How to Measure Brand Awareness: Brand Lift Studies Explained

Awareness campaigns are often judged by the wrong metric: impressions. Impressions tell you the ad ran; they don't tell you whether anyone remembers it. To measure brand awareness properly, you need to ask people. That's what a brand lift study does.

This guide is part of our guide to measuring billboard, TV and radio advertising.

What brand lift measures

Metric	Typical question
Unaided awareness	"When you think of [category] in [city], which companies come to mind?"
Aided awareness	"Which of these companies have you heard of?"
Ad recall	"Do you recall seeing or hearing advertising for [brand] recently?"
Message association	"Which brand says [your key message]?"
Consideration	"Which would you consider for your next [purchase]?"
Favourability	"How do you feel about [brand]?"
Intent	"How likely are you to [buy/visit/contact] [brand]?"

Pick two or three that match your campaign goal. Unaided awareness and consideration are usually the most meaningful.

Two ways to run a study

Pre/post

Survey your target audience before the campaign, then again during or after. Simple, but other factors (seasonality, news, competitors) can influence the change.

Exposed vs. control

Survey people in areas or audiences that received the campaign, and a comparable group that didn't. This isolates the ad's effect more reliably. It works naturally for out-of-home and radio run in some markets but not others. The same test-and-control logic appears in how to calculate billboard ROI.

The strongest design combines both: before and after, in both exposed and control groups.

Designing a good survey

• Ask unaided questions first, before you mention your brand anywhere.
• Include competitors and a fake brand in aided lists. If many people "recognize" a brand that doesn't exist, your data is noisy.
• Screen for your target audience. Awareness among people who'll never buy doesn't matter.
• Keep it short. Five to eight questions.
• Keep wording identical between waves.

Sample size basics

Small samples can only detect large changes. A few dozen responses might show that something happened; a few hundred per group gives a more reliable read on moderate changes. If your budget is limited, focus the survey on the single metric that matters most rather than spreading responses across many questions.

Budget-friendly options

• Online survey panels: target by region and demographics and pay per complete.
• Platform brand lift tools: some digital and video ad platforms offer built-in studies above a spend threshold.
• Customer surveys: ask new customers how they heard about you and what they remember. See using surveys to measure offline ad impact.
• Search trends: branded search volume is a free, rough proxy for awareness.

Reading the results

Look for:

• Lift in your primary metric between exposed and control, or before and after
• Message association: do people remember what you said, not just that you advertised?
• Consistency with other signals: does branded search, direct traffic or sales move in the same direction?

If recall is high but consideration isn't moving, the creative may be memorable but not persuasive. If recall is low, check frequency (how much you need) and whether the brand is clear in the creative (billboard design for recall).

Awareness is a means, not an end

Brand lift proves your campaign is changing minds. The next question is whether that change turns into business. Tie awareness results to business KPIs, and give it the right time frame. See how long advertising takes to work.