Mental Availability Now Lives Online: Why FMCG brands must rethink how they’re seen and remembered in a digital-first world

There was a time when brand building happened on the shelf. A battle of bold colours, distinctive packs, and prime eye-level placement. But that shelf is no longer just physical.

Today, a brand’s mental availability, its ability to come to mind in buying moments, is shaped more by digital cues than physical ones.

And for FMCG brands, that shift is seismic.

Mental availability is not just awareness, but access

Mental availability isn’t about being famous. It’s about being first. The first brand remembered when a need arises. And in 2025, that moment is far more likely to happen on a screen than in a store.

The Kantar BrandZ 2025 report spells it out:

“Brands that are meaningfully different and easily recalled are better positioned to defend pricing power and maintain consumer preference, particularly in digital-first markets.“

If your brand doesn’t show up in digital memory, it won’t get picked up in physical reality.

The new front shelf is a scroll, a search, a swipe

The new shelf isn’t static, it’s algorithmic. It doesn’t reward visibility alone. It rewards relevance.

Today’s top-of-mind real estate is found in:

• Social feeds
• Online marketplaces
• Branded search results

And the strongest-performing FMCG brands are designing with this in mind.

Take Who Gives a Crap, a brand built for the digital world from day one. Its bold, colourful packaging cuts through the noise. Its witty, irreverent tone stays sharp across email, social, and shelf. And its campaigns don’t just sell, they spark laughter and loyalty. It’s a masterclass in digital-first mental availability.

They’re building it through:

• Visual assets that stand out in feeds and search
• A tone of voice that’s unmistakable across every channel
• Packaging that pops in thumbnails, not just on shelves
• Campaigns that build memory structures, not just impressions

Brand equity is the buffer and the builder

In a volatile market, brand equity does more than hold value. It protects it. Strong brands are better insulated from economic pressures, maintaining both their pricing power and consumer loyalty.

This rings especially true in low-barrier categories like food, beverage, and personal care where switching is easy and attention is scarce.

For challenger brands, showing up isn’t enough. You need to be remembered, and recalled, at the right moment.

How to build digital mental availability in 2025

For FMCG and CPG brands, the path forward is clear. Focus here:

Design for scroll, not just shelf

Optimise packaging and visuals to stand out in ecommerce thumbnails, reels, and search.

Build memory structures

Use distinctive brand assets; colours, shapes, taglines, sounds. Familiarity fuels recall.

Balance brand with performance

Short-term sales tactics don’t build mental availability. Invest in brand-building that sticks.

Own a problem, not just a product

Mental availability grows when your brand becomes the default answer to a specific need. Define that need and own it.

The brands winning now are easy to think of

Mental availability isn’t passive, it’s earned. It’s built through repetition, relevance, and resonance.

It’s the difference between being a product on the shelf… and being the brand in the mind.

When consumers scroll quickly, tap through stories, or scan search results, they rely on instant recognition and existing brand memory. In those moments, the brands that come to mind first are often the ones that get chosen.

In other words: If your brand isn’t remembered digitally, it might as well not exist at all.