New Thoughts On An Age-Old Business Challenge

Awareness is a critical asset when building upmarket brand equity – one which, by itself, can offer exceptional short-term value. Unfortunately, awareness alone does not build brand equity. Conversely, brand equity cannot exist without awareness.

Defined as the level at which your customers and prospects are familiar with your brand, awareness is the most tangible and easily measured of the five brand assets. It is also the brand asset most commonly used as a standard by which to determine the effectiveness of marketing efforts. Unfortunately, building awareness today has become increasingly more challenging due to extensive media and market fragmentation.

Peter Sealy, an adjunct professor at UC Berkley, contrasts the more accessible media markets of nearly 40 years ago with the intensely fragmented media markets of the 21st century: In 1965, Proctor & Gamble could successfully reach 80 percent of their primary target audience (18 to 49 year-old women) with three 60-second commercials aired during primetime on the three major networks.

In contrast, today’s cluttered and fragmented media would require 97 primetime commercials to attain the same outcome. Since the primetime scenario of the 21st century is out of the financial reach of all but the largest brands, successfully building awareness for upmarket brands requires both insight and innovation.

There are numerous examples of brands that have been successful at building awareness using unusual media strategies, such as Ketel One Vodka (buzz marketing), Wonderbra (events), Amazon.com (public relations), America Online (direct mail), E-Trade (internet marketing), as well as many other notable names.

It is important, however, to remind ourselves that awareness alone does not lead to brand equity. There are many short-lived awareness success stories (Fruitopia, Pets.com, Avia, Zima and American Ski Company, to name a few) that have illustrated that it is indeed possible to achieve a high level of awareness for a product or service, while in turn establishing only a low level of brand equity and thus killing the brand.

Clearly, before investing substantial financial resources to build a brand’s awareness, careful consideration of the influence exerted by the other brand assets (quality, identity, preference and loyalty) is critical. A carefully orchestrated asset-driven branding program can assure that today’s awareness helps to build tomorrow’s equity.