1. Millward Brown: Point of View
The Keys to Brand Success
Strong brands drive the financial performance of many successful companies. How
do brands become strong? By virtue of the relationships that consumers develop
with them.
These relationships are the end result of all the experiences that consumers have with
brands through direct contact, marketing communication, news, or publicity. All of these
experiences contribute to the formation of brand associations that are called upon when
a consumer is considering a purchase. The decision to purchase one brand over another
will depend on the strength and quality of those associations, which determine what an
individual knows, thinks, and feels about a brand.
Gordon Pincott
Chairman, Global Solutions
Millward Brown The associations from which brands derive their value are stored in our brains, where
gordon.pincott@millwardbrown.com
they are organized and saved in one of three clusters according to what they relate to:
knowledge, experience, or emotion. Some brands succeed by establishing very strong
associations in just one of those areas, but it is highly desirable for brands to have well-
developed associations across all three. On average, the market shares of brands that have
rich associations in each of the three areas are four percentage points higher than those
of brands with less balanced associations. The essential task of marketing is to create and
strengthen the brand associations that build and support market share.
Which Key Opens the Brand Cupboard?
In his book The Advertised Mind, Erik du Plessis likened brand memories to items
in an overstuffed cupboard, which, when the
door is opened, come tumbling out. When the When the door to one
door to one of our mental brand cupboards is opened, of our mental brand
what falls out is a cascade of brand memories. Those cupboard is opened,
that were most recently accessed will spill out first,
a cascade of brand
followed by a stream of other memories that will
continue to flow until the cupboard door is closed. memories spills out.
So what key unlocks this cupboard of associations and allows us to retrieve those
memories? And what makes the key easy to use? If brand associations are going to
influence a purchase decision, they need to be accessed quickly. For many brands, the
main key is the brand name — Nescafé, Walmart, Red Bull — whether that name is seen,
heard, or conjured up in your mind.
For an uncomplicated brand with a highly distinctive name, like Facebook, little else may
be needed to unlock brand associations. However, some categories, such as smoking