Memory and Random Access Branding

RamBrands

The first version of random-access memory (RAM) for computers was incredibly primitive. It consisted of a cathode ray tube that stored data as electrically-charged spots on its face. Created in 1947, this initial RAM wasn’t even tested until the following year, when the Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine ran its first computer program. And though RAM has since evolved tremendously, the concept remains what it was nearly seventy years ago: that data can be accessed in the same amount of time regardless of where it is stored in the memory device.

I bring this up because I see countless parallels between RAM and branding. Brands are everywhere, and people can access any brand randomly no matter its physical location. It doesn’t have to be in a store or on a screen. If a person heads to the apartment building laundry room, for example, they are likely to see several brands of detergent and fabric softener used by other residents. If they see Tide and Downey more than any other brands, they’ve not only accessed those brands, they’ve witnessed a subtle form of endorsement. Tucked away in their mind, that experience becomes a memory. Recall that memory when they go grocery shopping and it could be the basis for a decision.

Every time a person accesses a brand, it is deposited in their memory. Like a brand and it becomes a favorable memory. See someone using it and it becomes even more favorable. Hear someone complaining about it and that dissatisfaction becomes a negative memory. Indifference falls into the neutral memory file. Every brand access becomes data. Every piece of data becomes a memory. The human mind works the same as the integrated circuits of random-access memory. Memories are recalled in an instant. And the decisions made based on these memories can be made just as quickly.

That is why every brand access point is important. It doesn’t matter if it’s in a magazine or on a shelf in the neighbor’s pantry, a brand must always put its best image forward. The strength of a memory depends on it.