Brand tracking
Brand tracking is a survey you repeat on a fixed schedule to measure how buyers see your brand against the same set of competitors over time. It uses a stable set of metrics such as awareness, consideration and preference. Because the questions and the competitive set stay constant, the change from one wave to the next shows whether brand health is improving or slipping.
How it is measured
Movement = this wave's score minus last wave's score, for your brand and for each competitor in the set.
Compare your movement with the competitors' movement. If your score moved in step with every competitor, the market moved. If it moved differently from theirs, your brand moved.
Cadence follows the market. The Research Agency notes that many organizations track continuously, while those with limited budgets or slow-moving categories may opt for monthly, quarterly or annual check-ups. GWI says many brands track quarterly.
theresearchagency.com, Brand Tracking: Key metrics for measuring brand health | The Research Agency, 1 April 2026
gwi.com, Brand Health: Why And How You Should Track It - GWI, 14 May 2024
A concrete case
Pricing power is the clearest link to revenue. GWI reports that 53% of internet users prefer to pay more for a brand they know. For a consumer packaged goods brand competing with private label, a falling familiarity score is a margin question as well as a marketing question.
gwi.com, Brand Health: Why And How You Should Track It - GWI, 14 May 2024
Common mistakes
The Research Agency lists several. These include changing metrics and methodologies too frequently, interpreting data without applying context, treating brand tracking as a one-off exercise and failing to act on insights.
theresearchagency.com, Brand Tracking: Key metrics for measuring brand health | The Research Agency, 1 April 2026
Switching vendors has a cost too. Brand equity can be a challenge when switching from one brand tracking program to another. If you inherit a tracker, keep it running for several waves before you change it.
theresearchagency.com, Brand Tracking: Key metrics for measuring brand health | The Research Agency, 1 April 2026
The Research Agency also argues for adding creative and campaign effectiveness measures to the tracker. Its reason is that teams have more control over that part of marketing.
theresearchagency.com, Brand Tracking: Key metrics for measuring brand health | The Research Agency, 1 April 2026
When it matters to you
A tracker supports your case for brand spend with the CEO and the board between sales cycles. Show the trend line, not a single wave, on one slide of your board deck. In your first 90 days, find out what the existing tracker measures and how long its series runs before you change anything.
Sources
- Brand Tracking: Key metrics for measuring brand health | The Research Agency, theresearchagency.com, 1 April 2026
- Brand Health: Why And How You Should Track It - GWI, gwi.com, 14 May 2024
Written by the CMO Tribune Desk and edited by Lila Odinaev. Every factual sentence was checked against a passage on the source it cites. See how we work, or report an error on the corrections page.