Mind Share

By: EconomyWatch   Date: 30 June 2010

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EconomyWatch

The core Content Team our economy, industry, investing and personal finance reference articles.

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Mind share looks at the development of consumer awareness or popularity. It is one of the main objectives of advertising and promotion, and arguably the main objective of brand marketing. When people think of examples of a product type or category, they usually think of a limited number of brand names. Someone looking at studying at a college or university will have some ‘top-of-mind’ brands that immediately come to mind, such as the Ivy League institutions – these brands have achieved a high level of mind share. However, the consideration set, or set of schools considered, will probably be limited to about ten. Of these ten, the colleges that the buyer is most familiar with will receive the greatest attention.

Marketers try to maximize the popularity of their product, so that the brand co-exists with deeper, more empirical categories of objects. Kleenex is not only a type of tissue, but it has also become a generic name for all tissues. The same is true of Hoover with vacuum cleaners, sellotape and blu-tac with adhesives (in England) and so on. The brands become synonymous with their categories, which is both good and bad.

Modern examples of synonymous brands include Google (for search engines) and Twitter (for micro-blogging).

Metrics: Mind Share

The Question:

When thinking of my category, do prospects think of me?

Approach:

Percentage of my target audience who think of me top of mind

Commentary:

A brand marketer is doing well if there is strong mind share – and the job of a direct marketer is much easier. Ensure that you are measuring the right people – and find ways to correlate to revenue or market share.

The Formula:

Mind Share (%) = Respondents with Unaided Awareness/ Total Respondents

Metrics: Hierarchy of Effects (AAU)

Awareness (A)

How aware is the respondents of your brand (aided awareness)? What brand(s) come to respondents mind when asked about your category (unaided awareness)?

Awareness (%) = Respondents Citing Brand (%)/ Total Respondents (%)

Attitudes (A)

Do respondents think your brand is for them? Strengths & weaknesses?

Attitude (I) = Composite Rating by Respondents to a Series of Questions

Usage (U)

A measure of respondents self-reported behaviour

Usage (I) = Composite Rating of Respondents Self-Reported Behaviour

Methodology

A battery of questions on surveys or warranty cards, tracked over time.


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