Learn and recall! (Memory)

“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier


“If only there could be an invention”, I said impulsively, “that bottled up a memory, like a scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again.”

Imagine if memories could be like this!

Definitions: Marketing objectives
“Every time an advertisement or commercial appears, the objective is to have the reader or viewer to learn something… and remember what he learned.” (Brit 1955)

“… our ultimate aim is to teach them brand loyalty” (Rice, 1997)

“to get the brand into the evoked set” (Ruth Hickmott)

This class focused on memory and nostalgia and how advertisers can use this to encourage us to buy their product. Memory involves a process or acquiring information and storing it over time so that it will be available when needed. Some approaches to the study of memory employ an information processing approach. They claim that the mind is in some ways like a computer; data is input, processed and output for later use in revised form. The diagram below was used in class to explain this further.

If a consumer is familiar with a product then they are more likely to recall it in the future, this forms the fundamentals of marketing where by awareness of a product is built. The more attention we pay to a particular product, the more likely we are to remember it. A great example of this is the most recent Cadburys advertisement which is inserted below. This seems to be a case of ‘love it or hate it’ and many people remember it and talk about it because of their dislike of the advert, this therefore raises awareness of the product.

A consumer may process a stimulus simply in terms of its sensory meaning, such as its colour or shape. When this occurs, meaning may be activated when a person sees a picture of the stimulus. This relates to ‘episodic memories’ which are those that relate to events that are personally relevant and as a result, a person’s motivation to retain these memories will be strong. Commercials sometimes attempt activate episodic memories shared by many people. Recall of the past may have an effect on future behavior, this leads us on to nostalgia and the effect it has on consumers.