Mike Abel on Winning Brand Pillars: Recognition Resonance Reappraisal Recall

The Four R’s of Brand Building and Customer Choice Marketing has become dangerously good at The How. Funnels. Dashboards. Attribution models. MarTech stacks. AI-generated content. Programmatic everything. All useful. But none of it matters if we forget The What. What are we trying to lodge in the human mind so that, when choice happens, our brand has a better chance of being chosen? The original Four P’s still matter. Product, price, place and promotion are not going away. And the added P’s since. But in an AI-saturated, over-messaged, under-attentive world, I think leaders need to focus again on four other letters. Which is why I’ve been shaping a simpler lens for a more modern and effective approach: The Four R’s of brand building and customer choice: 1. Recognition. “Ah, I know that.” Recognition is not just fame. And it is not only for established brands. For established brands, it protects mental availability. For challenger brands, it creates the first moment of salience: The look, sound, shape, phrase or code that makes people stop and say, “What’s that?” That means distinctiveness, not just positioning. Colours. Codes. Characters. Packaging. Sound. Shape. Language. The assets that make a brand unmistakably itself. Duolingo’s owl is not just a mascot. It is a memory device. What is yours? 2. Resonance. “That feels like it’s for me.” Brands are not built by visibility alone. They are built when meaning attaches to memory. A great brand connects with a human desire, fear, ambition, identity or belief. It says something people either recognise in themselves or aspire to be part of. Tony’s Chocolonely does not just sell chocolate. It gives people a moral reason to care about chocolate. And in fantastic, fresh packaging. 3. Reappraisal. “Maybe I should think about this differently.” This is where growth happens. New brands, new variants and challengers do not win simply by announcing themselves. They create a reason for people to reappraise a habit, a prejudice, a default choice or reaffirm an old loyalty. GOODLES has done this beautifully. It made people reappraise the humble boxed noodle as something modern, joyful and better for you. Not what is, but what’s possible. 4. Recall. “That’s the one I’ll choose.” The point of brand building is not just to be seen. It is to increase the probability of being selected at the moment of need. Liquid Death understands this. You may love it or hate it, but you remember it. AI will make the how faster. More assets. More versions. More targeting. More optimisation. But speed is not strategy. Output is not impact. Personalisation is not positioning. The danger now is that marketing becomes a machine for producing more and more communication that says less and less to customers. Brand building should be a profoundly commercial act. Make me recognise you. Make me feel something. Make me reconsider. Make me remember. That is how brands get chosen.

Our Executive Chairman and Founder, Mike Abel, shares his wisdom on brand building and customer choice. Read about his 'Four R's' - the pillars holding up brands that get chosen. #CreativityElevatesEverything https://lnkd.in/dNQiuB_a

Is your company building a brand…or just renting attention? For years, many businesses deprioritized brand strategy in favor of performance marketing. More clicks. More leads. More measurable ROI. More, more, more. But a recent article argues something important: in an AI-saturated market, strong brand strategy is becoming more valuable, not less (yes, I used "more" here too). Why? Because AI can generate content at scale. But it doesn't generate trust, distinctiveness, or a meaningful reason to care. The companies winning right now are not simply explaining their products better. They are building recognizable perspectives, stronger emotional relevance, and long-term trust before buyers ever enter the funnel. Three questions every business leader should be asking: 1. If buyers research independently before speaking to sales or getting to the lowest part of the funnel, what impression are we creating beforehand? Your brand is shaping decisions long before your sales team or website shows up. 2. Are we building lasting brand authority or chasing short-term metrics? Performance marketing captures existing demand. Brand strategy creates future demand. Without brand strategy, performance marketing can't do its job. 3. If AI makes content easier to produce, what actually makes us memorable? Original thinking, clarity of positioning, and human perspective now matter more than ever. These are defined in your brand strategy. The companies that outperform over the next decade will not be the loudest. They’ll be the clearest, most trusted, and most distinctive because they took the time to define, align, and leverage their brand strategy. Have you done the work yet? Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gZHdgbaj

I know a CMO who did everything right. Hired into a consumer goods company with a real brand problem. Did the work. Built the strategy. Made the case to the CEO clearly, patiently, more than once. CEO didn't buy it. This CEO thought that brand was a logo and a tagline. The real business was performance. Something measurable and attributable. You know, safe. So the budget went there. That was about seven years ago. I watched the whole thing play out from the outside and a little bit from the inside. The brand is now a commodity. It fights on price every single day. The premium it used to command? Gone. The shelf space it earned through years of cultural relevance? It's highly contested. Every quarter is a pricing negotiation it used to never have to have. The CMO left. Of course they did. I've thought a lot about what I would have done differently. Not the strategy, that was right. The sell. Here's what I think I'd try: First, I'd stop making the brand argument and start making the performance argument. CEOs who don't understand brand do understand CAC. So I'd show them what a cold audience costs versus a warm one. Every performance dollar that goes in before brand has done its job is doing two jobs. Brand marketing pre-qualifies and performance closes. When brand does nothing, performance has to do both. That's expensive, and you can put a number on it. Second, I'd bring in AI search. Right now, answer engines are synthesizing everything that's already been said about your brand across the internet. If your narrative is fragmented (if different channels say different things) the AI reflects that back as confusion. Or worse, silence. A CMO today has a new argument the previous generation didn't have. Brand consistency is an algorithmic advantage. That's something a CEO will sit up for. Third, I'd find the one thing they're scared of. Every CEO who goes all-in on performance has a nightmare. Usually it's a competitor eating their lunch on pricing. Or a private label gaining ground. I'd name that fear directly. Brand is the only thing standing between you and fungibility. When everything else is equal (i.e. product, price, availability) people choose the brand they trust. Strip the brand, and all you've got left is the spreadsheet. Would it have worked? I genuinely don't know. But the CMO in this story did everything right except speak the language the CEO understood. And the brand is now paying for it.

This is a great example from Daniel and it is by no means an exception. Happens all the time. Part of the problem though is that neither case explains how the strategy builds motivation to buy. Show the CEO, CFO, and the rest of the Board not just how the brand campaign will create a warm feeling but how it hits all of the 5 key RAAVE drivers that influence likelihood to buy. - Relevancy - Association - Accessibility - Value and - Expectation (of Satisafaction) Relate that score to the expected increase in purchase probability (which can be shown using existing real data) and then that, in turn, translates into the expected increase in sales. Direct, easy to see, easy to understand, easy to track, - and then suddenly the whole Board is behind the strategy (which is also part of the reason it then works). For more info, including how to make it work for you too, follow our Newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/gXA_8Ftr

Think brand building does impact the bottom line? Consider this ... Duolingo just reported Q1 2026 earnings on May 4th, and the results are a direct payoff of years of bold brand investment. Rather than relying on traditional advertising, Duolingo went all-in on building a distinctive, personality-driven brand — primarily through its mascot Duo the Owl. In early February 2025, Duolingo publicly and playfully "killed" their mascot — what began as a simple app icon update quickly escalated into a full-blown internet moment, with Duo mentioned 169,000 times online and conversation spiking 25,560% on announcement day alone. Duolingo's Q1 2026 revenue climbed 27% to $291.97M, with net income up 24% and adjusted EBITDA at $83.43M. Daily active users and paid subscribers each grew 21%. EPS of $0.89 beat analyst expectations by 17%, and the company expanded gross margins despite increased AI investments. Duolingo's consistent, bold brand personality built a massive, loyal user base that is now converting into subscribers and revenue at scale. It's a strong case study in brand investment compounding over time. If you want a playbook on brand, branding, and brand building see https://lnkd.in/eHa_SYAP ... it is not for someone that skims articles, but detailed to drive real business success.

How Psychology Shapes Brands and Influences Consumer Thinking A successful brand is not simply about design, colours, logos or marketing. A powerful brand is created in the imagination of the consumer. Brands that make people feel understood, safe, confident, appreciated or inspired are memorable. Therefore, psychology has a very essential function to play in branding and marketing. Branding is not about repeating your goods again and again. It's about generating the proper perception, feeling and trust in the customer's head. Every firm should know what customers experience before buying, what problem makes them buy, what beliefs they already have, what emotions the brand should produce, what they should remember, and why they should trust the brand. When a brand knows consumer psychology, its messaging becomes clearer, its content becomes stronger, its advertising becomes more targeted, and its positioning becomes more significant. The first is to understand the emotion behind the buying choice. You don’t buy products or services from customers. They buy comfort, trust, confidence, status, safety, convenience, respite or growth. When your brand hits the proper emotional notes, people start listening. The second phase is to create trust before you ask for sales. Consumers don't believe a brand just because it says it is the best. Brands that provide consistency, proof, transparency, quality and care are trusted. Trust develops over time with repeated favourable experiences. Step 3: Make Your Brand Memorable The third step is to make your brand easy to recall. A muddled message is soon forgotten. A clear message is one that we remember. Your brand needs a concise promise, constant communication, and a clear reason why people should choose you. The fourth phase is to understand consumer behaviour. People decide on feelings first, and then on logic. They compare and doubt and search and ask and then decide. A good brand helps this journey along by saying the right things at the appropriate moment. The fifth phase is to generate familiarity. People tend to trust companies that they see often and that are easy to grasp. Staying consistent with your content, images, tone and message helps to establish familiarity over time. The key takeaway for businesses and marketers is simple: branding is not simply about creativity. Branding is psychology. Understanding how people think, feel, trust, compare and decide will help you establish a stronger brand. Don’t develop your next campaign by asking, “What should we design?” Ask, “What should the customer feel, believe and remember?” It’s easier to establish long-term loyalty when your brand is front and centre in the customer’s mind with clarity and trust. #Branding #MarketingStrategy #ConsumerPsychology #BrandBuilding #DigitalMarketing 

There is a sequencing problem at the centre of most impact brand strategies, and it tends to stay invisible until the results start to feel frustrating. The logic that leads organisations there is entirely understandable. The mission is urgent. The cause deserves attention. So the priority becomes visibility, content output, campaigns, presence across the right channels. The reach grows. The metrics improve. And still, something does not quite add up. The enquiries arrive from the wrong people. The conversations begin at the wrong point. The organisation is being seen, but not quite understood. That gap between being seen and being understood is a strategy problem, not a marketing problem. Brand strategy establishes the foundation that makes visibility productive. It defines with precision who the organisation is speaking to, what that audience needs to understand first, what the organisation stands for beyond its stated mission, and how all of that should feel across every touchpoint. Without that foundation, content becomes output rather than communication, and campaigns amplify confusion rather than clarity. Reach is a multiplier. It scales whatever signal an organisation is already sending. A clear, strategically grounded message reaches more of the right people with less effort. An unclear message, given more reach, simply finds more people to confuse. The impact organisations that consistently attract aligned clients, partners, and funders tend to have made the strategic investment early. Their marketing feels coherent because the thinking underneath it is coherent. The visibility is the surface. The strategy is the structure. If your marketing activity is increasing but your positioning still feels fuzzy, the sequence is where to look first. Where does your organisation currently sit in that sequence? Is strategy already in place, or is visibility leading the work? Genuinely curious to hear how others are navigating this.

🚀 GROWTH LEVER: The 90-Day Blueprint to Brand Obsession Most businesses aren't failing because their product is bad they’re failing because they are forgettable. In a world of infinite scrolling, being "just okay" is the same as being invisible. As outlined in the strategic roadmap from Focal Media, you don't need years to build a legendary brand; you need 90 days of disciplined, high-impact execution. Branding isn't a "one-off" logo design; it’s a systematic build-up of trust, emotion, and recognition. Here is the educational breakdown of your 90-day transformation: Phase 1: Days 1–30 | The Emotional Foundation Before you touch a single pixel, you must find your brand's "soul." The Lesson: People do not buy products; they buy feelings. If your brand doesn't evoke trust, excitement, or aspiration, your marketing will always be an uphill battle. The Action: Audit your "Why." Identify the single emotional problem you solve for your customers. This becomes the "North Star" for everything that follows. Phase 2: Days 31–60 | The Visual & Verbal Craft Now, you translate that emotion into a "Digital Uniform." The Lesson: Consistency is the mother of recognition. If your Instagram looks different from your website, you are leaking trust. The Action: Develop a cohesive visual identity (typography, color theory, and motion) and a distinct brand voice. Animation is a high-growth tool here it breathes life into dull topics and makes your brand instantly recognizable across platforms. Phase 3: Days 61–90 | The Authority Surge An unforgettable brand is a visible brand. The Lesson: You move from "Vendor" to "Authority" by leading with value. Use your new identity to dominate the conversation in your niche. The Action: Implement a multichannel distribution strategy. Convert your core brand story into high-impact social content, email newsletters, and community engagement. Use Social Proof (UGC) to let your customers do the "forgetting-prevention" for you. The Bottom Line: You aren't just building a logo; you are building a memory. In 90 days, you can shift from being a "commodity" that competes on price to an "icon" that competes on value. (Source: "How to Make Your Brand Go From Forgettable to Unforgettable in 90 Days" at Focal Media: https://lnkd.in/dqqagWJz) Ready to Start Your 90-Day Clock? ⏳ We specialize in taking brands from the "invisible" pile to the "unforgettable" list. Let's engineer your transformation. 📬 DM me here on LinkedIn 📧 Email: hello@focalmedia.in 🌐 Visit us: focalmedia.in If you had to pick one emotion that defines your brand today, what would it be? Let’s audit it in the comments. 👇 #BrandTransformation #90DayPlan #GrowthStrategy #FocalMedia #BrandIdentity #MarketingEducation #BusinessScaling #UnforgettableBrand #CreativeStrategy2026

Your high ROAS metric is actively killing your brand. Founders, you're chasing the wrong numbers. Many 7 and 8-figure brands are proud of their channel ROAS, thinking it signals success. But that number often hides a deeper, systemic problem: Brand Pollution. Agencies are incentivized to deliver channel-specific performance. They are great at that. But without clear brand governance, their pursuit of high ROAS often results in random acts of marketing. These acts might generate short-term conversions, yet they rarely communicate how your brand is Different, Unique, Better, or Special (D.U.B.S.) across the 5 stages of market awareness. This isn't an agency's fault; it's a brand's failure to provide a unified operating system. When agencies operate in channel silos, optimizing only for their slice of the pie, your brand looks different on Meta than it does on Amazon, or Shopify. This is Brand Fragmentation at its worst. You end up renting strategy, paying a 'Learning Tax' whenever a partner shifts. Worse, this disconnect confuses your audience and the algorithms. The result is Brand Signal Loss. Your brand equity erodes. Your long-term customer value shrinks. You gain short-term ROAS at the expense of sustainable EBITDA. You are building on sand, not rock. To win, your brand needs a Single Source of Truth. An operating system that unifies and aligns every marketing touchpoint. This is why Brand Source OS exists. It uses 'Source Codes' – the aggregated expertise of your brand's D.U.B.S. – to train all internal teams, external partners, and even AI. And the 'Source Alignment' tool ensures every piece of content released communicates your D.U.B.S. correctly for the right stage of market awareness. Stop letting high ROAS hide brand decay. Start owning your brand's operating system.