How CBB uncovered the six keys to memorability

Our report, The Six Keys to a Memorable Brand, delves into what makes a brand truly memorable and why memorability is critical to building stronger brands. These insights come from dedicated research on memorability but also from our work on City Brand Barometer 2023, Business Edition.

Our research uncovered substantial overlap between what makes a city brand memorable and what drives brand loyalty for businesses. We found that stakeholders are influenced by similar factors when choosing which city or business brand to trust, invest in, or stay loyal to.

Whether a brand represents a city or a business, the six keys we identified are the same.

These six keys work together to make a brand not just recognisable, but memorable:

Emotion
Make me feel something. Create deep, emotional connections that anchor your brand in the minds of your audience.

Attention
Make me notice, keep me interested. Capture and sustain attention in a world full of distractions.

Story
Pique my curiosity. Craft compelling stories that resonate with your audience and make your brand more relatable.

Involvement 
Include me. Engage your audience by making them a part of your brand’s journey.

Repetition 
Show up regularly. A steady presence helps reinforce memory and keeps your brand top-of-mind.

Consistency
Be familiar every time. Ensure every interaction with your brand is consistent, reinforcing your brand’s identity.

We started by reviewing research across branding, psychology, neuroscience, and marketing (see our full bibliography) to create a comprehensive list of factors contributing to memorability.

These included: 

Aesthetic Appeal; Attention; Challenge; Closure; Conflict; Consistency; Creativity; Detail; Emotion; Excitement; Fear; Humour; Inspiration; Intensity; Involvement; Learning; Novelty; Personal Significance; Rarity; Repetition; Sensory Stimulation; Story; and Surprise.

After refining this list through our own research and analysis, we arrived at the six keys to making a brand—whether a city or business—memorable.

To narrow the long list of factors down to our final six, we used City Brand Barometer 2023, our global study on the strength of city brands.

Cities, like businesses, have brands shaped by specific attributes, though a city’s identity often evolves more slowly and can be harder to manage. They offer a distinct advantage for studying memorability: people either have direct experiences with a city or they don’t.

For instance, New York is widely known, while Lagos may be less familiar. However, for those who have visited either city, their experiences are distinct and memorable, allowing us to distinguish between the memorability of the city's ‘promise’ (e.g., branding and marketing) and the ‘experience’ (e.g., landmarks and cultural interactions).

In contrast, people may feel familiar with a product or service brand, even if they haven’t personally experienced it. Tesla, for example, evokes strong opinions, even though many people have never driven one.

City brands are more grounded in lived experiences, making them a less biassed and more robust subject for studying memorability.

When we analysed the data from City Brand Barometer, we didn’t find clear memorability ‘winners.’ For example, while Tokyo may seem more memorable than Lagos to many people, the difference diminishes when you ask people who have actually visited both cities.

This insight supports our hypothesis that experience is the key driver of memorability, rather than global prominence.

In our analysis, we focused on eight cities that are globally relevant but aren't dominated by their international image: Barcelona, Birmingham (UK), Dallas, Lagos, Munich, Oslo, Singapore, and Tokyo. Our goal wasn’t to gauge popularity but to understand what makes these cities memorable.

We narrowed the long list of potential characteristics down to our six final keys: 

Emotion, Attention, Story, Involvement, Consistency, and Repetition.

Our data showed a clear correlation between these six keys and memorability, with some having a stronger impact than others. No single key is the most important on its own; instead, it’s the combination of them that creates a truly memorable brand experience.

By understanding and leveraging the keys, both city and corporate brands can develop strategies that enhance memorability, helping people choose them over competitors faster, pay more to visit or buy, and keep coming back.

Cities are particularly skilled at capturing attention. Governments and tourism professionals are well-versed in how to highlight the standout moments in a city’s landscape. However, their skill at applying other keys besides Attention can vary significantly.

Our analysis reinforced that the quality of a visitor’s experience—rather than the city’s global prominence—determines how memorable a city is. As with any brand, a city’s memorability is shaped by emotional connections, attention-grabbing moments, consistent engagement, and repetition.

By applying these insights, cities and businesses alike can build brands that don’t just stand out but become truly memorable.

A memorable brand strengthens a business by speeding up decision-making, increasing price premiums, and ultimately driving loyalty.

Our latest report, The Six Keys to a Memorable Brand, reveals the science behind memorability and how to apply the six keys—Emotion, Attention, Story, Involvement, Repetition, and Consistency—to your brand strategy.


Learn how to be memorable for all the right reasons and see your brand thrive: 

Download the report here.