Interesting Results
Incomplete Ads Are More Memorable
Advertisers who want consumers to remember their ads may want to leave something out. A recent study compared ads that provide incomplete information about the product or brand being advertised, and thereby force consumers to mentally fill in the missing information, to ads that were equivalent except that the missing information was made explicit. When the missing information related to the product category, those who were shown the incomplete ads were significantly more likely to be able to name the product category featured in the ads. When the missing information related to the advertised brand, those who had seen the incomplete ads were more likely than those who had seen the complete ads to be able to correctly identify the advertised brand and product category. These effects occurred even when exposure to the advertisements was very brief. However the missing information needed to be related to the product or brand and the enhanced recall effects reported only extended to the missing elements — not to the remainder of the advertisement.