According to Bain & Company, the best way brands can grow over the long term: They need to grow the number of buyers. That may sound obvious or even like circular reasoning. But the reality is that it’s a counter-intuitive departure from the way generations of consumer goods marketing plans have tried to outperform rival brands. Brand plans often focus on a well-segmented group of shoppers, getting them to try the brand and progressively converting them into avid consumers who buy larger quantities over time. This Bain report suggests building memory structures through anchoring a brand in consumers’ long-term memories, using the full range of touchpoints and increasing household penetration.

Read the Bain Brief by Guy Brusselmans, John Blasberg and Bruno Lannes