The Power of Brand Awareness

Ever wondered why there are brand names that we always recognize and brands which we can’t even notice!

Have you ever felt attached to a certain product/service just because it’s from a particular brand!

Have you ever felt a consistent experience associated with a specific brand or a sense of inferiority compared to other competitors providing the same product/service?!

If you have felt any of the above, then, you have been introduced to those brands in some ways and you had some sort of brand awareness.

In this article I will answer the above questions, giving attention to the importance of brand awareness, and some of the factors that most of old or new business owners are not aware of, or they don’t give it enough share of attention. In later articles, I will be going a bit deeper in how business owners think about branding, their reactions, and most common erroneous initial decisions that they take and result in negative effects on their business in the future.

What is Brand Awareness?

To keep things simple and not repetitive, I will explain the definition with a set of original examples rather than using other sources, which can be easily Googled. The point of this article is to give readers a brief insight and emphasize on the importance of brand awareness rather than defining things and leaving the reader confused about different definitions.

Let’s consider the brands below:

Figure 1.1 Samples of some international and Regional/Local brands. (the Logos are presented for educational purpose only)

We have 4 international brands and 1 regional/local brand, chosen on purpose, that we will use as examples throughout the article.

Assuming that you are living in Bahrain for some years, and having a bit of general knowledge of diverse smart phones, movies, and foods, you won’t have a problem recognizing all the brands above.

By looking at the first logo on the left, you will immediately know that it presents the Apple Company which sells high-end electronic products especially smart phones, laptops etc. The second logo will make you immediately think of cheap affordable tasty burgers, while looking at the third logo will make you wonder of animations such as Kung fu Panda, Shrek and maybe Madagascar if you were a fan of such movies. If you look at the fourth logo from the left, the first thing might pop on your head is cornflakes or anything related to breakfast in general.  The fifth logo is a special case beyond the other four, as it’s not yet an international brand, however, locally in Bahrain has a strong appearance and regionally is noticeable.

As mentioned before, we are assuming that we have been residing in Bahrain for a while, herewith, we will notice that the Batelco brand represents Bahrain’s Telecommunication Company, and it provides landline, sim cards, and internet services.

As it is obvious, the above brands exist in different markets, target different consumers, and have their own unique attributes and values. By analyzing simple customer behavior theories, we will find that the amount of exposure, the quality of each product/service under each brand, the culture around the consumer, the origin where the product/service was established, and the value that the product/service provides associated with the brand experience are among the factors that can affect the overall awareness level of such brands.

Therefore, from all of the above, and in simple terms, “Brand awareness can be the degree of which a brand exists in consumers mind considering all the factors that we mentioned above”.

Simple case study

Let’s take the brands in figure 1.1 and do a simple case study to make the concept even clearer. Figure 1.2 below shows the four international brands on the left and a single regional/local brand on the right for demonstration only.

Figure 1.2 Samples of some international and Regional/Local brands categories. (the Logos are presented for educational purpose only)

We will divide the above brands into two categories, International Brands and Regional/Local Brands. From there we will briefly go through the affect of brand awareness on each category and answering the main 3 questions that we initially asked.

Apple started as a local brand serving the consumer in the United States, the same thing happened with McDonald’s and Kellogg’s. However, DreamWorks target market was to produce movies/animations for the world, as the service they provide covers a worldwide demand. Therefore, they have established their brand accordingly.

Apple, McDonald’s, and Kellogg’s have expanded and they have chained into the entire united states, then to the whole world, making them a multi-national brand that not only known to the people in the united states, but now a days people all around the world demand their products/services and can recognize those companies by looking at their identity or by getting attached to the experience that they once had with those brands.

Now, each time you look at the Apple logo, hear about Mac/IOS, or see the iconic Iphone interface, you will immediately recognize the brand, its value, pricing etc. Some consumers even go to the extent of attaching themselves to the brand, by buying only their favorite brand products/services, and defending it against its competitors (Brand Loyalty).

Similarly with Mcdonald’s, DreamWorks and Kellogg’s. You can recognize McDonald’s branch from their famous M, the yellow and red color palette), DreamWorks from its famous child on a crescent logo, animated characters such as Po from Kung-fu Panda, Gloria from Madagascar or even Shrek himself and Kellogg’s from their famous Hen mascot, reaching to associating any cereals to Kellogg’s, Just like when people call any soda drink Pepsi or Coca-Cola, any diaper as Pampers, or any Tissue as Kleenex.  These are the ultimate degree of awareness and they are not easy to accomplish.

The Batelco brand as well has its own share of awareness. Locally in Bahrain, it has a very strong awareness in a sense that the logo, and the Red and White color associated with it are enough to present itself, and most people in Bahrain can easily recognize the company. People are aware of their products, quality of their services, and their locations.

Though, the concept of value can differ from consumer to another, awareness wise, they are one of the top companies in Bahrain, and even regionally, they are well-known, however, their awareness level is not as strong as it is in the local Bahraini market since they are not meant to be, as their target market is mainly to serve the Bahraini market.

I have used DreamWorks as an example instead of Disney or Warner Bros for a reason. This is to show the degree of awareness and the associated brand experience that can make one brand have more awareness than the other. It’s not easy for DreamWorks to compete with Disney considering the Disney Empire from Disney Worlds/Lands, to the biggest studios and factories that produces all type of entertainment materials.

However, DreamWorks was in agreement with Touchstone Pictures (a Disney company), later went under the distribution of Universal Pictures (One of the biggest entertainment empires after Disney). Here, it’s clear that a brand can be associated with or part of different bigger/smaller brands, and they can affect each other positively or negatively.

DreamWorks is not to compete with the Disney Empire, since the segments that they have targeted is very specific, and they have used their maximum potential to position themselves as one of the top 3D Animation studios in the world to compete with animation studios such as Disney’s Pixar Studios, unexpectedly defeating some of its best titles. It’s fare enough to compare DreamWorks with Pixar, but not fare at all to compare DreamWorks with a super brand such as Walt Disney.

These phenomenal do not happen by chance. These are the result of years of brand building and providing the brand experience to the segment of consumers that these companies are targeting. Now, when Disney, WB, Fox, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks release a title, most of consumers will keep those title on the top of their list. That’s because they are attached to those brands, they have positive experience, and moreover, they appreciate the values have been provided by those brands over the years.

So next time, when you recognize a brand out of dozen that provides the same product/service, feel the attachment to a brand instead of others such as Batelco Vs Zain, Gulf Air Vs Etihad, Apple Vs Samsung, Barcelona Vs Madrid etc, or even judge the value of a brand in terms of quality, packages, support etc, then, you have dealt with the power of brand awareness and acted accordingly.

Ahmed Al-Ansari

Founder of Alansari Studios, Co-Founder of Impressco. Author, Researcher, Media, Marketing, & IT Consultant from the Kingdom of Bahrain.