10 Questions to Know If People Remember Your Brand

Nice to meet you! I’m Lisa Picovschi, founder of The Bract Agency. For over a decade, I’ve worked with founders, startups, and brands, from Tel Aviv to Paris, across tech, fashion, architecture, and hospitality. And no matter the industry, I’ve noticed the same thing every single time.

Everyone talks about visibility. Awareness. Reach. But when I ask, “What do people feel when they see your brand?”,  silence. That’s where the real problem starts. Because a brand that’s only seen is a brand that’s soon forgotten. You can make people look, but if you don’t make them feel, you won’t make them stay.

In this article, we’ll break down how to fix that:

• Why emotion is the foundation of brand power
• How to measure it without killing the magic
• How to turn it into performance
• How to make your brand truly unforgettable

Let's dive in? Yalla!

I - The Why: Why Emotion Is Your Ultimate Differentiator?

Before we talk data, we talk heart. People don’t buy what you do; they buy how you make them feel. Emotion is what turns visibility into connection, and connection into loyalty.

When someone thinks of your brand, what do they feel first?
A. Nothing special, “oh yeah, that company”
B. A vague impression or visual memory
C. A clear emotion (trust, excitement, pride…)

If you answered A or B, it’s time to work on your emotional footprint.

Question 1: Do people feel something when they see your brand?

That’s where everything starts. Before a word is spoken, before a product is bought, your brand already creates a feeling.

The strongest brands trigger emotion before logic: 

• Coca-Cola sells happiness, not soda.
• Nike sells drive, not sneakers.
• Apple sells belonging, not tech.

Data point: According to Harvard Business Review, an emotionally connected customer is 3x more valuable over time. So here’s the real KPI: if people don’t feel something, they won’t remember anything.

Question 2: Can people describe your brand without naming your product?

Try this exercise: ask someone to explain your brand without using your product category.

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If they can only say “it’s a software,” “it’s a skincare brand,” or “it’s a café,” you’ve got a problem. A memorable brand is defined by emotion, not function. Think: “It’s the brand that makes me feel confident.” / “It’s the brand that gets me moving.” If your essence vanishes once the product is gone, your emotional equity is thin. Your goal isn’t to sell what you do. It’s to sell what people become when they choose you.

II - The Measure: How to Track Emotional Impact

You can’t improve what you don’t measure, even feelings. Today, the best marketers know how to analyze emotional engagement without killing authenticity. The goal isn’t to quantify the magic, but to understand what drives it.

When you measure your brand, what do you look at first?
A. Sales and ROI
B. Open rates, clicks, conversions
C. How people feel after the experience

If you answered A or B, you’re measuring the head, not the heart.

Question 3: Do you track emotional sentiment across your channels?

Social listening isn’t just about mentions. It’s about mood. The tone, the words, the emojis people use when they talk about you, that’s your emotional mirror. Use AI-powered sentiment tools to map emotional patterns: excitement, trust, frustration, nostalgia. Spotify does this brilliantly, their “Wrapped” campaign isn’t about stats. It’s about how people feel seen through their music. Emotion drives engagement. Engagement drives advocacy.

Question 4: Have you ever asked “How did you feel?” instead of “Are you satisfied?”

Most feedback forms miss the point. We ask, “Were you satisfied?” instead of “How did this make you feel?” Satisfaction checks if the job’s done. Emotion checks if the connection’s made. Airbnb learned this early: what matters most isn’t the cleanliness of the flat, it’s whether guests felt at home. If you don’t know what your customers feel, you’ll never know what makes them stay.

Question 5: Do people remember your ads or the feeling they gave?

You can spend millions on creative, but if your ad doesn’t leave a trace, it’s noise.
Apple, Nike, or Dove ads aren’t “creative”, they’re visceral. You remember the goosebumps, not the tagline. The silence, not the logo. Your content should aim for memory, not metrics. Because virality fades, emotion lasts.

Question 6: Are your fans your loudest ambassadors?

An emotionally connected customer is your cheapest and most powerful marketing channel. Tesla doesn’t buy ads. It builds tribes. People don’t just drive the cars, they defend the brand. When people advocate for you without being paid, you’ve reached emotional loyalty. That’s not brand awareness, that’s brand love.

III - The Strategy: Turning Emotion into Performance

Emotion without action is just storytelling. The secret is to bridge what people feel and what they do. Here’s how you turn empathy into execution.

Your brand strategy is built on:
A. KPIs and dashboards
B. Campaigns that “work”
C. Emotional consistency at every touchpoint

If you answered A or B, you’re building numbers, not meaning.

Question 7: Do you measure both ROI and ROE (Return on Emotion)?

ROI tells you what worked financially. ROE tells you what worked emotionally. Return on Emotion tracks how much value comes from connection, loyalty, recommendation, and share of heart.

Imagine tracking:

• % of customers using emotional language in reviews
• % of returning customers citing “trust” or “belonging”
• uplift in advocacy when emotional tone changes

This is how Dove and Patagonia measure success, not just by profit, but by the emotional change they create.

Question 8: Do you connect data and feeling in your brand tracking?

Stop treating qualitative and quantitative as two worlds. When you connect the dots, numbers tell the story, emotions give it meaning.

Example:
Run a brand recall study → 80% remember your message.
Then analyze tone → only 20% felt inspired.

You’ve got reach, but no resonance. That’s the insight you need to adjust storytelling, tone, or experience. Data without emotion is empty. Emotion without data is blind. You need both.

IV - The Experience: Building Emotional Memory

The brands that stay aren’t the ones with the best campaigns; they’re the ones that create memories. Emotion turns every customer interaction into a story worth retelling.

Your customer experience creates:
A. Satisfaction
B. Recognition
C. Memory

If you answered A, you’re a service.
If you answered C, you’re an experience.

Question 9: Do your customers feel something memorable?

What happens after the purchase defines your brand more than the purchase itself. That’s where the real bond forms. Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign didn’t just sell products, it sparked reflection, conversation, and pride. Patagonia built loyalty by aligning every action with its values. LEGO makes adults feel like kids again, that’s emotion as strategy.

Ask yourself: what moment do you create that no one else can copy?

Question 10: If you disappeared tomorrow, would people miss you?

The ultimate question. If your brand vanished, would people notice, or would the market move on? If they’d miss you, it means you built emotional capital. You became part of their identity, their routine, their story. When you reach that level, competitors fade. You’re no longer an option, you’re a reference.

Conclusion

A good brand sells. A great brand stays. You can copy products, ads, even tone. But you can’t copy connection. Measuring emotion isn’t about counting smiles, it’s about proving that your brand makes people feel something real. Because when you own the heart, the mind follows.

Return on Emotion = Return on Meaning.

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This article builds on the field experience of Lisa Picovschi, founder of The Bract Agency, who has spent over a decade helping startups and brands around the world build emotional connections that last. Her conviction is simple: people don’t remember what you said, they remember how you made them feel. This belief, shaped through hundreds of founder collaborations, defines her method: connecting digital precision with human emotion to build brands that aren’t just noticed, but remembered.