Mental Availability: WHAT EVOKES THE BRAND

Mental Availability Brand Health Tracking

Many a brand/marketing manager is focussed on what they want their brand to be perceived by customers e.g. adjectives like modern, cool, authentic, desirable, technical, stylish are common….

While these kind of attributes may be useful to think about, they often make the assumption that your brand is going to be summoned into memory in the first place, which unfortunately for most brands, isn’t the case.

That’s why, in our brand health tracking, we shine the light first and foremost on what evokes the brand (Mental Availability & Customer Situations), rather than what the brand evokes (Brand Image).

Inspired by the CEP work from Jenni Romaniuk et al at Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Situations are the cues that customers use to access their memories when faced with a buying decision. They’re the building blocks of Mental Availability. Examples for cereal bars might include – for breakfast, to give me energy, for the kids, to compliment milk, keep me going, on the commute (the list goes on)

Why we love Situations…?
1. In any category, there are typically thousands of Situations which means thinking in this way a) generates lots and lots of opportunities for brands to drive growth and b) for creative agencies, offers creative flexibility and freshness.

2. Situations also foster unity across functions as delivering against them often requires a full 4Ps approach, not just advertising.

3.Unlike many a vague black box brand tracking measure, they have clear, specific meanings & interpretation among marketers, agencies and customers.

4. And finally, probably most importantly, Situations reflect the perspective of the consumer first, not the brand, which helps ensure relevance.

Measuring these Situations provides a useful objective framework to identify the memories your brand may need to refresh or extend. See example output below.