Mental Real Estate

Definition

Mental real estate is a way of describing the amount of space one has in one's mind, and how much of it is taken up by one idea-set, brand, or other preoccupation. It could be used to describe the availability of space in one's mind, and how certain activities, inputs and preoccupations influence the space in one's mind.

For instance, the images that come to the average modern mind when one thinks a tropical island are mot likely those of a travel brochure, an online image or the travel channel than they are likely to be from an actual experience. The more real estate a product takes up in a shopping aisle, the more mental real estate it will occupy in our minds. Brands and brand recognition constantly fight over mental real estate in this way. Television or media, like a film’s rapid frames, intoxicate the user, leaving no time is left for the viewer to process or critically analyze what has just occurred.