This paper leverages Brandtrust’s Original Inquiry into the human experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, and extends and expands it through reference to both more recent events and additional source materials to lobby for this inside-out definition of brand awareness.
While the research revealed much about our current moment, it also critically emphasized the timeless value of refocusing our collective attention on the complex processes of human meaning-making. By listening to the stories of people who went through this disorienting time and analyzing them through the lens of the applied social and behavioral sciences, we affirm that people make meaning out of experiences, many of those experiences are with brands, and that brands therefore have a stake and a role to play in the success of society’s collective experience.
Our paper concludes with a three-step process that leads to brand awareness as we have been defining it. Each phase of the process will differ for every organization, but the guiding principles hold true across regions, categories, and business size.
