What Cathy Freeman, Don Bradman and Ash Barty taught us about staying front-of-mind

We still remember them

At TRA, we recently asked Australians a simple open-text question: "Which public figures or cultural icons do you admire or respect?"

The answers sorted naturally into three buckets: entertainers, politicians and sports people. It's the sports people that offer the most interesting lesson for anyone building a brand.

The three names mentioned most weren't today's dominant athletes. They were Cathy Freeman, who retired from competition in 2003. Don Bradman, who died in 2001. Ash Barty, who walked away from tennis at her peak in 2022, now focused on family life.

By any measure of current relevance, none of these three should be topping an unprompted recall question in 2026. And yet they did.

Why?

The common thread is that each has had a small but real moment of recent media coverage. An Order of Australia honour. A memorabilia auction making headlines. A quote about ruling out a comeback. None of these are major campaigns. They're minor pings. But pings can be enough because the underlying memory structure was already built, deep and well-connected, over years of consistent, distinctive presence.

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‍Small moments matter

None of these moments are particularly extraordinary on their own. That's precisely the point. Staying front-of-mind isn't always about creating the biggest moment. Often, it's about creating small opportunities for people to remember you.

Brands are no different.

Memory networks don't disappear. They weaken through neglect. A strong network built through years of clear, consistent brand-building doesn't need a full relaunch to come back to life. It needs a trigger. A touchpoint. A reason to be retrieved.

This matters because salience isn't permanent. Brands don't stay mentally available simply because they were once meaningful. Mental availability is something that is continually reinforced over time.

Distinctive assets don't go away, but they do need recognition. A logo, a jingle or a category entry point is only as powerful as the last time it was meaningfully brought to mind.

Relevance and salience are not the same thing. Ash Barty isn't competing in tennis in 2026. She's still highly salient though because the associative networks attached to her name, image and story never fully disappeared.  

Cathy Freeman's greatest sporting moments happened decades ago, but Australians don't need reminding of who she is when her name appears in the news. The memory structure is already there.

Brands work in much the same way. We sometimes talk about salience as though it's a destination. Reach a certain level of fame or awareness and your place in people's minds is secured. The reality is more dynamic than that.

Brands don't stay famous. They get re-famous, over and over again.

Small, frequent reminders often outperform rare, large ones when it comes to keeping brands mentally available. The practical lesson is simple. Brands stay front-of-mind when people are consistently given reasons to retrieve them from memory.

What this means for brands

For marketers, this is an important distinction. Not every touchpoint needs to become a cultural phenomenon. Not every campaign needs to be your biggest. Sometimes the most valuable thing a brand can do is simply provide people with another opportunity to remember who you are and what you stand for.

The lesson extends beyond advertising too. Product innovation, sponsorships, partnerships, media coverage and customer experiences all contribute to building and reinforcing memory structures. They're opportunities to strengthen what already exists rather than constantly starting again.

The strongest brands don't continually reinvent themselves. They give people consistent reasons to remember them.

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Legacy earns it, consistency keeps it

The strongest brands understand that consistency compounds. They aren't repeatedly introducing themselves to consumers. They're strengthening existing associations and creating new pathways back to memory.

Cathy Freeman, Don Bradman and Ash Barty weren't top of mind because of one defining moment. They were top of mind because those moments never entirely disappeared. Over time, they've been reinforced, revisited and gently brought back into the conversation. The strongest brands work in much the same way.

The takeaway for marketers and brand owners is simple. Don't confuse being unfashionable with being forgotten. But don't confuse past greatness with permanent salience either.

The names that stay in people's heads are the ones that keep finding small ways back into the conversation. The same is true of brands.

Legacy earns you the memory structure. Consistency is what keeps it firing.

Stay in the news. Stay in the mind.

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Staying front-of-mind isn't accidental

Building memory structures takes time. Keeping them alive requires brands to consistently create meaningful moments of retrieval.

Learn more about how TRA helps organisations understand what keeps brands front-of-mind through Brand Tracking and Brand Edge.

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