Interview with Sören Scholz, Interrogare – Premium Partner succeet22 How to achieve sustainable brand growth through mental availability
succeet: "Mental availability for brand growth according to Byron Sharp – the right mix of methods for implementation" – this is the title of your presentation at succeet22. What is behind Byron Sharp's marketing rules? Why are they important?
Sören Scholz: Byron Sharp comes from the Australian marketing school of "Empirical Generalisations". A core objective of this research is to identify and use general rules that apply to many different products and categories of goods. Accordingly, it could be shown for a wide variety of markets that mental availability, i.e. how strong a brand is "top-of-mind" as an ideal representation of a product category, has a strong influence on the purchase decision. This is, of course, only one indicator of brand success, but nevertheless a well-documented one in many markets.
succeet: Sounds like top class: brands that successfully generate growth through "images“ in consumers‘ minds ...
Sören Scholz: Yes, linking brands with everyday symbols, situations, experiences but also emotions is a central function of branding. From our point of view, however, it is not only crucial to anchor any images or emotions in the consumer's mind, but also the right ones. And this is exactly where market research can come in. This is the only way to achieve brand growth.
succeet: What is fundamental for spontaneous association, i.e. mental availability?
Sören Scholz: The implicit and explicit linking of images, emotions and experiences with the brand or a product in the brain is decisive. The more connections, the faster the associations. Because these are to a large extent unconscious and preconscious. Even if many neuroscientists like to propagate it differently, cognitive processes are also involved that interact with emotional processes. In addition, largely automatic attention and perception processes are also important, as these are the first things that ensure that we deal with stimuli in the environment.
succeet: Which research methods will you address in the presentation? What is important in their mix?
Sören Scholz: Even if there is a positive correlative – and in the best case even causal – relationship between the "mental availability" propagated by Byron Sharp and market success, this is only one factor that explains brand choice. We show that the interplay of mental availability, classic brand metrics and the implicit measurement of brand emotions creates a much more complete and precise picture for the sustainable further development of a brand. In addition, we present the "Brand Cue Analyzer", a tool to determine the mental availability of visual brand elements (so-called brand cues).
succeet: Against the background of your own study: What would you name as an important recommendation for action for marketers? And vice versa: What should marketers avoid at all costs?
Sören Scholz: Over the past two decades, Interrogare has had the privilege of accompanying many brands and conducting even more brand studies. Experience has taught us quite clearly: only a comprehensive perspective on a brand can contribute to securing long-term brand success. This can also be seen in the frequently encountered high volatility and lack of resilience of brands that were primarily developed on the basis of a brand KPI (e.g. awareness).
succeet: All this makes us very curious about your presentation at succeet22! Which target group is it aimed at? Who should definitely not miss it?
Sören Scholz: The presentation is aimed at all those who deal with branding. We think that both market researchers dealing with brand studies and brand managers can take a lot away from our lecture.
About Sören Scholz
Sören Scholz is Managing Director of the market research institute Interrogare and in this position responsible for method development and implementation. His expertise focuses on brand and communication research, preference, price and customer satisfaction measurement. He studied business administration and psychology at the University of Bielefeld.