What happens when a brand captures millions of views but still struggles to be remembered?
In this episode of The Unified Brand Podcast, we sit down with Tom Foulkes, former Global Head of Brand at McLaren and now Managing Director at HBI, to explore one of the biggest misconceptions in modern marketing: the belief that attention equals brand growth.
Tom shares insights from leading one of the world’s most iconic brands and explains why marketers need to stop obsessing over likes, shares, and impressions—and start focusing on memory, recall, and meaningful brand experiences.
We discuss:
- Why social media metrics can be misleading
- The difference between attention and memory
- What McLaren taught Tom about brand recall
- How brands can become memorable at the point of purchase
- The role of storytelling, semiotics, and cultural cues in branding
- Why consistency matters more than marketing trends
- Distinctiveness vs differentiation in crowded markets
- Global branding lessons from McLaren and professional services firms
- What the branding industry still gets wrong today
If you’re a founder, marketer, or business leader looking to build a brand that lasts—not just a campaign that performs—this episode is packed with valuable insights.
Tom’s Links
Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomfoulkes/
HB Website – https://uk-hb.com
How to Build Brand Memory: Why Attention Alone Doesn’t Grow Brands
Most businesses don’t have an awareness problem.
They have a memory problem.
Every week, marketing teams celebrate campaign reach, engagement rates, video views and social impressions. Dashboards glow green. Reports look healthy. Stakeholders feel reassured.
Yet revenue remains stubbornly flat.
Leads don’t improve.
Sales cycles don’t shorten.
Market share doesn’t move.
The uncomfortable reality is that visibility alone rarely drives growth.
A customer can see your content today and completely forget your brand tomorrow.
And if they forget you when they are ready to buy, all that attention becomes commercially irrelevant.
As Tom Foulkes, Managing Director of HBI and former Global Head of Brand at McLaren, explains:
“If at the point of transaction your brand cannot be recalled by the consumer, you do not exist.”
It’s a statement that cuts through decades of marketing jargon.
Because growth isn’t won by being seen.
Growth is won by being remembered.
The Great Marketing Misunderstanding
Modern marketing has become obsessed with measurement.
Not because measurement is wrong.
Because we’ve started measuring the wrong things.
The rise of digital platforms created an environment where attention became easy to track.
We can see:
- Impressions
- Reach
- Click-through rates
- Engagement
- Shares
- Comments
- Watch time
These metrics are useful.
But they are not the same as memory.
Attention is temporary.
Memory compounds.
Attention happens in a moment.
Memory influences future decisions.
The challenge is that attention provides instant feedback while memory develops gradually over time.
One creates a dopamine hit.
The other creates commercial value.
This is why many organisations unknowingly optimise for visibility while neglecting memorability.
Why Brand Memory Matters More Than Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is often misunderstood.
Many leaders assume awareness means customers will naturally think of them when a buying opportunity arises.
That’s not necessarily true.
Someone can be aware of hundreds of brands.
They can only actively recall a handful.
This distinction matters enormously.
Consider the difference:
Awareness
“I’ve heard of them.”
Recognition
“I know them when I see them.”
Recall
“I think of them when I need them.”
Only one of those influences purchase behaviour.
Recall.
This is where memory becomes commercially valuable.
When someone needs legal advice, accounting support, engineering expertise or strategic brand consultancy, they rarely evaluate every available option.
Instead, they create a shortlist from memory.
Brands that enter that shortlist first gain a significant advantage.
Why Social Media Success Often Fails to Translate Into Growth
One of the most fascinating insights from Tom’s experience at McLaren highlights this challenge perfectly.
McLaren generated extraordinary levels of engagement.
Millions of impressions.
Huge social interaction.
Industry-leading content performance.
Yet something wasn’t happening.
Brand recall wasn’t increasing.
Tom explained:
“We had become an incredibly effective broadcaster that was winning the watercooler moments, but that didn’t translate into commercial success with the people that could actually afford to purchase our cars.”
This insight should concern every marketer.
Because many businesses are unknowingly following the same path.
They’ve become entertainment companies.
Not memory-building companies.
The result is activity without accumulation.
Content without commercial impact.
Visibility without consideration.
The Science Behind Why We Remember Brands
Memory isn’t random.
It follows patterns.
The brain constantly decides what information deserves storage and what information can be discarded.
Brands that understand this process gain a significant advantage.
Tom’s exploration into memory science revealed something many marketers overlook.
The study of memory isn’t simply a marketing discipline.
It sits at the intersection of:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Philosophy
- Behavioural economics
Understanding how humans remember gives brands a blueprint for becoming more memorable.
While the science is complex, several principles consistently emerge.
Distinctiveness Creates Retrieval Shortcuts
The brain loves efficiency.
Rather than storing every piece of information equally, it creates shortcuts.
Distinctive assets act as retrieval mechanisms.
They make it easier for customers to find your brand within memory.
These assets might include:
- Colours
- Typography
- Shapes
- Audio signatures
- Packaging
- Language patterns
- Symbols
The strongest brands own these consistently.
Not because consistency looks nice.
Because consistency improves recall.
Every repetition strengthens a memory pathway.
Every deviation weakens it.
Semiotics: The Hidden Language of Brand Memory
One of the most overlooked drivers of memory is semiotics.
Tom described semiotics as a way of using cultural shortcuts to embed meaning more effectively.
Most communication isn’t interpreted literally.
It is interpreted symbolically.
People absorb signals.
Visual cues.
Colours.
Styles.
Settings.
Objects.
These become shorthand for larger ideas.
Luxury brands understand this instinctively.
Technology brands understand this instinctively.
The best brands don’t simply tell audiences what they represent.
They show them.
Through symbols.
Through cues.
Through culture.
This allows meaning to transfer more efficiently into memory.
Why Distinctive Is More Powerful Than Different
Many brands confuse differentiation with memorability.
They assume being different automatically makes them memorable.
It doesn’t.
Difference alone is often meaningless.
Distinctiveness matters.
A brand can be radically different and completely forgettable.
Equally, a brand can be recognisably familiar while remaining highly memorable.
The goal isn’t to shock.
The goal is to create meaningful distinction.
Tom discussed this tension during the podcast, highlighting how some campaigns pursue difference at the expense of coherence.
When a campaign feels disconnected from the brand behind it, memory formation becomes weaker.
Customers struggle to connect the experience back to the organisation.
The result is wasted attention.
The Role of Storytelling in Brand Memory
Humans remember stories differently from facts.
Stories create structure.
Structure improves retention.
This explains why the world’s most memorable brands rarely communicate through isolated claims.
Instead, they communicate through narratives.
Narratives create emotional anchors.
They provide context.
They help customers organise information.
Most importantly, they help customers remember.
The strongest brand stories remain consistent while evolving over time.
The details change.
The meaning remains stable.
The Peak-End Rule and Customer Experience
Psychologists have long studied how people remember experiences.
One finding appears repeatedly.
People tend to remember:
- The emotional peak
- The ending
More than the average of the entire experience.
This matters enormously for brands.
Because customers don’t remember every interaction equally.
They remember moments.
The standout experience.
The exceptional service.
The frustrating onboarding.
The brilliant outcome.
The disappointing ending.
These moments become memory markers.
And those markers become the brand.
How Brand Memory Creates Competitive Advantage
Most organisations compete for attention.
Few compete for memory.
This creates opportunity.
The brands that become easiest to recall often become easiest to choose.
Not because they are objectively better.
Because they are mentally available.
When customers face uncertainty, familiarity reduces risk.
Memory creates familiarity.
Familiarity creates trust.
Trust increases selection.
This is one reason category leaders tend to remain category leaders.
Their greatest asset is not awareness.
It is mental availability.
The Unified Brand Approach to Memory Building
At Elements Brand Management, we often see businesses treat branding as a communications exercise.
In reality, memory is created through alignment.
Every touchpoint contributes to brand memory.
Marketing.
Sales.
Customer experience.
Operations.
Culture.
Leadership.
Delivery.
The strongest brands create consistency across all of them.
This is why we developed the Unified Brand Framework.
Because fragmented experiences create fragmented memories.
Unified experiences create powerful, repeatable associations.
When every touchpoint reinforces the same strategic idea, memory compounds.
And compounding memory creates growth.
Five Practical Ways to Build Brand Memory
1. Measure Recall, Not Just Reach
Reach tells you who saw the message.
Recall tells you who remembered it.
The second is infinitely more valuable.
2. Build Distinctive Assets
Own something recognisable.
Colours.
Language.
Visual systems.
Ideas.
Create assets competitors cannot easily imitate.
3. Stop Reinventing Your Message
Consistency beats novelty.
Most brands abandon messages long before audiences have absorbed them.
4. Design for Memory
Every campaign should answer:
“What will people remember?”
Not:
“What will people see?”
5. Create Strong Endings
The final interaction often becomes the remembered interaction.
Invest heavily in delivery, onboarding and customer success.
The Future Belongs to Memorable Brands
The attention economy is becoming increasingly crowded.
AI is accelerating content production.
More messages are being created than ever before.
The result is predictable.
Attention becomes harder to earn.
Memory becomes more valuable.
The brands that thrive over the next decade will not necessarily be the loudest.
They will be the most memorable.
They will understand that growth is not created through impressions alone.
Growth is created through mental availability.
Through recall.
Through meaningful associations.
Through consistency.
As Tom Foulkes puts it:
“If you are competing for attention, that’s fantastic. If you can achieve that attention and you can lock into memory, your job is not done because at the point of transaction, if your brand cannot be remembered, you do not exist.”
That may be one of the most important lessons modern marketers need to hear.
Because the objective was never attention.
Attention is simply the doorway.
Memory is the destination.
And memory is where growth begins.
What's Your Brand Ceiling?
Take the 4-minute Brand Power Assessment and find out what's capping your growth, before it costs you the next deal.
