3 ms·

How do you measure brand awareness? It’s certainly either bullshit or trivial to measure.

by BrandAwarenes 8y ago

mirimir 8y ago
For me, "brand awareness" comes from news coverage, not ads. I know that ads are biased, so I ignore them.
- listenallyall 8y ago
  LOL, news coverage of corporations (except for covering some public scandal) is heavily biased as well. In this particular case, the source of the article is Kristin Lemkau, the bank’s chief marketing officer. So keep trusting the "unbiased" news. And guess what: you might think you ignore ads. You do not.
  - mirimir 8y ago
    OK, so I don't "ignore ads". I actively avoid seeing them. I use ad-blockers, and have for over a decade. When I commonly read print media, I used to go through first and tear out all the ads, seeing them as little as possible, and pasting blank paper over the ones that had desired text on the other side. When driving, I avoid looking at billboards, just as I avoid looking at oncoming lights at night. I also don't trust news coverage. I especially don't trust favorable news coverage, because that's often advertorial. That does create bias I know. And if I'm actively interested in something, I read a variety of media, from different countries.
    - briandear 8y ago
      > When I commonly read print media, I used to go through first and tear out all the ads, seeing them as little as possible, and pasting blank paper over the ones that had desired text on the other side. To each his or her own, I guess. Do you close your eyes when venturing outside as well? Also, as I am sure you are aware, much of what you read has been pitched and influenced by PR agencies: that’s what they do. When you read about a product in some publication, that product didn’t just randomly find itself as part of a story, a PR firm helped get it there. I might suggest that you might be a bit naïve about how advertising, media and PR work. You can’t escape it even if you think you are.
      - mirimir 8y ago
        I know all that. I don't trust reviews, because >90% of them are advertorials. You can often detect that by searching for key phrases, and then finding them in press releases. I don 't close my eyes outside, no. But I do trash ads, whenever I can. Back in the hardcore days, I carried stickers with moisture-catalyzed adhesive. Once those suckers cured, sand-blasting was the only option. Now I just carry black markers ;)
        mprev 8y ago
        The irony here is that, it seems, ads are having a bigger impact on your life than if you weren’t taking these steps.
        mirimir 8y ago
        So does gravity.
- lazyasciiart 8y ago
  Most people, probably including you, don't have conscious control over their awareness of things.
  - mirimir 8y ago
    Sure. And I do make an effort to stay conscious of how my awareness is changing, what's been influencing it, what agendas may be involved, and so on. I don't take my consciousness as a given. It's just something else to be questioned.
- Frqy3 8y ago
  You might be surprised at just how much news is little more than slightly rehashed press releases.
  - mirimir 8y ago
    Yes, I know that. I didn't mean that sort of "news". I meant the results of insider leaks, prosecutions, fines, vulnerability discoveries, investigative journalism, and so on.
whatshisface 8y ago
The most believable sense in which brand awareness is a thing is in the number of people who are passively aware that your brand exists. For example, if you wanted to visit a grocery store, you probably could think of a list of stores in your area that you might want to go to. If I were going to build a new store, I would want to put myself on your mental list of stores, so that if you ever needed something I was selling you would know to visit. That's more or less the quintessential example of advertising. It's also easy to measure in an objective way, because any given individual has either heard of Tesco or hasn't. There's a spectrum of marketing that ranges from "how can I communicate the existence of my cheese spray product to fans of Cheese Whiz," to "how can I get every American to spray cheese wiz directly into their mouths three times a day as a meal substitute." Techniques for doing the first are about as well tested as Newton's laws, but techniques for doing the second are virtually guaranteed to be a scam where you're the mark.
- bartread 8y ago
  The thing brands get most excited about is "spontaneous" or "unprompted" awareness. E.g., I ask you a question such as "Thinking about womenswear retailers, which names come to mind?" Brands want to appear on that list of names, and the closer to the top ("top of mind") the better. Of course, for most brands the aspiration to be top of mind is ludicrous since there can be only one. For UK womenswear that one is Next and, barring the company suddenly going under (possible but not likely), it ain't changing any time soon. Prompted awareness, when you're presented with a list of brands and asked a question to elicit your awareness of them, is much less valuable because if you see anything often enough on the high street you're going to remember it when prompted.

How do you measure brand awareness? It’s certainly either bullshit or trivial to measure.

mirimir 8y ago

For me, "brand awareness" comes from news coverage, not ads. I know that ads are biased, so I ignore them.

listenallyall 8y ago
LOL, news coverage of corporations (except for covering some public scandal) is heavily biased as well. In this particular case, the source of the article is Kristin Lemkau, the bank’s chief marketing officer. So keep trusting the "unbiased" news. And guess what: you might think you ignore ads. You do not.
- mirimir 8y ago
  OK, so I don't "ignore ads". I actively avoid seeing them. I use ad-blockers, and have for over a decade. When I commonly read print media, I used to go through first and tear out all the ads, seeing them as little as possible, and pasting blank paper over the ones that had desired text on the other side. When driving, I avoid looking at billboards, just as I avoid looking at oncoming lights at night. I also don't trust news coverage. I especially don't trust favorable news coverage, because that's often advertorial. That does create bias I know. And if I'm actively interested in something, I read a variety of media, from different countries.
  - briandear 8y ago
    > When I commonly read print media, I used to go through first and tear out all the ads, seeing them as little as possible, and pasting blank paper over the ones that had desired text on the other side. To each his or her own, I guess. Do you close your eyes when venturing outside as well? Also, as I am sure you are aware, much of what you read has been pitched and influenced by PR agencies: that’s what they do. When you read about a product in some publication, that product didn’t just randomly find itself as part of a story, a PR firm helped get it there. I might suggest that you might be a bit naïve about how advertising, media and PR work. You can’t escape it even if you think you are.
    - mirimir 8y ago
      I know all that. I don't trust reviews, because >90% of them are advertorials. You can often detect that by searching for key phrases, and then finding them in press releases. I don 't close my eyes outside, no. But I do trash ads, whenever I can. Back in the hardcore days, I carried stickers with moisture-catalyzed adhesive. Once those suckers cured, sand-blasting was the only option. Now I just carry black markers ;)
      - mprev 8y ago
        The irony here is that, it seems, ads are having a bigger impact on your life than if you weren’t taking these steps.
        mirimir 8y ago
        So does gravity.
lazyasciiart 8y ago
Most people, probably including you, don't have conscious control over their awareness of things.
- mirimir 8y ago
  Sure. And I do make an effort to stay conscious of how my awareness is changing, what's been influencing it, what agendas may be involved, and so on. I don't take my consciousness as a given. It's just something else to be questioned.
Frqy3 8y ago
You might be surprised at just how much news is little more than slightly rehashed press releases.
- mirimir 8y ago
  Yes, I know that. I didn't mean that sort of "news". I meant the results of insider leaks, prosecutions, fines, vulnerability discoveries, investigative journalism, and so on.

whatshisface 8y ago

The most believable sense in which brand awareness is a thing is in the number of people who are passively aware that your brand exists. For example, if you wanted to visit a grocery store, you probably could think of a list of stores in your area that you might want to go to. If I were going to build a new store, I would want to put myself on your mental list of stores, so that if you ever needed something I was selling you would know to visit. That's more or less the quintessential example of advertising. It's also easy to measure in an objective way, because any given individual has either heard of Tesco or hasn't. There's a spectrum of marketing that ranges from "how can I communicate the existence of my cheese spray product to fans of Cheese Whiz," to "how can I get every American to spray cheese wiz directly into their mouths three times a day as a meal substitute." Techniques for doing the first are about as well tested as Newton's laws, but techniques for doing the second are virtually guaranteed to be a scam where you're the mark.

bartread 8y ago
The thing brands get most excited about is "spontaneous" or "unprompted" awareness. E.g., I ask you a question such as "Thinking about womenswear retailers, which names come to mind?" Brands want to appear on that list of names, and the closer to the top ("top of mind") the better. Of course, for most brands the aspiration to be top of mind is ludicrous since there can be only one. For UK womenswear that one is Next and, barring the company suddenly going under (possible but not likely), it ain't changing any time soon. Prompted awareness, when you're presented with a list of brands and asked a question to elicit your awareness of them, is much less valuable because if you see anything often enough on the high street you're going to remember it when prompted.