Neuromarketing & Brand Image Guide: How to Measure What Truly Matters

Brand Image. That it is one of the most valuable assets of a company is something many marketers agree on. How to measure or strengthen it, however, is a bit less clear. While some may pull out their collection of Likert scales, others know that we need to dig deeper to get to the core of the brand image. Because only in that way can you strengthen the brand image and, consequently, stimulate purchases and drive growth.

In this concise guide, we share everything practical about brand image and brand image research. From what it is to how to measure and strengthen it. We also immediately reveal which KPIs lead you astray and should be stopped today, so you don't waste your resources on unnecessary matters.

Let's dive in.

 

After reading this article, you will know:

• The science behind brand image: what is brand image?
• Why measuring brand image is so challenging and how to do it right
• Which metrics truly matter

I. Brand Image = Unconscious

Let's get straight to the point: we humans are incredibly irrational. We often think that the majority of our choices depend heavily on conscious reasoning, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Over the years, our brains have come up with numerous mental shortcuts - mnemonics - to make choices as efficiently as possible. Handy, because it allows us to make quick decisions, but it also means that we are unconsciously influenced in various ways.

What this means for us marketers is that if we truly want insight into what drives shoppers or customers, we need to dig deeper than a simple questionnaire. This questionnaire only captures the conscious side of decisions. Since we know that the majority of our choices occur at an unconscious level, we also need to measure unconsciously to predict and influence shopper behavior.

II. What is Brand Image?

Now that we know that the majority of our choices are made unconsciously, it's probably not surprising when I tell you that brand image largely manifests itself unconsciously.

A brand is essentially nothing more than a network of associations in our brain. These can be simple visual associations (McDonald's is yellow), to more functional associations (McDonald's is tasty), to emotional and symbolic associations (McDonald's is family).

Here's an example of how such an association network might look for a brand. This is, of course, a simplified representation, and in reality, we have many other associations with the McDonald's brand.

If you're curious about the exact definition of brand image, I recommend checking out our blog "The Meaning and Definition of Brand Image: What does it exactly entail?". In this blog, we also clarify the difference between brand image and brand identity.

III. Why is Having a Strong Brand Image Important?

Intuitively, as marketers, we sense that having a good brand image is important.

But what does it concretely achieve?

Because the brand image is deeply rooted in the subconscious, its effects can sometimes be challenging to capture.

However, there is a scientific stack of evidence that a strong brand image offers several practical benefits.

The interesting thing is that these effects span the entire customer journey, from where we first lay our eyes to how we think about a product after consumption.

It has been proven that a strong brand image - given that your brand is known to the shopper:

• Stands out faster;
• Is purchased more often as a planned choice;
• Faces fewer comparisons with alternatives;
• Is less price-critical in purchasing;
• Yields a more positive product experience.

For a comprehensive overview of all benefits with a brief rationale, I refer you to our blog "Why is a Good Brand Image Important? The Benefits of a Strong Brand Image"

III.I. How to Measure Brand Image?

Many brands struggle to gain objective insight into their brand image. The reason for this is twofold: on the one hand, they struggle to measure "the unconscious," and on the other hand, they encounter the problem of social desirability.

If you, as the Marketing Manager of Brand X, ask me about my opinion of Brand X, rest assured that I will express my opinion slightly more positively than it actually is. We simply don't want to be impolite.

But how do you tackle these two problems?

By - not surprisingly - measuring unconsciously. An effective way to measure unconscious thought processes is through reaction time. And the good news: this can be integrated into an online questionnaire, making it easy to reach many (potential) customers.

During brand image research or a brand tracker, we ask respondents to categorize combinations of brands and attributes under time pressure.

This time pressure not only ensures that people react more intuitively rather than consciously but the response time itself also contains valuable information.

The response time is indicative of the strength of an association: the stronger we associate two things (for example, Coca-Cola and happiness), the faster we can process these thoughts simultaneously. Reaction time methods such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and Intuitive Response Test (IRT) measure this reaction speed.

If you want to read more about how such a brand study works or the most common applications of this type of research, I recommend reading our article "Why Brand Image is Hard to Research - and How to Make it Measurable".

IV. Which Brand Associations Are Useful to Measure and Which Ones Are Not?

Then we quickly come to another question: which brand associations do you want to measure as a brand?

Our (purchase) behavior is based on the goals we have. In other words, our purchases are always the result of a conscious or unconscious goal we want to achieve.
People see brands as objects with a purpose.

Sometimes these goals are very conscious; for example, we buy a car because we need to get from A to B. But in the vast majority of purchases, unconscious motivations also play a role. And these unconscious motivations guide our attention, choices, and experiences. For this reason, brand image is one of the most critical drivers of brand growth; brands associated with the unconscious motivations or goals that occur in purchase situations increase the likelihood that the brand will be purchased.

But which motivation should your brand focus on?
Unravel has developed a comprehensive model with all implicit motivations that can be present in people - or buyers. We do this by combining insights from various psychological, biological, and neuroscientific studies.

V. Unravel's Image Model

The model consists of 9 core motivations that can stimulate purchasing behavior, each subdivided into three attributes. Together, these encompass all basic motivations implicit in us humans. The categories are as follows:

• Pleasure
• Comfort
• Connection
• Status
• Well-being
• Lust
• Control
• Growth
• Purpose

In the model below, you can see the three attributes for each category:

This doesn't mean that as a brand, you have to score high on all those categories. On the contrary, for the Beer category, the pleasure aspect is crucial, while for a Bank, control is more important.

As a brand, it is essential to find out which motivations are important for the category and charge your brand accordingly.

Of course, you can also conduct image research with other attributes. For some brands, other associations have traditionally been important. The advantage of reaction time research, as we do at Unravel, is that various associations can be included. This way, you can get a comprehensive overview of the complete brand image with one study.

Still, it's always wise to build a brand strategy around associations that encompass the buyer's motivation.

How do you then measure how you're doing on the most important associations in the category you operate in? The method Unravel uses for this is as follows:

1. Category Drivers. In the first part of the study, we ask participants not to categorize a brand but a category. Below is an example of the Beer category. At a glance, you can see which motivations are important for the beer-buying market.
2. Measurement per brand. Subsequently, we ask respondents to categorize your brand and possibly competing brands. The result? A clear graph that maps your image and that of your competitors. This not only shows which associations are important for your brand but also how you currently score compared to the competition.
   Ideally, you repeatedly map your image. This way, you can see exactly to what extent your marketing activities strengthen your brand image. At Unravel, we do this through our Brand Tracker, a tool that continuously and objectively provides insight into the brand image of our clients.

If you'd like to discuss the possibilities, feel free to schedule an online appointment.

VI. An Example of Brand Image Research

Do you want to learn more about image research? We have a great example report ready for you:
👉 Click here to download the sample report.

VII. Webinar tip

After reading this blog, if you want to learn more about brand image, here is a webinar tip for you:

Brand Image & Neuromarketing: How you Create and Measure Brand Image