Last week ANU marketing researcher Andrew Hughes claimed the marketing campaign for Zango, Canberra’s newest property listing site is “creating two precious assets for a new brand: awareness and recall.”

But what is brand awareness and brand recall? And why are they such precious assets?

Brand awareness is generally described as an individual’s level of familiarity with a brand and how well they recognise it. For example, when you get a cut, you put a Band-Aid on it… did you know that was a brand, not a category?  When you have a headache, you take Panadol… that too is a brand, not a category.

Since Zango launched in early February, it has made an immediate impact and become a household name.

If you ask a Canberran if they have heard of Zango, a large percentage will reference the yellow and purple buses, adshells, airport carousels, Canberra Centre signs, the Zango truck handing out FREE Goodberrys, radio ads and TV commercials. These assets are all creating brand awareness.

Brand awareness is essential in establishing brand trust and loyalty. It is about connecting with consumers. Creating awareness of a brand is the first step in establishing a customer base – if you aren’t aware of a brand, how are you meant to use it?

Brand recall is a measure of how well an individual can remember a particular brand within its category.

The key to brand recall often comes from the brand’s marketing campaigns. Who could forget the BCF ads? Or the Specsavers ads?

Do they sound similar? That’s because they are! In the same way you can’t have a customer base without brand awareness, you can’t have brand recall without brand awareness.

The key to achieving both lies in the execution of the marketing campaign, particularly during the launch period.

Zango’s creation of brand awareness and recall so early in its lifecycle is due to carefully coordinating the many parts from establishing a recognisable brand identity and colour palette (developed by Swell Design Group), to positioning of the brand and the messaging it delivers. The careful analysis of the market to understand how to reach as many consumers as possible across the various media in today’s multi-channel world has also contributed to its success. A strategic media planning, buying and placement process will help a brand maximise its reach and exposure, which is key in creating awareness and recall.