Search is physical availability, not mental availability

A Twitter thread started by Byron Sharp. Mental availability and  physical availability are topics explained in his book How Brands Grow.

Byron Sharp:
Search is physical availability. Not advertising to build mental availability.

…I’ve said this quite a few times previously. Typing “flight to Spain” into Google is like walking up to a shelf in a supermarket.

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Les Binet (co-author of Effectiveness in Context and How Not to Plan):

Yes. Paid search is like paying for a gondola end [endcap].
Although to add a slight nuance to that, physical availability can help build mental availability too. We sometimes discover brands by browsing the shelves.
And in physical retail, mental availability can help build physical availability, by increasing rate of sale and making the brand more profitable to stock. (Can’t think of a similar effect online just now).
So each affects the other, in the long run.

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Hanns Schempp replying to Byron Sharp:
Not making the case for mental availability here but what exactly happens in our brain when we quick-sort search results in it?

Byron Sharp:
Like looking at a shelf in a store.

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