By mbretous@hubspot.com (Martina Bretous)

Think about the last commercial you remember.

What about it made it memorable? That’s the answer every advertiser wants to know. I tend to remember ads that are funny and/or relatable, but is it the same for most consumers?

Let’s see what recent data suggests about memorable ads and discuss some tips for your next campaign.

Why Consumers Remember Ads

We surveyed 281 U.S. consumers and asked them to think back to a recent ad they saw and what made it memorable. Respondents could only select a single answer.

Here are the results.

Our research found that funny commercials were the number one reason why respondents recalled ads.

The second highest response was the value respondents ascribed to the information presented in the commercial.

The remaining options each made up less than 8% of the answers. Some remembered the ad because the product featured seemed valuable (7%), the ad told an interesting story (4%), or had a catchy element like a jingle or tagline (4%).

Additional reasons included:

• It featured interesting characters (3%)
• It was high action (3%)
• It made them sad (2%)
• It related to a topic I’m interested in (2%)
• it featured a celebrity or expert they knew (2%)

This survey also revealed that the least popular reason for ad recall was ad quality –meaning if it looked high budget (1%) or low budget (1%).

Insurance provider The General is a great example of how ads that are viewed as low budget can negatively affect brand perception.

CEO Tiku Raval revealed to AdWeek recently that the nature of its ads led consumers to believe they weren’t a reputable and credible company. Because of this, the brand recently overhauled its ad strategy with a fresh, new look.

The brand didn’t do this silently, they tackled the elephant in the room and addressed that misconception in its newest ads.

Now back to the research.

Eight percent of respondents said they remembered the ad for other reasons. One could be that the ad used fear, as that is a common tactic used in commercials. Particularly those that aim to change user habits or invite them to take action, like voting or smoking.

Now that we’ve gone through the results of the survey, let’s cover two of the most popular (and effective) devices used in advertising today and how they work to engage consumers.

The Use of Humor In Advertising

In my round-up of the top YouTube ads of the last two years, five out of nine ads that ranked were funny.

Our research revealed that ad recall was the strongest in ads that used humor. This supports research from a 2018 advertising survey by Clutch which showed that consumers prefer (and remember) ads that make them laugh.

Similarly, six out of nine ads that received an “A” grade in Kellogg’s 2021 School Super Bowl Advertising Review were humorous.

So, the question is why? Well, …read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog

Author: Aaron