Mental availability correlates with strong business results

Campaigns that overperform in terms of driving mental availability also have a stronger impact on other key business metrics, lending support to a concept popularised by Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of Marketing Science.

This was a headline finding from research by Rob Brittain and Peter Field, two independent effectiveness experts, of Effie Australia, an awards programme focused on business results, as collated in the Advertising Council Australia’s (ACA) Effectiveness Database.

Why it matters

Mental availability – the likelihood that a brand will be noticed, recognised or thought of in a buying situation – is a term first coined by Jenni Romaniuk and Byron Sharp from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of Marketing Science, and has since become very influential. It argues a consumer can be aware of a brand but know little about it (low mental availability) or be aware and very knowledgeable (high mental availability).

Takeaways

• Brittain and Field’s analysis showed that campaigns with a “very large impact on mental availability” have a stronger impact on numerous business metrics than the norm.
• That list includes success indicators like new customer acquisition, customer retention and strengthening pricing.
• Moreover, these high-performing campaigns also yielded better results when it came to short-term sales response and long-term gains in market share.

Read more in Australia Effie analysis demonstrates power of mental availability, excess share of voice, and adjusting for attention.