of consciousness, namely remember and brand recognition , operate in fundamentally different ways in purchasing decisions. For routine purchases such as fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), some buyers carry shopping lists. For them, brand presentation at the point of sale acts as a visual reminder and triggers the needs of the category. In this case, brand recognition is the dominant mode of consciousness. For other purchases, if the brand does not exist, the consumer first experiences the required category then searches the memory for the brand in that category. Many services, such as home help, gardening services, pizza delivery fall into this category. In this case, the category needs to precede brand awareness. Such purchases are dominant, and consumers are more likely to choose one of the brands obtained from memory. When brand recall is dominant, consumers do not need to like advertising, but they have to like the brand. In contrast, consumers should like advertising when brand recognition is the goal of communication.

The difference between brand recall and brand recognition has important implications for advertising strategies. When the purpose of communication depends on brand recognition , the execution of the creative must indicate a known brand of packaging or brand name. However, when the purpose of communication depends on brand recall , creative execution must encourage strong associations between categories and brands. Advertisers also use jingles, mnemonics, and other devices to encourage brand recall.

Brand dominance occurs when, during brand retest, most consumers can only name one brand from a certain category. Brand dominance is defined as the individual choice of only certain brand names in the related category during the brand withdrawal procedure. Although brand dominance may appear to be a desirable goal, overall dominance can be a double-edged sword.

A well known brand name for the majority of people or households is also called household names and may be an indicator of brand success. Sometimes a brand can be so successful that the brand becomes identical to the category. For example, the English people often talk about "emptying the house" when it actually means "vacuuming the house." (Hoover is a brand name). When this happens, the brand name is said to have "go generic ." Brand examples become abundant in general; Kleenex, Cellotape, Nescafe, Aspirin and Panadol. When a brand becomes generic, it can present marketing problems because when consumers request brands mentioned in retail outlets, they may be awarded competing brands. For example, if someone enters a bar and asks for "rum and coke," the bartender might interpret it as "rum and cola-flavored drinks", paving the way for an outlet to provide a cheaper alternative mixer. In such a scenario, Coca-Cola Ltd, which, after investing in brand building for over a century, is the biggest loser for not getting a sale.

src: s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com

Measuring brand awareness

Just as different types of brand awareness can be identified, there are various methods for measuring awareness. Usually, researchers use surveys, conducted on consumer samples that ask about their knowledge of the brand or focus category.

Two types of recall tests are used to measure brand awareness:

• Unattended recall test : where respondents are presented with product categories and asked to nominate as many brands as possible. Thus, a recall test without assistance provides the respondent with no clues or cues. Unassisted withdrawal tests are used to test brand recalls.
• Assisted recall test : where the respondent was asked by brand name and asked if they had seen it or heard about it. In some withdrawal tests, respondents may also be asked to explain what they know about the brand eg. to describe packages, colors, logos or other special features. Assisted recall tests are used to test brand recognition.
• Other brand-effect tests : In addition, to repeat testing, brand research often uses a series of tests, such as brand association tests, brand attitudes, brand image, brand dominance, brand value, - important brands and other measures of brand health. While this test does not explicitly measure brand awareness, it provides a general measure of brand health and is often used in conjunction with repeat brand testing.

To measure the significance of brands, for example, researchers put products on shelves in supermarkets, giving each brand the same shelf space. Consumers are shown photographs from display shelves and ask consumers to name the brand. The speed at which consumers nominate a given brand is an indicator of the importance of the brand. This type of research can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of packaging designs and brand logos.

A number of commercial research firms (eg Interbrand, Millward-Brown, Nielsen (Asia)) monitor brand effects for major international brands and topline survey findings are widely publicized in the business press, trade and online press. It should be noted that this commercially compiled list is not a popularity contest, but use a clearly articulated methodology to compile lists based on consumer responses collected in structured research. However, this list uses various metrics, so the results can not be compared directly and it can not be assumed that they measure brand awareness. Like the interpretation of all research, it is important for readers to familiarize themselves with the methodology used to clarify what is actually measured and how data is collected.

Clearly, most marketers aim to build a high level of brand awareness in relevant market segments, giving rise to sustained interest in developing the right metric for measuring brand effects. The metrics used to measure brand effects are collectively called AAU ( A belligerent, A ttitudes and U sage) metrics.

src: cdn.yourarticlelibrary.com

Brand awareness and effect hierarchy

Brand awareness is a standard feature of a group of models known as the effect model hierarchy. The hierarchical model is a linear sequential model built on the assumption that consumers move through a series of cognitive and affective stages, starting with brand awareness (or category awareness) and culminating in purchasing decisions. In this model, advertising and marketing communications operate as an external stimulus and purchasing decisions are consumer responses.

A number of hierarchical models can be found in the literature including DAGMAR and AIDA. In a survey of more than 250 papers, Vakratsas and Ambler (1999) found little empirical support for any of the hierarchy of securities. Regardless, some authors argue that hierarchical models continue to dominate theories, especially in the areas of marketing communications and advertising.

The effect hierarchy developed by Lavidge in the 1960s is one of the original hierarchical models. It proposes that customers advance through a six-stage sequence of brand awareness until product purchases.

Stage 1 : Awareness - Consumers become aware of categories, products, or brands (usually through advertising)

?

Stage 2 : Knowledge - Consumers learn about brands (e.g. size, color, price, availability, etc.)

?

Stage 3 : Like - Consumers develop a disadvantage/disadvantage to the brand

?

Stage 4 : Preferences - Consumers start assessing one brand over another comparable brand

?

Stage 5 : Conviction - The consumer indicates a desire to purchase (through inspection, sampling, testing)

?

Stage 6 : Buy - Consumer acquires product

Hierarchical models have been widely adapted and many variations can be found, however, all follow the basic sequence that includes Cognition (C) - Affect (A) - Behavior (B) and for this reason, they are sometimes known as C-A-B models. Some of the newer adaptations are designed to accommodate consumer digital media habits and opportunities for social influences.

Model hierarkis alternatif yang dipilih mengikuti:

Model AIDA Dasar : Awareness-> Interest-> Desire-> Action

Model AIDA yang dimodifikasi : Awareness-> Interest-> Conviction -> Desire-> Action

Model AIDAS: Perhatian -> Minat -> Keinginan -> Tindakan -> Kepuasan

model AISDALSLove : Awareness-> Interest-> Search -> Desire-> Action -> Like/dislike-> Bagikan -> Love/Hate

Lavidge et al Hierarchy of Effects : Awareness-> Knowledge-> Liking-> Preference-> Conviction-> Beli

DAGMAR Model: Awareness -> Comprehension -> Attitude/Conviction -> Action

Efek komunikasi Rossiter dan Percy : Kebutuhan Kategori -> Kesadaran Merek -> Preferensi Merek (A _b ) -> Fasilitasi Pembelian Intent->

Implikasi Pemasaran model hierarkis

It should be clear that brand awareness is just one of six stages that outlines the customer's distinctive advancement of purchasing decisions. Although awareness is a necessary prerequisite for purchasing, awareness alone can not guarantee a final purchase. Consumers may be aware of a brand, but for different reasons, may not like it or may fail to develop a preference for that brand. Therefore, brand awareness is an indicator of sales performance, but does not take into account all sales performance. For this reason, marketers use a variety of metrics, including cognitive, affective and behavioral variables, to monitor brand market performance.

As consumers move through the (awareness-> knowledge-> prefer-> preference-> belief-> purchases), they rely on different sources of information to learn about the brand. While mainstream media advertising is useful for creating awareness, its capacity to deliver long or complex messages is limited. To gain a more detailed knowledge of a brand, consumers rely on different sources such as product reviews, expert opinions, word-of-mouth and brand/company websites. As consumers get closer to actual purchases, they begin to rely on more personal information sources such as recommendations from friends and relatives or suggestions from sales representatives. For example, the opinion of an influential blogger may be enough to encourage preference/confidence while a salesperson may be required to close the actual purchase.

All hierarchical models show that brand awareness is a necessary prerequisite for brand attitudes or brand liking, which serves to underscore the importance of creating a high level of awareness as early as possible in a product or brand life cycle. The hierarchical model gives marketers and advertisers basic insights about the nature of the target audience, the optimal message and media strategy shown at different time points throughout the life cycle of a product. For new products, the main advertising objective must be to create awareness with a wide cross section of potential markets. When the desired level of awareness has been achieved, advertising efforts must turn to intriguing interests, desires or beliefs. The number of potential buyers decreases as the product moves through the natural sales cycle which in effect is likened to the funnel. Later in the cycle, and when the number of leads becomes smaller, marketers can use more tightly targeted promotions such as personal sales, direct mail and email directed at individuals or sub-segments that tend to show genuine interest in the product or brand.

src: thumbs.dreamstime.com

Creating and maintaining brand awareness

Brand ads can increase the probability that consumers will include a particular brand in the set of considerations. Brand related advertising spend has a positive effect on brand awareness level. Nearly everything that exposes consumers to a brand increases brand awareness. "The repetition of brand exposure in stores increases the consumer's ability to recognize and remember brands." Increased exposure to brand advertising can increase consumer awareness and facilitate consumer processing of the included information, and by doing so can improve brand memories and brand attitudes toward brands.

To increase the likelihood of product acceptance by the market, it is important to create high-level brand awareness as early as practical in product or brand life cycles. To achieve top-of-mind awareness, marketers have traditionally relied on intensive bb campaigns, especially during product launches. To succeed, intensive campaigns take advantage of broad reach (expose more people to messages) and high frequencies (expose people multiple times to messages). Advertising, especially mainstream media advertising, is seen as the most cost-efficient way to reach a wide audience with the relatively high frequency required to create a high level of awareness. However, intensive ad campaigns can be very expensive and rarely sustainable for a long time.

As new products enter the market growth stage, the number of competitors tends to increase with implications for market share. Marketers may need to maintain awareness at a predetermined rate to ensure stable sales and stable market share. Marketers often rely on a rough 'rule-of-thumb' and are prepared to estimate the amount of advertising spend needed to reach a certain level of consciousness. For example, it's often held that to increase brand awareness by only one percent, it needs to double the dollars spent on advertising.

When a brand becomes established and reaches the desired level of awareness (usually described in the marketing plan), brand advertisers will shift from intensive ad campaigns to reminder campaigns. The purpose of a reminder campaign is simply to keep the target audience aware of the brand presence and introduce new life into the brand offerings. Reminder campaigns typically maintain a broad reach, but with reduced frequency and consequently are cheaper advertising options. Ad reminders are used by established brands, often as they enter the maturity stage of the product life cycle. In the decline stage, marketers often switch to caretaker or a maintenance program in which advertising spend is reduced.

While advertising remains important to create awareness, a number of changes in the media landscape and consumer media habits have reduced dependence on major media advertising. Instead, marketers try to place their brand messages across a wider variety of platforms. Increased amount of time and consumer attention is devoted to digital communication devices - from computers and tablets to mobile phones. It is now possible to engage with consumers in a more cost-efficient way of using platforms such as social media networks that command large audiences. For example, Facebook has become a very important communication channel. In addition, social media channels enable interactive, two-way communication that is not paralleled by traditional mainstream media. Interactive communication provides more opportunities for brands to connect with members of the audience and to move beyond simple awareness, facilitating brand preference, brand beliefs and ultimately brand loyalty.

The emergence of social media networks has increased the opportunity for opinion leaders to play a role in brand awareness. In theory, anyone can be a leader of opinion, e.g. celebrities, journalists, or community leaders, but the emergence of the digital environment has changed our understanding of who is a potentially beneficial influencer. Indeed, the digital environment has created more opportunities for bloggers to become important influencers because they look accessible, authentic and tend to have loyal followers. Blogger has become a key influencer in essential consumer goods and services including fashion, consumer electronics, food and beverages, cooking, restaurants and bars. For example, a recent survey by Collective Bias, suggests that when it comes to product support the digital influencer is more popular than the celebrities. The findings show that only 3% of participants said they would consider buying celebrity-supported items, compared with 60% saying they have been influenced by blog reviews or social media posts while shopping. For marketers, the digital landscape has made it somewhat easier to identify social influencers.

src: omexpert.com

Popular examples of ads and brand promotion

The following example illustrates how brand awareness and brand advertising are used in practice.

Coca-Cola 'Share Coke Campaign'

Coca-Cola is a well established brand with a long history and that has reached market dominance. For any brand, like Coke, which accounts for about 70 percent of the market share, there is little chance of getting new customers. But Coca-Cola is always looking for new communication that not only maintains its brand awareness, but also brings this brand to the attention of new audiences. The company launched a campaign known as 'Share Coke', with the goal of the campaign; "to strengthen brand bonds with young Australian adults - and inspire shared moments of happiness in the real and virtual world." The campaign that was initially launched in Australia became so successful that it was launched to other countries.

The concept is to introduce a personalized bottle or Coke can. Popular names are written in 'Spencerian similar script' which is part of the brand identity of a typical Coke brand. The campaign organizers are spreading social networks by targeting opinion leaders and influencers to get them to lead the conversation and encourage others to seek "Share Coke" for themselves. Within a few days, celebrities and others without a connection to Coke spread this concept through social networking. This campaign expands the reach of the audience as more people are affected by the message. According to Coke's creative team, "The [Australian] Summer, Coke sold more than 250 million bottles and cans named in a country of just under 23 million people". This campaign helps Coke expand its awareness across the broader age profile as they interact with each customer on a personal level.

Ronald McDonald and anthropomorphic brand character

Consumers are having some difficulty putting brand personality and marketing communications often encouraging consumers to think about brands as the owner of human characteristics. When a brand is infused with human-like characteristics, a brand can help in communicating brand value and creating a distinctive brand identity that serves to differentiate offers from competing brands. "In an increasingly competitive marketplace, [some] companies rely on brand character to create awareness, convey the attributes/benefits of key products/services, and attract consumers" (Keller, 2003).

The use of anthropomorphic characters has a long history. For example, the Michelin man, employed as a memorable character to sell Michelin car tires, was introduced in early 1894. This character benefits the brand by creating unforgettable images in the minds of consumers while conveying meaning consistent with brand values.

McDonald's created a similar "anthropomorphic brand character" known as Ronald Mcdonald as part of its brand identity. For younger consumers, Ronald McDonald injects pleasure and mystery into the McDonald's brand. For parents, the character clearly shows that McDonald's is a family-friendly place. Characters help to carry brand identity and can be seen as non-human 'characters', which contribute to strong brand differentiation. Brand character interest can "affect the brand's positive attitude and improve purchasing intentions" [consumers] "

Mini

Famous automotive manufacturer, Mini, investigates its brand perception in the UK by conducting 55 in-depth interviews designed to gain key feedback on brand values. Consumers feel that the symbolic element that represents the brand is that it is "a fun, stylish and sporty image".

Customer engagement with the MINI brand on the Facebook fan page, promoting "a positive effect on consumer brand awareness, through WOM activities and purchase intentions achieved". Brands, therefore, connect with users on an emotional level.

src: www.engibiz.com

See also

• Ad management - creating brand awareness is a primary function of advertising
• Brands - creating and maintaining a high level of brand awareness is one of the premier brand management functions
• Consumer behavior - a detailed overview of how consumers move from awareness to actual purchases
• Marketing management
• Product lifecycle management (marketing) - explains how the level of brand awareness changes over the product life cycle
• Purchase channels - explains how brand awareness changes when different market segments begin to adopt products or brands

src: 2.bp.blogspot.com

References

Source of the article : Wikipedia