The power of brand perception

Why brands live in our minds, not in facts.

Strategy

23.05.2025

People don't choose rationally. They choose based on feelings, shaped by impressions, assumptions, and experiences. That makes perception just as important—if not more so—than reality. In fact, in marketing and brand strategy, perception often is reality. What people think about your brand matters more than what you say about it.

In this blog, you'll learn:

  • What brand perception really means;
  • Why it plays a crucial role in your audience’s mind;
  • How tools like Competitive Mapping and Competitive Perceptual Mapping can help you position your brand more strategically.

What brand perception tells you 

Businesses are registered with Companies House. Brands exist only in the minds of consumers. Not in your logo, product, or service—but in what people feel and think when they think of your brand. That’s why understanding the power of perception is so essential. What you communicate as a business is only one side of the story. What people experience based on that communication is what truly counts. Perception is the meeting point of brand strategy, storytelling, and behavioural psychology.

Perception isn’t something to ignore or leave to chance—it is your brand. If you don’t take control of how your brand is perceived, someone else will. Customers, competitors, or the market itself. That’s why every organisation must take ownership of perception. Because your brand is ultimately not what you define internally—it’s what others experience externally. It’s what people say about you when you’re not in the room. That is your brand value in practice.

Especially in times when products and services are increasingly alike, perception becomes the true differentiator. Whether your brand is seen as reliable, innovative or likeable determines whether someone chooses you—or the competitor offering something similar.

Why perception drives behaviour 

Perception isn’t fact—it’s feeling. And feelings drive behaviour. Neuroscience and behavioural psychology repeatedly show that people don’t choose brands rationally—they choose based on emotional associations. 5% conscious, 95% unconscious! Brands live in the brain as a network of impressions. The more often and more consistently that network is activated, the stronger your brand becomes.

Take Albert Heijn as an example. Objectively, there are cheaper supermarkets. But through clever positioning and recognisable brand assets (the Bonus Card, blue colour, Harry Piekema’s voice), AH evokes a sense of ease, quality, and trust. That’s where the value lies: in how people experience your brand. And that’s exactly where brand perception comes into play.

Storytelling plays a key role in shaping perception. By consistently embedding your brand story with recognisable contexts and emotions, you influence how people experience or perceive your brand. Neuromarketing makes this approach even more effective: by aligning with how the brain works (think repetition, simplicity, priming and framing), brands can influence behaviour and how they’re perceived.

FEELINGS DRIVE BEHAVIOUR. FEELINGS DRIVE BEHAVIOUR. FEELINGS DRIVE BEHAVIOUR. FEELINGS DRIVE BEHAVIOUR. 

Analysing brand position rationally: Competitive Mapping 

Competitive Mapping is a method for analysing your brand’s position relative to competitors based on rational, measurable factors—like price, range, distribution, features or market share. It places your brand and competitors side by side using facts, not feelings. Ideal for internal analysis, product comparison or market research.

Use Competitive Mapping when you want to:

  • Innovate within a category and spot market gaps;
  • Analyse competitors based on tangible features;
  • Sharpen or validate your own proposition.

Note: your brand or product must have measurable features you can compare. This method is less suited to emotional or lifestyle brands, as perception is not factored in.

Analysing brand position emotionally: Competitive Perceptual Mapping 

Competitive Perceptual Mapping doesn’t rely on facts—it relies on perception. How does your target audience view your brand? This method explores how your brand (and others) are experienced by customers, typically using a 2x2 matrix with two perceptual dimensions—for example, "innovative vs. traditional" and "affordable vs. premium."

This is about positioning and perception—not factual differentiation. Differentiation is objective: your car drives further on a full tank. Positioning is subjective: your brand feels more reliable. That’s what makes perceptual mapping so powerful—it visualises what people feel and think, not just what’s technically true. And that’s often what matters most.

Use Competitive Perceptual Mapping when you want to:

  • Understand how your brand is experienced compared to competitors;
  • Strategically (re)position your brand based on customer sentiment;
  • Map cultural or emotional differences in the market.

Note: You’ll need access to customer data or research (qualitative/quantitative). This method is especially effective for emotional, lifestyle-driven brands.

Comparing Competitive Mapping & Perceptual Mapping 

Both models help define your brand's market position. They guide strategic choices and reveal brand opportunities and risks. But they differ fundamentally in approach. Competitive Mapping focuses on measurable differences. Perceptual Mapping reveals how brands are felt and experienced. This requires a different mindset—and different data.

Used together, these methods give you a complete picture of your brand and the competition: you’ll know both where you truly stand and how you’re perceived—so you can identify where to make an impact.

Redkiwi helps you go from mapping to meaningful brand experience 

Want to grow your brand? Then your strategy needs to become tangible. Using tools like Competitive Mapping and Perceptual Mapping, we bring structure to your positioning process. We don’t just show where your brand stands—we help you discover where it could go, and how to get there credibly in the eyes of your audience.

Our Brand Strategists translate brand ambitions into positioning that connects and sets you apart. We combine data and perception, strategy and creativity—to build brands that make sense on paper, and resonate in the hearts and minds of your audience.

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