Beyond AIDA: brand salience and resonance

Back in the 90s, I used to ask the bosses. why we were doing an ad? The answer was inevitably ‘awareness’. After the seventh or eighth response I gave up asking and went my own way on the job. The actual correct answer should probably have been ‘for money’. Those were the days when media planning was dominated by the idea that consumers needed 3.5 opportunities to see an ad for the brand and message to sink in.

The idea of awareness was later augmented with the granddaddy of sales funnels, AIDA: awareness, interest, demand, and acquisition. AIDA made it theoretically possible to identify a consumer’s position in the funnel, and tailor messages, for instance ‘you-know-you-want-it’ demand drivers and ‘get-it-now’ acquisition messages in retail. Unfortunately, awareness messages were comfortable territory so in-store stuck with simple signage and product logos.

Enter social media and a new paradigm, a collusion between the brand and the consumer. The brand is expected to transform the consumer through product attributes, emotional and socio-cultural relevance. Simple creativity is no longer enough. The consumer has a vested interest in their own transformation and will use digital media to optimize that transformation.

This is the first stage, brand salience. In the AIDA scheme of things, it overlays awareness and interest. The communication must identify the target audience in an accurate niche and develop relevance to the consumer in the context of the consideration set, the range of choices.

The relevance will have to be backed up by a strong differential matrix, which not only references the product attributes and benefits, but is also explicit on the emotional and socio-cultural benefits.

What also becomes important here is that the audience will have asymmetric social media choices, so the message must be repeated in different formats.

The medium gives impact to the message, particularly given the broad socio-cultural or ‘tribal’ considerations of ‘belonging’ to a particular platform. For instance, many of the millennials may hover between Tiktok and Instagram, using both mediums. That millennial may however completely dismiss the relevance of Facebook.

The messages will need different formats according to the medium. They will also need variance in their presentation. The audience is rewarded with different content containing the same core messages. The net effect will be development of salience. It is obviously also important that the messages be varied within the mediums. Content will age and lose its appeal.

The second stage, resonance, kicks in once the consumer commits to a purchase. Resonance should be divided into two phases.

The first phase of resonance will pair with demand in the AIDA funnel. When the consumer goes into the hypothetical store to make the purchase. Observing the range of choices in the consideration set, the consumer must recall the elements of salience and make the decision to purchase the specific brand.

The second phase of resonance will pair with acquisition, more specifically post-acquisition. On acquisition, the consumer will want to immediately experience the emotional and socio-cultural benefit. This will lead firstly to the sort of satisfaction that encourages repeat purchases. Secondly, when the ‘tribal’ socio-cultural facet kicks in, the consumer will feel the broader sense of belonging. The effect will be compounded by growing the tribe and, potentially, by expanding the tribe with recommendations to the group.

There are multiple sales funnels, each with their own forms and preoccupations, however without the deep and intense overlays of salience and resonance, they become less effective.