When I walk into a Starbucks (and, I admit, McDonalds)or buy a Diet Coke while traveling abroad or even to new place here in the states, I feel the brand experience. There’s a certain comfort in finding something familiar in an unfamiliar place. A connection back to “home.”

I agree that awareness and branding are two different ideas, but I think it’s important not to discount the incredibly strong relationship between the two.

In my opinion, awareness directly affects branding.

Awareness, made possible by experiences, contributes to the consumer’s overall, personal understanding of the brand.

Of course, if I do not experience, or am not informed of what a company is doing, than, necessarily, my awareness of that company decreases.

However, the experiences that I have had- times when my awareness was strong, shape how I view a specific brand.

For example, if I phone up Microsoft to complain about their product, and am treated poorly as a customer (put on hold, ignored, left feeling unimportant and ‘not helped’) than my view of Microsoft, as a brand, takes a hit.

Indeed, awareness is a fleeting notion, but, fueled by experiences, I believe it definitely adds to the lasting impression consumers hold of a brand.

This is something that I will share with clients and my peers, as I think that it will help them to see the awareness vs. branding in a whole new light.