Repetition and Memory How Advertisers Use Repetition To Build Brand Recall

Last week I discussed the AIDA model and how advertisers can use it to understand their customers and their decisions, thoughts, reactions, and feelings toward products and services. Check out last week’s post here. This week, I will be digging deeper into the cognitive aspects of consumers and how that directly impacts marketing strategies. This article focuses on repetition and memory and how the two can be used to create brand memory in the minds of digital advertising consumers. Specifically, this article discusses classical conditioning and how marketers use it. 

For understanding of the following segments, take a look at the following: 

• Unconditioned stimulus: Naturally produces a response 

• Neutral stimulus: Not associated with a response 

• Conditioned stimulus: The neutral stimulus produces a response like the unconditioned stimulus.

Classical Conditioning In Advertising

Have you ever seen an ad on TV and then later seen the product on social media, and then in the store while shopping? This repetition isn’t by accident. Repetition plays an important role in our lives. It is the main way our brains can retain information and learn. Behavioral Learning Theory can help us understand how this works. Specifically, how we learn through something called classical conditioning. Discovered and coined in the 1890s by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning occurs when subjects are exposed to one stimulus (unconditioned) and associate it with another stimulus (neutral) through repeated exposure. For the history of this experiment and more examples, check out this article. When consistently exposed to the pairing, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus, creating the same effect on the subject as the unconditioned stimulus. 

Brands implement this conditioning in a lot of their marketing strategies in order to create a certain response in the consumer. 

An example of this would be the Netflix streaming service logo, color, and sound effect when the service loads on the TV. Its signature “ta-dum” sound effect paired with the entertainment creates a connection within the viewer. Through consistent exposure to these elements, the consumer associates the sound effect with entertainment. This is one reason why consistency is an important aspect in digital advertising. However, it is also important to understand the balance between repetition and redundancy in advertising. 

Although these may seem like the same thing, there is a place for advertising to be effectively repetitive and others where it is ineffective. An example of this would be showing the same advertisement to your target group without any changes or updates. This may create brand recognition, but it runs the risk of the consumers associating your brand with negative feelings (annoyance). Check out this article on brand fatigue. This is a different scenario than using the same jingle or music paired with the same color scheme of a company logo. A great way to keep consistent advertising without sacrificing updated features is to vary the creative content, while also keeping critical brand elements such as color, symbols, logo, etc.

Conclusion 

In summary, classic conditioning can be used in a variety of marketing strategies that harness the repetitive exposure to certain stimuli in order to form a relationship and connection in the consumers’ minds. This is especially important when trying to build relationships with consumers with a new brand you are building or advertising for. It is important to avoid brand fatigue, as showing customers the same content repeatedly can cause them to associate your brand with negative feelings. Instead, focus on creating new ways of displaying company values and products/services, while also keeping critical brand elements in place.

Stay tuned for more marketing tips with Market My Media.