Definition:
Top of mind is the first brand a person spontaneously mentions when asked about a product or service category. It is a specific brand awareness indicator and forms part of unaided recall research.
The result is always associated with a particular audience, category, question and point in time. A brand may be top of mind for one segment but not another, and it may lose that position as the market, customer habits or competitors change.
Being mentioned first may make a brand more likely to be considered during a purchase, but it does not guarantee acquisition. Price, perceived quality, availability, previous experience and the consumer’s specific needs also influence the decision. Top of mind is therefore relevant to branding, but it does not replace other brand and business indicators.
Some brands become so familiar that their names are used colloquially for a category or product, as occurs in certain markets with Kleenex or Rimmel. This generic use may coexist with high recall, but it does not by itself prove that the brand is top of mind among every audience.
The indicator can be calculated as the percentage of participants who mention a brand first:
Top of mind = people who mention the brand first / total valid responses × 100
Unaided awareness includes brands recalled without presenting any options, even when they are not the first response. Aided awareness measures recognition after showing the brand name or a list of brands. It is not a lower category, but a different measurement.
A moment of truth is not the opposite of top of mind either. It describes an interaction in which an experience may change the customer’s perception or decision.
Table of contents
How to build top-of-mind awareness
A brand’s position in memory develops through sustained experiences, communication and visibility. No individual action guarantees top-of-mind status, but several areas of work can increase familiarity and recall:
- Search advertising: Google Ads campaigns can provide visibility when people search for related products or services.
- Organic search visibility: Useful and current content can increase a brand’s presence in search results and reinforce its association with a category.
- In-person activities: A street marketing campaign can generate awareness when it suits the product, audience and context.
- Social networks: A consistent presence can support repeated exposure, interaction and recognition of brand elements.
Changes in top of mind should be measured through comparable studies using a consistent methodology. Impressions, searches and digital interactions may provide supporting signals, but they do not replace an unaided recall question.
Examples of brands associated with top of mind
Unaided recall studies may produce associations such as the following, always in relation to the market and sample analyzed:
- Mobile phones: Apple and iPhone.
- Batteries: Duracell.
- Pens: BIC.
- Search engines: Google.
- Coffee shops: Starbucks.
- Computing: Microsoft.