Memory and Marketing
There are a number of techniques that have relevance with regard to memory and product advertising.
*Repetition
TV commercials usually last 30 seconds or more and normally involve repetition of the brand name. This is just enough time for the product to enter long-term memory.
This method is not foolproof. Only those consumers who are already motivated will remember the product. Also, information is lost with each repetition. Finally, it may be a futile form of advertising when there is a lot of competition within the same field.
*Visuals
It would seem that brand names are more readily learned if they have a memorable image to accompany them.
*Self-reference
It has been found that reference to the self and to people’s own lives also increases the likelihood of them remembering products
*Mnemonics
This refers to techniques used to remember information by forming associations, creating rhymes, and simplifying information. We can make things easier to learn by dividing them into smaller groups or lists and so on.
All of these techniques provide us with ‘meaningfulness’. That is, we can make information easier to learn by using patterns, keys, associations and so on. We organise our memories into ‘schemas’. It is these schemas that marketers wish to exploit.
Modelling
This is a form of learning that both behaviourists and cognitive psychologists acknowledge. This is where people observe the behaviours of others and use it as the model for their own behaviour.
This type of modelling has been used extensively in commercials.