The end of awareness

Why do we still measure awareness? I suppose it allows us to justify the media schedule but some brands still treat it as the key measure. We have measured it historically because it was the easiest thing to measure and the measure most likely to shift. So that gave us a warm feeling.

However we should be more focused on things like ... Do you find this brand interesting, or different or appealing. Do you prefer it? Nothing else really matters - apart from whether they buy it or not.

I recognise this means it is even harder to separate the impact of the advertising and communications from the product or brand experience but unfortunately that is tough. It definitely doesn't work that way any more, assuming it ever did. I can think a brand is the coolest thing in the thing in the world but if 16 out of 37 reviews say it is crap i am not going to buy it.