A person’s ability to remember a brand without being shown its name or visual identity.
A stronger measure of memory than simple recognition.
Short and sweet:
A person’s ability to remember a brand without being shown its name or visual identity.
A stronger measure of memory than simple recognition.
See also: Brand Awareness, Top-of-Mind Awareness, Brand Recognition
Brand recall measures whether someone can name a brand from memory, entirely unprompted, when thinking about a product category, which sets a considerably higher bar than brand recognition, where a person just has to identify a brand once shown a visual cue. Top-of-mind awareness is essentially the strongest possible form of recall, referring specifically to whichever brand comes to mind first ahead of every competitor in that category. Because it requires memory retrieval without any assistance, strong recall is generally built through sustained repetition and a distinctive identity rather than through a single memorable ad alone.
Ask someone to name a fast food chain with no prompts at all, and strong brand recall means a name like McDonald’s often comes to mind before any smaller regional competitor.
Nike’s decades of consistent advertising have built this kind of unprompted memory so well that many people can picture the swoosh the moment athletic shoes come up in conversation, without ever seeing the logo.
Jingles are a classic tool for building this same effect, which is why a simple tune like State Farm’s “like a good neighbor” still pops into people’s heads decades after they first heard it.
