Understanding brand awareness: Let me give you a c(l)ue!

Stephen S. Holden, ESSEC

Abstract

Despite the importance of brand awareness to brand choice, consumer researchers have given little attention to developing an understanding of awareness as a construct. Focusing on brand awareness in memory-based situations (i.e., where the brands must be brought to mind), this paper reports on a qualitative research project that explores how brands come to mind in a variety of choice situations. A subsequent quantitative study shows that associates identified in the qualitative research act as cues, and that brand awareness varies significantly depending on the cues that are salient.