Being mindful and strategic about them will build brand equity efficiently.Įffective brands build associate with people, places, things and emotions to inspire behavior. These associations may turn people to or away from your brand. When a brand and another thought occur together in anyone’s mind, they neurologically connect and are more likely to be thought of together in the future. Brand associations are thoughts that pop to mind when a person thinks about a brand, such as “soft” for Cottonelle or “athletics” for Nike.īrand associations are the connections in out minds between a brand and people, places, things, and emotions. But how do these mental models work?Ī brand association is a mental connection between a brand and a concept. As a brand strategist and designer, I play with these concepts all day and try to use them to infuse meaning and generate engagement. Some brands have an unfair advantage because they are associated with awesome concepts, like Nike to athletic performance. Brand associations sell products.īrands have different meanings to us all, but some brands seem to mean very clear things to a lot of people.
Apple is to simple, as Nike is to performance.
