Glossary
Category Entry Points
Also known as · CEPs, Kaufanlässe
Category Entry Points are the situations, needs and motives that send someone into a category — the cues from which buyers retrieve brands.
Category Entry Points (CEPs) are the situations, needs and motives from which someone enters a category. They answer the questions Why, When, Where, With whom and With what — for example “quick breakfast before work” or “something to bring to a dinner party”.
Why Category Entry Points matter
Buyers do not retrieve brands from an abstract ranking. They retrieve them from a situation. The more Category Entry Points a brand is linked to, and the stronger those links, the more often it is considered. This turns the vague goal of brand awareness into something a team can actually work on.
Category Entry Points in practice
- Map them first. Research which situations exist in the category and which brands currently own them.
- Choose deliberately. Defend the ones you own, then target adjacent ones with real volume.
- Build them into the work. A CEP belongs in the creative brief, not only in the research deck.
Category Entry Points are the practical route to Mental Availability — they define what a brand should be remembered for.
Source · Jenni Romaniuk, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute
Related terms
Brand Tracking
Brand Tracking is the continuous measurement of how a brand is perceived — designed to inform decisions rather than to fill reports.
Mental Availability
Mental Availability is the probability that a brand comes to mind in a buying situation — how easily and how often it is noticed, recognised and thought of.