Higher Exposure to a Brand Campaign Pushes up Trial Rates - Aditi Kadambande

Traditionally, brand campaigns have held specific objectives relative to factors like product life cycle stage, consumer base, market share and competition. Brand owners decide on these objectives in accordance to the response they want from the targeted audience- for example, product trial. This depends on, among other things, the level of brand awareness. This brand awareness in turn, depends on the number of exposures of the brand, in terms of

o   Awareness

o   Frequency

o   Impact

While reach is more important while launching new products, extension of present brands or popularizing lesser known brands, frequency is more important when there is strong competition in the market, or when the brand has a complex message to convey. Measurement of impact gives us quantification of brand awareness generated.

Trial rates share a directly proportional relationship with these three parameters. Thus, higher exposure to them pushes up awareness, which in turn translates into higher number of trails, thus increasing trial rates.

That being said, exposure is not the only parameter that can warranty an increase in trial rates. Effective communication of your brand’s inventory to the target audience is an important criterion for exposure to convert into trial rates.

Let us talk about the Amul Butter campaign, for instance. It consists of installing hoardings with a humorous take on current events, with the Amul Butter Girl as a social observer. These hoardings are put up at strategic locations, intended for mass reach. This age-old approach of Amul has helped them increase brand awareness, sustain the audience’s interest, generate brand recognition and recall, thus increasing trial rates.