If you want to order a soft drink, you probably think of Coca-Cola. When you’re craving fast food, Mcdonald’s might be on top of your mind. Nike and Adidas may pass your thoughts when considering sports clothing. When asked about luxury comfort cars, you think of Mercedes, and most probably Apple and Samsung dominate your thoughts when asked about technology.  

Ever wonder why you associate certain brands with certain categories or recognize brands even without using its products? It’s because these brands are champions in building brand awareness.

Brand awareness is a measure of how familiar somebody is with a brand. It refers to the number of people that have heard about your brand and can remember it in some capacity. The greater the brand awareness, the more recognizable its products and services are. In theory, leading to long-term strength in the market. It is also the first step on the path to purchase, as described in the brand funnel.

Brands invest huge money over time to increase brand awareness, realizing it’s not something you can build overnight. Not even by running a massive marketing- or an advertising campaign. Strong brand awareness requires multiple, simultaneous, and continuous efforts beyond activations that help you get paying customers. Although it doesn’t have a financial value on its own, it’s an incredibly important piece of overall marketing efforts that drive sales.

How do you measure brand awareness?

To be able to increase brand awareness, you need to learn how to measure it. In the FMCG industry, this is commonly done with surveys. Such surveys are conducted by companies regularly (e.g., every quarter) and provide insights on three different levels: top of mind awareness, unaided awareness (brand recall), and aided awareness (brand recognition). These KPIs (key performance indicators) should be measured for you and your competition.

Top of mind awareness (TOMA)

Top of mind awareness refers to the first brand that comes to mind when asked about an industry, category, service, or product. For example: “When you think of ‘Category X’, what brand comes to mind?”. This is the highest level of brand awareness you can measure in market research. Not all consumers will think of the same brand, but brands that are often mentioned as top of mind are popular brands within a category. If your brand is the first one that people think of, they’ll look out for you when in need of your products. Imagine what effects this has on your market share.

In addition, high top of mind awareness has great benefits for marketing and PR purposes. People are already familiar with your brand, you receive more media coverage, and your social/digital presence is probably strong already. All of this makes it easier to take potential consumers through the brand funnel.

Unaided awareness (brand recall)

Unaided awareness, or brand recall, refers to the percentage of respondents aware of your brand without being assisted. In that sense, it is very similar to the top of mind awareness. When respondents have answered your first question, you can get the unaided awareness by asking a follow-up question: “Can you think of any other brands in ‘Category X’?”

Similar to a high top of mind, a high unaided awareness indicates a strong brand strength as customers are aware of your brand without being prompted.

Aided awareness (brand recognition)

Aided awareness, or brand recognition, refers to the percentage of respondents that were able to recognize your brand when prompted. This can be by showing the brand names, logos, slogans, packaging, or even by showing an ad.

Smaller brands often focus on aided awareness. It’s perfectly possible that you’re not able to compete against big brands in your category which are called out as top of mind or unprompted. In such a case it might be wise to avoid measuring on a level that’s not useful for you and focus on aided awareness. Don’t forget to make sure to compare yourself against your key competitors only.

When measuring brand awareness, always make sure to create a context that is most relevant to your strategy and research objectives. Choose the right category (not too broad, not too specific), and make sure to include only your key competitors. Track your metrics over time and use the gathered insights to further develop your brand campaigns.