How Brands Really Grow (Part 2): Reach Matters

by Copenhagen INK · Published 08/08/2026 · Updated 06/07/2026

After sharing my piece on “How Brands Really Grow“, one comment surfaced from Dale W. Harrison:

“This all sounds right — but it’s meaningless without broad reach. And reach is limited by market share.”

It’s a fair challenge. And it gets to the heart of how brand growth actually works. I didn’t leave it out on purpose and as we kick-off 2026 I thought it was worth a deep-dive.

So let’s be clear upfront:

Yes, reach is critical. No, it isn’t fixed. And yes — budgets matter.

But not in the way most people think:

First, a Reminder of the Fundamentals

From Part 1, the evidence-based foundations still stand:

Brands grow by increasing mental availability — being thought of easily in buying situations.

Mental availability is built through:

Category Entry Points (CEPs): being associated with more buying occasions
Distinctive Brand Assets (DBAs): being recognised instantly when recalled

Media and creative must work together:

Media creates exposure
Creative builds memory and attribution

And critically: None of this works without reach.

But reach doesn’t come after growth.

It comes before it.

The Myth: “Reach Is Locked to Market Share”

The assumption goes like this:

“Small brands can’t reach many people because they’re small.”

But research from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute shows the opposite:

Market share is largely an outcome of reach
Brands grow by reaching more category buyers, not by talking more to existing ones
Penetration growth precedes share growth — not the other way around

Or as my favourite marketing professor Mark Ritson famously put it:

“The biggest mistake marketers make is confusing efficiency with effectiveness.”

Small brands don’t fail to grow because they can’t reach people.

They fail because they choose not to.

What Actually Constrains Reach

Here’s the more accurate truth:

A brand’s Share of Market (SOM) — and therefore its communications budget — does set a ceiling on what’s possible.

Unless you bring in outside cash, you can’t outspend the category leader.

But here’s the part many miss:

👉 How you spend that budget sets the floor.

If you waste your budget in:

Channels that reach very few people
Over-targeted tactics with high frequency but low penetration
Creative that doesn’t build memory or attribution

…you artificially lower your own performance — even before the ceiling matters.

So yes:

SOM sets the ceiling
Bad reach strategy sets an even lower floor

Reach Only Works If It Builds Memory

This is where Distinctive Brand Assets and CEPs come back into play.

Reach on its own does nothing.

Reach that isn’t remembered is just cost.

Research from System1 shows that advertising delivers long-term returns only when:

It reaches broad category buyers
It triggers emotional response
It is clearly and fluently branded

That’s why Distinctive Brand Assets matter so much.

Not because they’re branding “fluff” — but because they ensure every impression builds your brand, not your competitor’s. (And why I wrote so much about it in the first article!)

CEPs Are How You Scale Reach Without Wasting It

Category Entry Points don’t narrow reach.

They structure it.

They help brands:

Justify broad reach internally
Link exposure to real buying situations
Build memory before purchase intent appears

CEPs turn reach from “spray and pray” into future demand creation.

You’re not trying to hit fewer people. You’re trying to be remembered in more moments.

What the Best Brands Do Differently

WARC effectiveness analysis consistently shows that the strongest brands:

Prioritise penetration over precision
Invest in broad, consistent reach
Use the same assets repeatedly to compound memory
Balance short-term activation with long-term brand building

Brands that don’t grow usually aren’t under-funded.

They’re over-optimised.

The Real Growth Equation

The real growth equation therfore isn’t market share first and reach second — it’s the other way around.

Reach builds memory.

Memory builds mental availability.

And mental availability drives market share.

Category Entry Points define where you need to be remembered.
Distinctive Brand Assets define who gets remembered.
Reach defines how many people encode it into memory.

Remove any one of these — and growth stalls.

Brands don’t stop growing because they hit a ceiling. They stop because they aim too small, repeat too little, and confuse efficiency with effectiveness.

Growth doesn’t come from protecting reach.

It comes from earning it — broadly, repeatedly, and recognisably. 🤩