Brand Stature.

VOL. 0065 – FLORIDA, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2025

Juan F. Arjona Harry

President & CEO Strategee   

Having a brand that is loved and that people will remember in the first place and that feels great affection is the desire of every Brand Manager.

When we talk about Brand Stature, according to the model of Brand Asset Valuator of Y & R / Landor, we are referring to the size of the Axis of the "X" which comprises a combined measure of the Top of Mind and Top of Heart.

The Top of Heart is the key measure of brand positioning in the hearts of consumers/customers, because it helps us to easily find the level of proximity or direct association that a brand has with a category.

The Top of Mind gathers or expresses the conceptual level of intimacy that the brand has established with the category, somehow reflects how the brand is usefully located in the category and is identified with the category, as if the mark had been attached to it with powerful glue.

When a brand has a low top of mind is because you have trouble positioning, which may occur for the following reasons:

1. Nonexistent or very low budget for investment in communication.

2. Positioning issues due to the diffusion of double messages.

3. Positioning issues due to the diffusion of confusing messages.

4. High rivalry communication which can lead to difficulty in locating the brand in a defined position.

5. High rivalry communication using the same "communication tone", which leads to a lack of differentiation in the messages.

6. Constant drastic change in the "Positional Axis" of the brand.

7. New Brand.

8. It is a brand that does not have an orthodox Branding process that tells what to communicate and how to communicate during each year or periods to their markets.

9. Lack of consistency. (This must be interpreted in two ways: lack of consistency and lack of continuity in the messages emitted by the brand.)

10. Drastic re-branding.

The Top of Heart expresses the way in which the brand has been able to generate affective emotional attachments with Consumers/Clients, to the point of being the brand of choice for its high identification with the Consumer/Client.

The Top of Heart is an important measure of the level at which the brand has managed to enter the emotional sphere of the Consumer/Client, to the point that they agree to pay a premium price for it, recommends and advocates for the brand.

When a brand has a low Top of Heart, it's probably because:

1. The brand has sought only a Functional Equity.

2. The brand has used in the wrong way any of the elements of the Communicational Backing.

3. The brand has tried to enter an emotional territory already occupied by other competing brand.

4. The brand is aimed at the consumer segment using unexciting communication codes of emotionality.

5. The brand uses creative resources and copies that extract the obvious conclusion, rather than let Consumers/Clients produce the completion of the copy.

6. The brand uses a Communicational Backing unsuitable for the emotional vector you want to wake up.

7. The brand has not figured out what is the insight that allows connecting emotionally.

8. The brand permanently changes the "communication tone".

9. The brand has chosen a value that cannot connect the product category to which it belongs.

10. The brand exaggerates the communication.

Both measures (Top of Mind & Top of Heart) allow to find the measure of the Stature of the brand, allowing a brand to be highly visible and well-known for its market, and equally dear.

This measure of Stature must be combined with the measurement of Brand Strength to find the quadrant in which the brand is located, thus defining its strategic position and the actions (strategies and tactics) that should be implemented.