Double's better

Reminder spots clearly enhance advert recall

Consumers recall a radio spot much better when it's followed by a so-called reminder spot. This is the result of a survey carried out by ARD Werbung Sales & Services (AS&S) in Germany. Four radio spots for renowned brands from the segments beverages, travel, food, and job market were tested with and without reminder. The advert recall for spots followed by a reminder was higher than that or those without reminders by a grand 78 percent.

The test was carried out under real conditions, in other words the test spots were integrated with and without the reminder into an advert block with a total of seven spots for various suppliers. The result: regarding a mineral water, without the reminder 33 percent of the respondents recalled the spot without prompting, while the spot followed by the reminder was recalled by 54 percent - an enhancement by 64 percent. A travel organizer achieved a recall of 59 percent of unprompted namings, while the figure for the spot without the reminder was a mere 38 percent - meaning that the reminder resulted in a recall rate higher by 55 percent points. For a cottage cheese brand the double spot meant a recall higher by 13 percent (71 of the respondents recalled the spot, as opposed to 63 for the one without the reminder). And surely in the runnng for the absolute record is the recall rate for the reminder spot for a job market: 180 percent over the figure for the spot broadcast just the once.

Besides this quantitative gain, the market-research experts also noticed a qualitative trend. Numerous respondents affirmed the statement that reminders make sense - this especially because it's not possible to store away all the details when hearing the spot the first time. An additional aspect - reminders make it easier to remember the sender of the spot. In general, the respondents stated that the advert blocks are made more interesting by the reminders. And the effect for the brand recall was positive even among those who were annoyed by the repeats: with the aid of the reminder, the spot for the travel organizer, for example, attained an additional 53 percent points in the "annoyed" group.