Brand Awareness is a Metric, NOT a Goal

OK just a quick one. Here it is 1:00 in the morning, and I have to write this because it's on my mind. I'll regret it when the alarm goes of at 6:something.

I read a whitepaper recently, and it started off by making the critical point that in order to design metrics, you must be clear about your objectives. OK we all agree.

But then this same document goes on to outline brand awareness as an objective.

Now at first, this didn't jump out at me.

But has brand awareness ever been a business objective? Do people go into business to maximize brand awareness? Or is brand awareness "quantified", a measure of your effectiveness at reaching your target audience and disposing them to consume your product?