In tracking brand health, traditional models tend to focus on what consumers know, think and
feel about a brand. KPIs such as trust, affinity, innovation, and loyalty tend to take center-stage
in measurement programs. But what if the key to brand growth lies not just in what people feel
about your brand, but when they think of you?

A growing body of research suggests that understanding mental availability—the likelihood that
your brand comes to mind in a buying situation—can provide a more complete and actionable
picture of brand health. We agree and argue that your growth may depend on it. Here’s why.

Moving Beyond Awareness and Affinity
Traditional brand health models have long measured attributes like trust, favorability, and
differentiation, which are all useful indicators of strength and equity. Yet these metrics often miss
the crucial step between awareness and action: when and how easily a brand is recalled when
a buyer encounters a relevant trigger.

That’s where the concept of mental availability comes in. Developed at the Ehrenberg-Bass
Institute* in Australia, mental availability shifts the focus from emotional connection to situational
salience. It’s less about how much people love a brand and more about whether it’s top of mind
at the right moment.

Think of it this way: you’re on a long drive, feeling thirsty, and pull into a gas station to get
something to drink. Which drink brand comes to mind first? That’s mental availability at work.

The Power of Category Entry Points
At the heart of the mental availability model are category entry points, which are the needs,
situations, or contexts that trigger buying decisions. These can be functional (“I need to clean up
a spill.”), emotional (“I deserve a treat.”), or situational (“I’m celebrating with friends.”).

A brand’s mental availability strength depends on how easily it is recalled across these contexts.
Coca-Cola, for example, has mastered associating its brand with occasions like summer,
celebrations, and even Christmas. These aren’t accidents - they’re deliberate linkages built
through consistent creative and distribution strategies.

Why It Matters for Non-CPG Brands
It’s easy to see how mental availability applies to consumer packaged goods (CPG) or quick-
service restaurants. But what about brands in categories like payments, financial services, or
B2B software, the kinds of sectors where decisions are often slower and trust matters as much
as recognition?

Even in these spaces, mental availability can add depth to traditional brand health tracking. For
instance, a payment provider might identify key moments when consumers or businesses make
payments—during travel, moving, or splitting expenses—and build associations around those.
By focusing on which occasions matter most, even brands in complex or high-trust categories
can uncover overlooked opportunities for relevance.

Bridging Gaps in Traditional Brand Health Models
For many organizations, traditional brand health programs face three common challenges that
mental availability can help address:

1. They measure perception, not context.
Standard brand trackers ask what people think of a brand, but not when or why those
thoughts occur. Mental availability surfaces the buying situations that actually drive recall
and behavior.

2. They overemphasize depth over breadth.
Affinity-based models focus on the strength of a consumer’s feelings toward a brand.
Mental availability focuses on the range of buying situations where a brand is
remembered, which is often a stronger predictor of growth.

3. They overlook distinctive brand assets.
Cues like logos, colors, and taglines are memory shortcuts that make recall easier.
Measuring how strongly these assets link to your brand—and to relevant buying
triggers—can guide more effective creative and media investments.

A Complementary Approach
Mental availability isn’t a replacement for traditional brand health measures; it’s a powerful
complement. Together, these models offer both a short-term and long-term perspective:

- Mental availability explains short-term penetration, market share, and salience.
- Brand equity explains longer-term loyalty, advocacy, and the ability to command a price
premium.

Focusing only on salience might make a brand well known but not well liked. Conversely,
focusing only on affinity risks missing the everyday triggers that lead to purchase. A balanced
approach provides both the why and the when of consumer choice.

Applying Mental Availability in Practice
For brands looking to integrate this approach, a few key steps can help:

1. Identify relevant buying situations (aka “category entry points”). Map the
emotional, situational, and contextual triggers that prompt use of your category.

2. Measure association strength. Determine how easily your brand—and your
competitors—come to mind in those situations.

3. Audit your distinctive assets. Test whether brand colors, logos, and taglines effectively
cue your brand in memory.

4. Align creative and media to category entry points. Ensure campaigns reinforce your
brand’s connection to the most valuable buying occasions.

The Takeaway
Brands grow when they are both physically available (easy to find/buy) and mentally available
(easy to think of). Traditional brand tracking tells you what people think of and how they feel
about your brand, while mental availability tells you whether they’ll think of it at all when it
matters.

For organizations, adding this dimension to brand health tracking can reveal new pathways to
growth, uncover missed opportunities, and ensure your brand shows up when buyers are ready
to act.

The Phase 5 Perspective
At Phase 5, our research into how and why buyers recall and interact with brands has led us to
develop our own brand health measurement model that integrates the principles of mental
availability with traditional equity-based metrics.

The Phase 5 model captures both the breadth of mental availability (how often and in what
contexts your brand comes to mind) and the depth of brand equity (how trusted, differentiated,
or admired your brand is). This combined approach ensures clients can identify not only how
their brand is perceived, but also whether it’s showing up when and where it matters most; in
the very moments that drive purchase and growth.

To learn more, Contact Phase 5 today!

*https://marketingscience.info/how-brands-grow/