| rimary goal of all advertising, including website content | | | | but attribute it to the wrong source. This |
| is to be remembered. No matter what other | | | | 'unconscious transference' occurs when a feature or |
| marketing goal you want to achieve, if your audience | | | | benefit is too similar to a competitor's, or when the |
| doesn't remember your presentation, it is a wasted | | | | presentation lacks any distinctive association, |
| effort and lost opportunity. All the money spent on | | | | reference, mnemonic, or emotional impact. |
| attracting people to your website goes right down | | | | Sometimes the presentation of information is highly |
| the drain if your content is instantly forgettable. With | | | | relevant and is therefore embedded in memory but |
| that in mind it is hard to believe how little thought is | | | | the source of that information is considered |
| put into creating content that people will remember. | | | | extraneous and is therefore dismissed as |
| In order to create content or advertising that people | | | | inconsequential. When delivering information to a |
| will remember, we have to understand a little about | | | | website audience, it is important to create presence, |
| how memory works. Professor Daniel Schacter of | | | | and establish credibility, in order to link the message |
| Harvard University is an expert in the study of | | | | to the messenger. |
| human memory and has written numerous books on | | | | By using web-video and web-audio to present |
| the subject, including 'The Seven Sins of Memory: | | | | information, you create the opportunity to establish a |
| How the Mind Forgets and Remembers'. In this book | | | | memorable personality for your organization. |
| Schacter describes seven characteristics of human | | | | Presenting information as 'programming' rather than |
| memory that all marketing people need to be aware | | | | just information provides context and character, both |
| of in order to construct content and advertising that | | | | of which help build a memory inducing corporate |
| website audiences will retain. | | | | personality. |
| Transience | | | | Suggestibility |
| Transience refers to the fact that memory degrades | | | | Suggestibility occurs when information learned from |
| over time, our recollections become generic and what | | | | an outside source is attributed to personal |
| we are left with is a sense of expectation rather | | | | experience. Vivid mental images, intense emotional |
| than specific features. | | | | reactions, or suggestive questions that target |
| If you overload your website visitors with a shopping | | | | emotional soft spots can trigger this type of false |
| list of features or a series of b-school banalities, you | | | | memory. |
| are giving up the opportunity to make a singular | | | | Research suggests that suggestibility for false |
| impression on your audience, especially if the features | | | | memories can be enhanced if an audience is |
| you are so proud of are mere duplicates of features | | | | instructed to expect results that are plausible. The |
| offered by your competitors. | | | | combination of suggestibility and misattribution can |
| You may not remember the specifics of the latest | | | | result in people having memories of things that never |
| Volvo automobile advertising campaign but you most | | | | took place. |
| likely regard Volvos to be safe, the primary focus of | | | | In a research paper entitled, 'Make My Memory: How |
| their long-term marketing efforts. What Volvo has | | | | Advertising Can Change Our Memories of the Past,' |
| done is position itself as the manufacturer of safe | | | | Kathryn A. Braun of Harvard Business School, |
| cars. This is the position they hold in the minds of the | | | | Rhiannon Ellis of the University of Pittsburgh, and |
| car buying public. As an advertiser this should be the | | | | Elizabeth F. Loftus of the University of Washington, |
| focus of their campaigns. If they for some reason | | | | present evidence that certain types of suggestive |
| decide to change their approach, they stand to | | | | advertising can create false memories. |
| confuse and alienate their audience. | | | | As a basis for the research they used a Disney |
| Whether you are dealing with website content or | | | | advertising campaign, 'Remember the Magic,' that |
| webmedia presentations the focus should be on | | | | featured a family enjoying themselves at Disney |
| establishing your primary marketing message in your | | | | World and included a scene of a child shaking hands |
| audience's minds. If that singular message gets lost in | | | | with Mickey Mouse. The researchers wanted to |
| a jungle of corporate platitudes and extraneous | | | | know if such an autobiographical ad could create a |
| specifications then the chance of your audience | | | | false memory of shaking hands with Mickey Mouse, |
| retaining your message is greatly reduced. | | | | when in fact it never happened. |
| To deal with this problem, we suggest clients think in | | | | In order to test the validity of their theory, they |
| terms of advertising campaigns rather than just an | | | | created an ad that prompted people to remember |
| ad, and program-style linear narrative presentations | | | | shaking hands with Bugs Bunny on a childhood trip to |
| rather than feature and specification-based | | | | Disneyland, an event that could never have occurred |
| information. In our own recent marketing campaign ( | | | | since Bugs Bunny is a Warner Bros. character and |
| we were able to present eighteen different issues, | | | | would not have been seen at a Disney theme park. |
| each in an individual presentation, but all with a central | | | | Despite the fact that this event could never have |
| unifying theme. People may not remember the | | | | taken place, a significant number of participants in the |
| individual issues, but they will remember the central | | | | study were able to recall the experience of shaking |
| unifying theme of the campaign; most importantly | | | | hands with Bugs Bunny at Disneyland. |
| they'll remember who we are and what we stand | | | | Bias |
| for. | | | | New experiences are filtered through past |
| Absent-mindedness | | | | experiences and pre-existing belief systems. Often |
| Absent-mindedness is the failure to pay attention | | | | when people with opposing political points-of-view |
| when receiving information resulting in no memory, or | | | | watch the same political debate on television, they |
| the inability to recall information buried deep in | | | | will come away with totally different opinions on who |
| memory because of missing contextual references. | | | | won the debate based on their pre-existing bias. |
| The sheer volume of demand for attention and | | | | New experiences are filtered through our past |
| information that people deal with on a daily basis, | | | | experiences and color our interpretation of current |
| what author and information architect, Saul Wurman | | | | events. Advertisers often use images and nostalgic |
| refers to as "Information Anxiety," makes it | | | | icons of the past in order to create a positive |
| impossible for people to absorb everything they think | | | | context for interpreting new product offerings. On |
| they should, or even want to, retain. Our brains | | | | the other hand, political campaigns often use the |
| automatically filter-out extraneous data and retain | | | | same kind of technique in reverse to generate |
| only what is important or relevant. As a result people | | | | negative attitudes toward an opponent or a divisive |
| are more likely to develop a general familiarity with a | | | | polarizing issue. |
| brand rather than an in-depth recollection of details. | | | | Memories are not static imprints of the past, but |
| Recognizing that your audience is only going to retain | | | | rather reconstituted constructs filtered through an |
| the core message you are delivering if it is relevant | | | | ever-evolving personal history of learned knowledge |
| and meaningful requires that you give up the | | | | and emotional experiences. |
| immaterial and concentrate on the essence of what | | | | Persistence |
| you need to say. | | | | Emotionally intense experiences, especially negative |
| You also must find ways to break through the | | | | ones, will leave longer-lasting impressions than |
| mental barriers people erect in order to block-out | | | | emotionally neutral experiences. It is important for us |
| useless content. A website dominated by large | | | | to remember traumatic events so that we learn |
| amounts of text requires a huge commitment of | | | | from them and don't repeat them; it is an innate |
| interest in order for someone to pay attention and | | | | survival mechanism. |
| commit your content to memory. The use of | | | | Advertisers can use this to their advantage by |
| web-audio and web-video requires less of a mental | | | | reminding people of negative situations that could be |
| commitment from your audience and at the same | | | | avoided with the use of their product. These types |
| time provides the sensory, emotional, and contextual | | | | of advertisements can be used for health care, |
| references that aid in memory recall. | | | | personal grooming, and financial services and |
| Blocking | | | | products. |
| Blocking is a familiar phenomenon most people have | | | | On the positive side, we can see from the previously |
| experienced. We recognize a person and can tell you | | | | mentioned Disney 'Remember the Magic' campaign |
| almost everything about that individual except his or | | | | that positive emotional experiences can also be used |
| her name. Unlike transience where the name has | | | | to create positive attitudes in a properly constructed |
| faded from memory, blocking refers to a situation | | | | campaign. |
| where the knowledge is in memory but the | | | | The main difference between positive and negative |
| appropriate reference or association has not been | | | | persistent memory is the recall of details. Persistent |
| accessed to stimulate recall. | | | | negative memories tend to be richer in detail |
| To overcome blocking people must access mental | | | | whereas positive persistent memories tend to be |
| associations that are emotional, contextual, or | | | | more generic, a fact that can be used as we have |
| sensory. Emotional triggers are an adaptive | | | | discussed previously to create false memories or |
| imperative for our survival as a species and | | | | what is more euphemistically referred to as |
| advertisements and presentations that reflect | | | | 'imagination inflation.' |
| common emotional experiences will leave indelible | | | | Conclusion |
| impressions. By framing your presentation in some | | | | The more we know about how human beings |
| familiar context, you will provide viewers with an | | | | process and recall information, the better we become |
| association that aids in memory recall. The addition of | | | | at communicating our marketing messages to |
| sensory mnemonics like a distinctive voice-over and | | | | website audiences that are decidedly more complex, |
| an on-screen visual character, provide assistance in | | | | and emotionally motivated, than can be determined |
| memory recall. | | | | by mere demographic profiling or statistical |
| Misattribution | | | | Web-visitor analytics. |
| We often remember some information or experience | | | | |