Brand salience: attraction and mind presence at the right moment

In order to be successful as a brand and allow your brand to grow, it is crucial to be prominent and present at the time of the purchase decision.

Brands grow by being mentally and physically present at the time of the purchase decision. That is to say, that your brand is there at the moment this occurs. The greater the mental and physical availability, the greater the market growth.

Mental availability is about the links you form in your head to a brand. In addition to this, the distinctive brand assets (DBAs) are essential. These are (meaningless) brand elements you can perceive, such as colours, font, jingle or icons. And they are mainly important in relation to category entry points (CEPs). These are the relevant purchase or need situations in which people would think of the brand. For example: ‘on the road’, ‘after exercising’ or ‘with girlfriends’.

How do you ensure that your brand attracts? In recent years?

Blauw has conducted various market studies. These studies confirm the ‘How Brands Grow’ vision of Byron Sharp. The best way to attract is to distinguish yourself from the sector. Because if you act in the style of the sector, you are probably not creating an advertisement for your brand, but for the entire sector.

Distinctive brand elements

Most player in the financial sector have a blue logo This is not as crazy as it sounds, as people associate the colour blue with trust, clear communication and reliability. But you attract less in this sector with a blue logo. Imagine that as a fledgling financial organisation you want to build your brand, then it may be smarter to opt for a different colour, and for other distinctive brand assets. This applies to every sector. For example, a lot of brands in the fashion sector use red in their logo, often in combination with black/white. Consumers therefore mix up the brand elements of various brands. For example, one brand that distinguishes itself from other clothing brands is Miss Etam, which grabs attention due to its distinctive purple colour. Consumers recognise Miss Etam from the colour of the logo.

Different situations in which consumers can or should think of your brand

It is important not only just in terms of brand assets, but also in terms of category entry points (the moments when you want to attract attentions) to take a different approach. Ensure that you claim moments when you want to attract attention with your brand and distinguish yourself from the rest.

An example in the world of telecoms is Tele2. The telecoms sector was very commercial, it revolved around the number of call minutes and the number of MBs. Tele2 was one of the first telecoms providers to change their brand strategy from the rest. They are successfully claiming as many CEPs as possible. “Everyone would prefer to stream Netflix, YouTube or Spotify all day long.” With Tele2, that’s possible. Not because you have to, but...

Quantitative research into category entry points and distinctive brand assets.

Using various research methods, Blauw can find out how attractive your DBAs are, how strong your CEPs are and what your competitive position is. With quantitative research you find out:

• At what times consumers are thinking about your brand.
• What times you can claim even more to make consumers think about your brand at different times.
• What your strongest brand assets are
• Your brand’s market position

Would you like to know how your brand salience is?

Obvion mortgages do that very well. Taking out a mortgage for new entrants to the labour market and self-employed people is unbelievably difficult. Obvion is responding very well to this. It differs from other mortgage providers and claim the moment of taking out a mortgage if you do not have a permanent contract or are self-employed.

An example in the world of telecoms is Tele2. The telecoms sector was very commercial, it revolved around the number of call minutes and the number of MBs. Tele2 was one of the first telecoms providers to change their brand strategy from the rest. They are successfully claiming as many CEPs as possible. “Everyone would prefer to stream Netflix, YouTube or Spotify all day long.” With Tele2, that’s possible. Not because you have to, but...

Quantitative research into category entry points and distinctive brand assets.

Using various research methods, Blauw can find out how attractive your DBAs are, how strong your CEPs are and what your competitive position is. With quantitative research you find out:

• At what times consumers are thinking about your brand.
• What times you can claim even more to make consumers think about your brand at different times.
• What your strongest brand assets are
• Your brand’s market position

Would you like to know how your brand salience is? Download the summary of the book 'Building Distinctive Brand Assets'