Redefining brand salience using memory theory and implications for measurement

Abstract

The concept of brand salience, or brand accessibility in memory, has been prevalent in the area of brand research for several decades. Brand salience has been driven by memory theory and psychological research, but debate has continued over the structure of memory systems, the way in which consumers undertake memory search, and what they do with brand information once it is retrieved. With the rise to prominence of brand equity, brand salience has been subsumed into the awareness category, as an operationalisation of recalling information. This paper looks at redefining brand salience and proposes new methods for measuring brand salience.