Why is that surprising? I'm sure we tend to have very strong recall when it comes to positive brand associations. Good shoes make your feet comfortable. Good tomato sauce tastes good (yum!). Shampoo, um, cleans your hair. You'd probably be really aware of the brand if you had a dandruff problem, or something similar, though.

I'm sure you know what brand of computer you're using right now or, if you built your own, what brand of CPU, video card, RAM and hard drive you installed in it.

For me, I can tell you without a moment's hesitation that I use the following brands for the listed product categories:

Laptop: Apple

Phone: Apple

Shoes: Puma

Jeans: Diesel

Pasta sauce: Newman's Own

But, with shampoo: beats me, whatever was on sale at Costco.

Interestingly, in 3 out of 4 aforementioned known brands, I almost always shop in their branded stores for their products. (on a related note: I'd love to find a Paul Newman-branded grocery store. that would be killer).

If you have been a consumer long enough you realize certain brands tend to cater to your interests. In the case of shoes, there used to be a very very clear trend- Nike fit my feet how I wanted and fit what I wanted in a shoe. Now there is another trend to replace that one, as Nike shoes stopped matching what I wanted. Puma fills that category now.

It helps if you have a clear idea of what you want. I, for example, like extremely minimal shoes. Think like a ballet slipper, except a little more sturdy so it can put up with rocks and concrete and stuff.

For tomato sauce, I use the ingredients list to differentiate.

Which is also something you might want to consider when buying Shampoo.