Brand salience: standing out and being on the brain at the right time

To be successful as a brand and grow your brand, it is crucial to be eye-catching and present at the moment of the buying decision. Brands grow by being mentally and physically present at the moment of the buying decision. It means that your brand is there at the moment it matters. The greater the mental and physical availability, the greater the market growth.

Mental availability is about the links you link to a brand in your mind. Here, distinctive brand assets (DBAs) are essential. These are (meaningless) brand elements that you can perceive, such as colors, font, jingle or icons. And these are mainly important in relation to category entry points (CEPs). These are the relevant buying or need situations in which people should think of the brand. For example, "on the go," "after sports," or "with friends.

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How do you make sure you stand out with your brand?

In recent years, Blauw has conducted several brand surveys. These studies confirm Byron Sharp's "How Brands Grow" vision. The best way to stand out is to stand out from the industry. Because if you behave in the style of the industry, you are probably not advertising your brand, but the entire industry.

Distinctive brand elements

Most players in the financial industry choose a blue logo. This is not surprising, because people associate the color blue with trust, clear communication and reliability. But you don't stand out as much in this sector with a blue logo. Suppose you are a beginning financial organization that wants to build your brand, then it is smarter to choose a different color, for other distinctive brand assets. This applies to every industry. For example, in the fashion industry, many brands use red in their logo, often in combination with black and/or white. As a result, consumers confuse brand elements of different brands. One brand that differs from the other clothing brands, for example, is Miss Etam; they manage to grab attention through their different purple color. Consumers recognize Miss Etam by the color of its logo.

Distinct situations where consumers may or should think of your brand

It is important to take a different approach not only in terms of brand assets, but also in terms of category entry points (the moments when you want to attract attention). Make sure you claim moments when you want to attract attention with your brand and distinguish yourself from the rest.

Obvion mortgages does that well. Getting a mortgage is quite difficult for first-time buyers and self-employed people. Obvion cleverly plays on that. They differ from other mortgage lenders and claim the moment of taking out a mortgage if you do not yet have a permanent contract or are self-employed.

An example in the telecom world is Tele2. The telecom industry was quite corporate, it was mainly about the number of calling minutes, the number of MBs. Tele2 was one of the first telecom providers to deviate from the rest with their brand strategy. They successfully claimed as many CEPs as possible. "Everyone would prefer to stream Netflix, YouTube or Spotify all day long," says Tele2. With Tele2, you can. Not because they have to, but...

Quantitative research on category entry points (CEPs) and distinctive brand assets (DBAs)

Blauw can use various research methods to find out how notable your DBAs are, how strong your CEPs are and what your competitive position is. With quantitative research, you'll find out:

• At what times consumers think of your brand
• What other moments you can claim to make consumers think of your brand at other times as well
• What your strongest brand assets are
• What the market position of your brand is

Want to know more about Category Entry Points?

Download our white paper "Boost your brand with Category Entry Points.