All in the MIND

It used to be enough to say brands had to stay ‘top of mind’.

And positioning was described over forty years ago as ‘a battle for your mind’.

So has the concept of mental availability really moved us on at all?

Or has it dumbed us all down?

All it means is how easily a brand comes to mind in buying situations.

There’s an argument that’s the main job to be done. If you don’t come to mind, you aren’t in the game.

It’s also used to explain why big brands stay big. They have high mental availability, which makes them easily recalled.

But does that last sentence actually mean anything? Mental availability and being easy to recall are the same thing. Top of mind, front of mind, wherever. Salience.

Another view is that it’s about familiarity. We’re creatures of habit, so we buy what we recognise, which is why brands need recognisable assets.

Brand choices aren’t only about habit, though. That’s part of the same narrative that says we all buy on auto-pilot and don’t give a shit about brands.

It may have started off as having a crush on neuroscience but has now become a paean for mindless behaviour. One in which only data scientists sing the truth and there is no meaning to brands, beyond what it says on the tin.

Sometimes I feel like I’m losing my mind in all this.

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt, and am still learning, it’s how subtle and complex and individual and fascinating consumer behaviour can be, even with something as apparently simple as choosing a brand.

Let’s go back to familiarity.

You can swim near the beach with that one and argue it just means being well-known.

You can venture out a little deeper and at least acknowledge the inherent emotion in the word – being familiar with someone, close.

Or you can dive down to the motivational treasure. Familiarity as an implicit goal – to feel reassured, comfortable, content, on solid ground, to some extent cocooned against an unpredictable world.

The moment you go there, some will be instantly dismissive. Just last week I saw a comment from William Caruso of Ehrenberg-Bass saying “you can go down many rabbit holes with feelings…it’s very easy to get lost”.

But that’s like arguing psychology doesn’t exist.

Anyway, guess what? It does.

And it doesn’t become unimportant the moment people walk into a supermarket or go shopping online. The evidence for this is everywhere, apart from sometimes, ironically, in attitudinal research.

Ultimately, consumer motivation and brand meaning are about the ‘and’. The trick is to make a connection in people’s minds. I want this, you stand for that, sounds good to me.

So it’s not just about remembering. It’s about remembering what we want to remember.

Keep that in mind, if it helps.