Brand awareness is a term used to describe the level of recognition customers have of a brand or product provided by the brand. Businesses rely on brand awareness strategies to increase sales and remain relevant on the market.
Brand awareness should be confused with brand activation. The last one is used when a new product is introduced on the market. However, brand awareness means continuous efforts to increase the level of familiarity customers have with the brand.
Why is brand awareness important?
Brand awareness is important because it is the first step in the marketing funnel. If customers haven’t heard about your brand, there is a lower chance of purchasing your products inside a brick and mortar store, even if your price is lower than the one of your competitors.
Brand awareness is crucial because it helps you become top of mind for your customers. If people know your brand, they will become familiar and comfortable with it. Brand awareness can help increase market share, sales, and improve brand perception.
While most businesses focus only on converting customers, brand awareness is an element that can’t miss from your marketing strategy, especially if you are an FMCG brand. Why? Because there are a lot of FMCG brands that offer similar products, and brand awareness and brand loyalty are the bigger differentiating factors.
Let’s take a simple example: The soda industry. Two brands instantly pop into your mind. Coca and Pepsi definitely focused on brand awareness and that is why most customers choose their products.
Examples of brand awareness campaigns
One of the most well-known brands, Coca-Cola had a brand awareness campaign that attracted attention because of its simple, and interactive concept. Share a Coke campaign took place in 2011 in Australia and then extended in the US in 2016 and the UK in 2017. The campaign mechanism was simple: Coca-Cola bottles contained the most popular names in the country they were sold in, encouraging consumers to share a drink together.
The biggest impact was on social media, with the help of the hashtag #shareacoke. Hundreds of people posted pictures with Coca-Cola bottles including the hashtag and increasing brand awareness.
A Fast food restaurant combined technology with out-of-the-box thinking which resulted in an amazing brand awareness campaign. A "Whopper Detour" campaign used mobile geofencing to steer customers away from McDonald's and promote new features of Burger King's newly redesigned app.
People who got within 600 feet of different McDonald's locations received a mobile notification that offered them a Whopper for only one cent. After they placed an order inside the app, they were redirected toward the nearest Burger King restaurant to receive their burgers.
