How to build a memorable brand
In today’s world where we’re bombarded with brands vying for our attention, and new brands pop up all the time, brand memorability is vital.
Brand memorability goes beyond mere brand recognition or brand awareness. It’s about leaving a lasting impression in the minds of the audience, prompting them to easily recall your brand when they need a product or service in your category.
It’s about being the name that jumps to the forefront of their consciousness, sparking a positive association even amidst countless competitors.
Doing this successfully requires the bravery to invest in your brand, and ideally the budget to create strong and powerful memory structures.
But we get that you're in a high-pressure environment. You’re probably tasked with loads of business objectives, like maximising ROI, justifying marketing spend, and demonstrating a clear contribution to business growth.
In this context, brand memorability isn't just a 'nice-to-have'; it's a strategic imperative.
At The Behaviours Agency, we believe that achieving this level of memorability transcends traditional marketing tactics. It demands a strategic, behaviourally informed approach, anchored in four pivotal pillars: distinctiveness, personal relevance, long-term consistency, and emotional connection.
Distinctiveness
Standing out is crucial. If your brand blends in, it's easily forgotten.
Distinctiveness makes a brand more memorable and therefore easier to recall when a need arises. It requires assets that are uniquely and instinctively yours, that act as the short-cut for customers to recall when they enter your category. This isn’t always a logo or a colour (although it often is), it’s anything that makes your brand come to mind first.
A great example is the shape of the Heinz label, which is so distinct and easy to recall, it has become synonymous with the ketchup category. So much so, that when Heinz anonymously asked people to draw ketchup, they drew Heinz.
Agency: Rethink / Toronto
Highly distinct campaigns are shown to deliver greater long-term market share growth, short-term sales response, new customer acquisition, customer retention, strengthening pricing, and brand profit growth.
Personal Relevance
Memorability is not solely about being noticed; it’s about being relevant. Consumers crave brands that speak to their individual needs and aspirations. This requires a profound understanding of your target audience’s motivations.
How do you achieve this? By leveraging behaviourally informed insights to analyse your category, segment your audience and tailor your positioning and messaging.
A brilliant example is Spotify’s 2018 Goals campaign, which revealed listeners embarrassing and cringeworthy listening habits, and in doing so endeared itself to everyone with some form guilty listening pleasure.
Agency: Spotify inhouse
Long-Term Consistency
One of the most common traps that brands in any category fall into, is the tendency to constantly reinvent themselves. There’s a misconception that audiences tire of seeing consistent and familiar messages or campaigns. This leads to a cycle of rebranding and campaign overhauls. However, this approach often backfires, eroding brand equity and hindering long-term growth.
Recent research, such as the System 1 and IPA’s “Compound Creativity” report, underscores the power of consistency. Brands that maintain a consistent brand identity, messaging, and experience across all touchpoints see the largest growth in sales, profit, and market share.
Therefore, resist the urge to change for the sake of change. Focus on building a cohesive brand narrative that endures, weaving a consistent thread through all your marketing efforts.
No one does this better than KitKat whose iconic campaign has stood the test of time, and continues to deliver for the brand since it was first mooted by Nestle in 1957!
Agency: JWT
Emotional Connection
Ultimately, memorability is rooted in emotion. To create a truly memorable brand, you must move beyond functional benefits and tap into the emotional drivers that influence consumer behaviour. Brands that run campaigns that elicit a strong emotion (joy, fear, anger, humour etc) are significantly more likely to be recalled than those that don’t.
The epitmised by Leo Burnett’s McDonald’s campaign that doesn’t feature a burger or a restaurant once. Instead, the brand uses facial expressions to capture the mood of those considering going to for Maccy’s with a simple eyebrow lift - which reflect the famous arches.
Agency: Leo Burnett
What does this mean for marketers?
As budgets tighten and the pressure to deliver immediate results intensifies, the temptation to focus on conversion-driven tactics is strong. And understandable.
However, neglecting brand investment in favour of short-term gains will ultimately undermine long-term growth.
A memorable brand is the foundation upon which all other marketing efforts are built. When crafted experts, it will directly impact purchase decisions, and therefore drives business growth:
Increased brand preference – If your brand is readily recalled, consumers are more likely to consider you when making a purchase decision.
Stronger brand loyalty – Memorable brands cultivate familiarity and trust, leading to repeat customers and brand advocates.
Enhanced brand image – A well-remembered brand is often perceived as more established and reliable, fostering a positive brand image.
Improved marketing effectiveness – When your brand sticks in their minds, marketing messages resonate more deeply, leading to higher campaign ROI.
Key takeaways
Invest in and create strong and powerful memory structures, using unique brand assets (logos, colours, symbols, shapes, typefaces, sounds, words, characters/celebrities, rituals). We have a framework for this called CACHE, that we’ve used successfully on brands like Sharps, Fittingly, and Well Pharmacy.
Analyse behavioural insights to develop strategies and campaigns that genuinely influence behaviour. Ask us how we use our Motivation Map tool to do this for brands like Karndean and Bradstone.
Don’t get bored! Make sure your brand shows up in people’s lives consistently. Avoid change for the sake of change.
Ask a distant relative or acquaintance what emotion your brand stirs in them. If they struggle to answer or simply don’t know, you probably need the help of a brand expert like us to help you.
Is your brand the most memorable in its category?
If not, let's discuss how our proven methodologies can help you build a brand that not only survives but thrives.
Contact us now for a consultation and discover how to unlock the power of brand memorability to drive sustainable growth.
