Reviving and Improving Brand Awareness As a Construct in Advertising Research

Abstract

Despite its central importance in achieving most long-term advertising goals, the past several decades of academic research have placed too little emphasis on brand awareness (BA), focusing more often on attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intention. In part because of this lack of focus, no universally accepted definition of BA has evolved, and there is a need for greater theoretical development of the concept. In response, this article draws on prior work incorporating current developments in the advertising field to derive the following updated definition of BA: Brand awareness is the likelihood that a person retrieves a brand identifier and a product category or category need from memory across brand-relevant situations. In addition, the article summarizes the trajectory of the use of dependent measures of advertising effectiveness and calls for greater focus on the measurement of BA in its various forms. To this end, the article provides guidelines for measuring BA and specific recommendations to future researchers for including BA in studies of advertising effectiveness.

Acknowledgment

The authors are indebted to Arshad Rahman for valuable input to this manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lars Bergkvist

Lars Bergkvist (PhD, Stockholm School of Economics) is a professor of marketing, Norwegian School of Hotel Management, University of Stavanger.

Charles R. Taylor

Charles R. Taylor (PhD, Michigan State University) is John A. Murphy professor of marketing, Villanova School of Business, Villanova University.