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How to measure brand awareness, and find the gap between being known and being chosen

Brand Signal measures awareness every month on a representative panel, next to consideration and purchase. See where being known falls short: a campaign that is noticed but does not move awareness, people who know you but do not consider you, or AI answers that leave you out.

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TL;DR: how brand awareness is measured

Definition
Brand awareness is the share of your target group who have your brand in memory, measured with a representative survey.
Two properties
Reach asks whether you are in enough people's memories, measured as aided awareness. Accessibility asks whether you come to mind when it matters, measured as unaided and Top of Mind awareness.
Calculation
Divide the weighted number who know the brand by the weighted number asked, and report the margin of error.
Benchmark
It depends on your category and competitors. Compare like with like, read your rank next to the level, and read aided and unaided together, since a brand can be widely known and still rarely come to mind.
The gap
An awareness gap is awareness that does not turn into consideration, spend that does not show up in awareness, or a known brand that AI assistants leave out.

What brand awareness is, and how it is calculated

Brand awareness is the share of a target group who have a brand in memory. It has two properties: reach, how many people know the brand, and accessibility, how easily they can bring it to mind. It is measured with a representative survey, asked the same way every time, and reported as a weighted percentage with its margin of error.

It is not advertising reach, followers or branded search. Those show interest among people a brand has already reached.

  1. Brand survey · 1 of 3
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    01
    Recognition measures reach, recall measures accessibility
    Recognition is knowing the brand when you see it. Shown a list, people pick the brands they have heard of, and the share who pick yours is its aided awareness: your reach.
    Recall is bringing the brand to mind without help. Every brand people name counts as unaided awareness, and the first one named is Top of Mind: how easily you come to mind against competitors.
    • Aided: recognised in a list, measures reach
    • Unaided: named without help, measures accessibility
    • Top of Mind: named first, accessibility against competitors
  2. 02
    The calculation
    Awareness is the share of your target group who know the brand: the weighted number who know it, divided by the weighted number asked. Each result comes with a margin of error, about ±3.6 points at 750 interviews.
    • Weighted to the population
    • ±3.6 points at 750 interviews
    • Same questions every wave
  3. Innovation+5
    Q1 · 2026
    NovaCompetitors
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    Harder tests of memory, and the first step of the funnel
    Each level is a harder test of memory: is the brand known at all, does it come to mind, does it come first. Awareness is also the first step of the funnel, and the share who go on to consider the brand shows how much of it turns into demand.
    • Each level is a harder test of memory
    • Awareness, consideration, preference, purchase
    • Conversion shows how much awareness turns into demand

Three gaps between being known and being chosen

A high awareness score can hide a problem. Each gap has its own reading and calls for a different decision.

Spend vs awareness

+15 ptsAd Recognition, awareness +1 pt

Nova, April to September 2026. During the campaign Ad Recognition rose from 14% to 29%. Aided awareness moved from 69% to 70%.
  • Ad Recognition
  • Aided awareness
  • Campaign

From April to September, Ad Recognition rose from 14% to 29% with the campaign. Aided awareness moved one point. Awareness moves over quarters, not weeks, so read Ad Recognition first.

Awareness vs consideration

Gap 45 ptsNorthwind 24 pts

70% know Linnet, 25% would consider it. Northwind goes from 74% to 50%, keeping 68% of the people who know it against Linnet's 36%. The gap opens right after awareness.

Brand tracking

Awareness vs AI visibility

Gap 48 ptsNova, the widest of four brands

Nova (your brand): aided awareness 70%, named in 22% of AI answers, gap 48 points. Northwind: aided awareness 74%, named in 48% of AI answers, gap 26 points. Solace: aided awareness 58%, named in 35% of AI answers, gap 23 points. Kestrel: aided awareness 45%, named in 41% of AI answers, gap 4 points.

Linnet is known by 70% of buyers and named in 22% of AI answers about the category. Kestrel, known by 45%, is named in 41%.

AI brand visibility

Linnet is well known. Campaigns get noticed but have not moved awareness yet, the drop comes right after awareness, and AI answers name smaller brands first. Fix consideration before buying more reach.

Illustrative example · fictional brands

See the beauty industry

How brand awareness is measured: methods compared

Only a survey of your target group, repeated over time, measures awareness. What is said in spoken media and what AI says are supporting signals: they move first and are read against the survey. The rest are indicators, useful but each with a limit.

Aided awareness for reach, unaided and Top of Mind for accessibility, in a representative target group

Limit
Moves over quarters, not weeks
How often
Every month

What is said about your brand in podcasts, radio, TV and social video, against competitors

Limit
Shows what is said, so it is read against the survey
How often
Moves within weeks

How AI assistants name and describe your brand when people ask about the category

Limit
Shows what AI says, so it is read against what buyers think
How often
Moves within weeks

Awareness in one study, with a defined sample

Limit
A single point in time, no trend
How often
Once

How many people search for the brand by name

Limit
Shows interest, not who knows you
How often
Frequent, with more noise

Who follows and interacts with your accounts

Limit
Counts your audience, not your target group
How often
Frequent, with more noise

Visits that come straight to your site or through links

Limit
Shows visits, not who knows you
How often
Frequent, with more noise

Brand awareness benchmarks: what a good score looks like

There is no single number that counts as good brand awareness. A level that leads one category can be average in another, depending on how many brands compete, how established they are and how often people buy in the category.
Compare your score with the brands people choose between and with brands of a similar size, and read your rank as well as your level. Use the same measure throughout, since aided awareness is always higher than unaided.
Read the measures together as well. Two brands can both be known by 80% of the market while one is named unaided by 60% and the other by 20%. They have the same reach, but the first comes to mind far more easily, and the relationship between the two numbers says more than either score alone.
Look at who knows the brand, too. A brand can be well known among its own customers and barely known among the category buyers it needs next, and a total score hides the difference.
Data: aided awareness for 77 beauty brands in the UK, 12 months to August 2026, n = 4,538.
77 beauty brands, ranked by how many UK shoppers know them: 1 Nivea 76%, 2 Dove 74%, 3 L'Oréal Paris 73%, 4 Boots 72%, 5 Dior 70%. Where do you sit? Each dot is one brand: 77 brands; Median 27%, Top 20 from 54%, Top 10 from 62%. Odyssey Beauty Signal. Aided awareness among UK beauty shoppers, 12 months to August 2026, n = 4,538.

How Odyssey measures brand awareness

Awareness is part of Brand Signal's brand tracking, measured every month next to consideration, preference and purchase.

1. Survey design

Awareness is asked the same way in every wave, next to consideration and purchase, so a change reflects the market, not the questionnaire.

2. Quality control

Every response is checked and weighted to the population before it enters the data.

3. Analysis and access

Read awareness by segment, market and over time with its margin of error, and see whether a campaign was noticed before awareness has had time to move. In the portal, in MixerMind and through the API.

Early indicators: what people say and what AI says

Survey awareness is the measure. Share of conversation and AI visibility are indicators. They move within weeks and can show early that something is changing, and the survey confirms whether awareness followed.

Neither one measures awareness, because neither asks who in your target group knows the brand.

  1. Innovative
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    High Quality
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    Genuine
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    Does the same picture show up elsewhere?
    “Every launch from them sells out in a day.”
    Podcast · 2 days ago · All Ears
    01
    What people say and what AI says move first
    Mentions in podcasts, radio, TV and social video react to campaigns and news within weeks, and so do the brands AI assistants name. Read against the survey, they show whether a change in what is said also shows up in who knows the brand.
    • What is said in podcasts, radio, TV and social video
    • How AI portrays your brand
    • Read against the survey

  2. The brands people talk about and the brands AI recommends, next to their rank in the survey

    Organic mentions, top 10Survey rank
    1. L'Oréal Paris, survey rank 3
    2. Maybelline, survey rank 15
    3. Boots, survey rank 4
    4. Nivea, survey rank 1
    5. Garnier, survey rank 13
    6. The Ordinary, survey rank 33, outside the 20 best-known brands in the survey
    7. NYX, survey rank 35, outside the 20 best-known brands in the survey
    8. Dior, survey rank 5
    9. CeraVe, survey rank 26, outside the 20 best-known brands in the survey
    10. Superdrug, survey rank 9

    Outside the 20 best-known brands in the survey

    Aided awareness rank among 77 brands, Odyssey Beauty Signal, 12 months to Aug 2026, n = 4,538. Organic mentions, Jun to Sep 2026. Brands named first in AI answers, Sep to Oct 2026.

    02
    In UK beauty, other brands lead the conversation and the answers
    Of the ten UK beauty brands with the most organic mentions, three sit outside the 20 best known in the survey: The Ordinary, NYX and CeraVe. Of the ten that AI assistants name first most often, five do: CeraVe, Redken, Kérastase, The Ordinary and Glossier. A competitor set built on the best-known brands alone would miss them.
    • Survey: 12 months to Aug 2026, n = 4,538
    • Conversations: organic mentions, Jun to Sep 2026
    • AI answers: brands named first, Sep to Oct 2026

From number to decision

The same awareness data answers different questions depending on who asks. Each team can put its question to MixerMind and get the answer straight from the data.

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Marketing

Show whether a campaign was noticed and linked to the brand, and whether it moved awareness and consideration among the audiences it was bought for.

  • Ad Recognition
  • Campaign Tracking
  • Audiences
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What clients say about Brand Signal

E.ON
“Energy Signal is a new approach to insight work in our industry and a strong complement to our own research. Above all, it helps us conduct clear competitor analyses and understand new players.”

Ola Sandberg

Head of Insight and Foresight, E.ON

Riverty
“Odyssey provides us with continuous insights into how the e-commerce landscape is evolving in selected European countries.”

Johan Rönnerman

Executive Vice President, Riverty

Giva Sverige
“For every individual donor organization it is important to understand its challenges and opportunities based on its position, and that is where Fundraising Signal plays a vital role.”

Charlotte Rydh

Secretary General, Giva Sverige

Common questions about brand awareness
Divide the weighted number of people in your target group who know the brand by the weighted number you asked. Weighting to national statistics on age, gender and region makes the sample represent the population. Report the result with its margin of error, which is about ±3.6 percentage points at 750 interviews.
Aided awareness counts people who recognise the brand when they see it in a list. It measures reach: how many people have the brand in memory. Unaided awareness counts people who name the brand without help, in answer to an open question about the category. It measures accessibility: how easily the brand comes to mind. Aided is always the higher of the two, and the two should be read together, because a brand can be widely recognised and rarely come to mind.
It depends on the category and on the brands you compete with. A niche brand and a household name are judged on different scales, so compare your score with brands of a similar size in your own category, and look at your rank as well as the level. Read aided and unaided awareness together too: two brands at 80% aided awareness can sit at 60% and 20% unaided, and only one of them comes to mind easily. The UK beauty benchmark on this page shows what the spread can look like.
A brand awareness survey on a representative sample of your target group. A continuous brand tracker asks the same questions every month, which shows the trend and how you compare with competitors. Brand Signal combines that survey with data on spoken media and AI visibility.
The core metrics are Top of Mind, unaided and aided awareness. In a brand tracker they are read next to consideration, preference and purchase, and next to advertising measures when you run campaigns. The exact set follows your category and the questions you need answered.
Continuously, with results read every month and trends judged over quarters. Monthly collection evens out seasonal effects and keeps a single event from dominating the result. Small changes from one month to the next are usually within the margin of error.
They indicate interest, but they do not measure awareness. Branded search comes mainly from people who already know the brand, and followers are an audience you have already reached. Use them next to a survey to see whether changes in awareness show up in behaviour.
Awareness is usually measured at three levels, each a harder test of memory: aided awareness, recognising the brand in a list, shows whether it is in memory at all; unaided awareness, naming it without help, shows whether it comes to mind; and Top of Mind, naming it first, shows whether it comes first. A harder test still asks which brands come to mind in a specific buying situation, which shows when a brand is remembered rather than whether. In the brand funnel, awareness is followed by consideration, preference and purchase.

See where your brand is known but not chosen

Brand Signal measures awareness every month, next to consideration and purchase.
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Get your category's awareness benchmark

Nova and the other brands are fictional. Figures are illustrative.

WhoSverigeWhatNovaWhenSep 2026 · Smoothed (3)ShowStandardSave this view
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