1 Module 2 – Channel Institutions

2 Module 2 – Channel Institutions

Lesson 2:
Memory and Knowledge

SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES

In this lesson you should be able to:

1. distinguish among sensory, working, long-term, implicit, and explicit memory, and explain why
marketers must be aware of these different types of memory;
2. explain how and why knowledge content and structure, including associative networks, categories,
schemas, scripts, and prototypicality are relevant to marketers;
3. explain why consumers differ in knowledge content and structure; and
4. explain the elements retrieval failures.

PRE-ASSESSMENT
INSTRUCTION: Write True if the statement is correct and False if the statement is wrong.

________________1. Consumer memory is the persistence of learning over time, via the storage and retrieval
of information, which can occur consciously or unconsciously.
________________2. The information we store and retrieve is learned from various sources-marketing
communications, the media, word-of-mouth, and personal experience.
________________3. Sensory memory is the ability to temporarily store input from all our five senses.
Information is stored automatically and retained only briefly in sensory memory, generally from a quarter of a
second to several seconds at most.
________________4. If the information in sensory memory is relevant, consumers are motivated to process it
further and keep it active.
________________5. The meaning of earlier words in a sentence needs to be kept in memory until the final
words.
________________6. When we think about an object-say, an apple-we might use discursive processing and
represent it with word apple.
________________7. Long-term memory (LTM) is that part of memory where information is permanently
stored for later use.
________________8. Episodic memory can influence how product and services are evaluated.
________________9. Much of what we have stored in memory consists of facts and general knowledge
unrelated to specific episodes in our life’s history.
________________10. Exposure to brands via advertising and other marketing stimuli enhances perceptual
fluency, making it easier for consumers to recognize a brand and process perceptual information leads also to
tend with more about to which favorable result it (text the and brand pictures), attitudes.
3 Module 2 – Channel Institutions

LESSON MAP

Memory and
Knowledge

Knowledge
Memory and
What is memory? Content, Structure,
and Flexibility Retrieval

Figure 1 shows the flow aspects of Memory and Knowledge

CORE CONTENTS

ENGAGE: CASE ANALYSIS

Nostalgia Marketing Brings Memories Back

Many different marketers, from cat-food manufacturers to insurance firms, are evoking positive
memories of the past to capture the imagination of consumers through nostalgia marketing. Whether they're
bringing back old jingles, slogans, images, logos, characters, or brands, marketers want to jolt consumers'
memories. Feeling pressured by today's fast-paced, high-tech world, many consumers are receptive to
familiar ads and products they associate with their younger days and bygone times they remember fondly.

Meow Mix cat food, owned by Del Monte Foods, recently resumed the use of its decades-old
advertising jingle, after a 16-year hiatus. The jingle is a series of "meows" set to a simple tune that plays as
viewers watch cats “mouth" the words during the commercials. "The Meow Mix Jingle brings back a sense
of nostalgia and is a classic advertising spot that many people can even recite by memory," explained the
brand's marketing director. The jingle is so memorable that 50 percent of consumers surveyed before the
new ads aired said they had heard the jingle during p previous 18 months, even though it had not been used
for more than a decade.

Comic-strip characters from 1960s are helping MetLife appeal to consumers who smile when they
see Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and other Peanuts character in the insurance company’s ads and social media
posts. Before debuting a new commercial during the Super Bowl, MetLife used its Facebook to post
“comments” by Peanuts characters. After the game, MetLife posted additional character scenes online to
keep the buzz going. Why use nostalgia for Snoopy to market life insurance?” It definitely takes people back,
and we wanted to start a dialogue, “say company executives.

Volkswagen, Audi, and other car companies frequently play on nostalgia for old rock songs to reach
target audiences. One Volkswagen commercial recently feature a 1960s James Brown hit, while an Audi ad
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feature a 1980s song by Echo and the Bunnymen. H&M has marketed its men’s clothing with hit songs from
the past such as the Animals “Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood. Nostalgia for childhood snacks has
helped Cadbury market its Wispa chocolate bar and Nestle market its Kit Kat bars.

The long-running TV program Mad Men, which focused on characters rising in the advertising
industry of the 1950s and 1060s, provided numerous opportunities for advertisers to evoke nostalgia for the
period. Unilever created retro-look commercials to air Europe during the program’s fourth season. During
the U.K. premiere of Mad Men’s fifth season, Sky Atlantic ran well-known Bitish TV commercials from the
1960s for Fairy Liquid, Tetley Tea, and other brands, heightening viewer anticipation for a nostalgic look
back at ads they hadn’t seen for many years.

When the U.S. magazine Newsweek put Mad Men on its cover, it suggested that advertisers submit
ads with a 1965 look. That issue included a Spam ad with flower-power color and fonts; a Dunkin Donuts ad
with 1960s images of the donut shop; A Hush Puppies shoe ad based on the company’s actual 1960s ads;
a new Mercedes-Benz sports car advertised in 1960’s style’ and a reprint of a 1960s Johnnie Walker Red
liquor ad. Media coverage of the issue and its special ads increased sales and boosted traffic to websites
where the ads were posted, adding a 21 st-cnetury angle to the 20th-century nostalgic appeal.

Activity 1
1. Using the concepts in this chapter, explain why Meow Mix would return to its old advertising jingle 16
years after the company stopped using it.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________

2. What role does episodic and semantic memory play in the use of nostalgia marketing?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________

3. How is MetLife’s use of Peanuts comic-strip characters in its ads likely to affect consumers’ schema?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________

4. Would you have these characters posting on Facebook as part of the campaign? Why? Or why not?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
5 Module 2 – Channel Institutions

EXPLORE: READING CONCEPTS

WHAT IS MEMORY?
• Consumer memory is the persistence of learning over time, via the storage and retrieval of information,
which can occur consciously or unconsciously.
• Retrieval is the process of remembering or accessing what was previously stored in memory. We
constantly store and remember information that we learn about things, experiences, and evaluations.
• Specifically, we might remember what brands, products or services, and companies we have used in
the past (things); what we paid; the features of these products or services; how, where, when, and why
we bought and used them, and on which occasions (experiences); and whether we liked them
(evaluations).
• The information we store and retrieve is learned from various sources-marketing communications, the
media, word-of-mouth, and personal experience.
• We may retain it in memory for an instant, for a few minutes, or for a long time depending on the type
of memory employed: sensory memory, working memory, or long-term memory.

Sensory Memory
Sensory memory is the ability to temporarily store input from all our five senses. Information is stored
automatically and retained only briefly in sensory memory, generally from a quarter of a second to
several seconds at most. Echoic memory is sensory memory of things we hear, while iconic memory is
sensory memory of things we see. For instance, you may have found that when someone asks you a
question, and you are not really listening, you can say, "What did you say?" and actually "play back"
what the person said. Iconic memory is at work when you drive by a sign and see it quickly and then
only later realize what the sign was advertising. Olfactory memory is at play, for example, when the
smell of freshly baked bread still lingers in your mind right after having left a bakery. If the information
in sensory memory is relevant, consumers are motivated to process it further and keep it active. This
occurs in working memory.

Working Memory
Working memory (WM) is the portion of memory where we "encode" or interpret incoming information
and keep it available for further processing. As you read this book, you are using your working memory
to comprehend what you read. The meaning of earlier words in a sentence needs to be kept in memory
until the final words. Working memory is where most of our conscious information processing takes
place. It is both limited in capacity and short-lived in time, some 20 to 30 seconds at most. Also, it
requires attention to retain information.

Information processing in working memory can take one of several forms. When we think about an
object-say, an apple-we might use discursive processing and represent it with word apple.
Alternatively, we could represent it visually as a picture of an apple or in terms of its smell, it feels, what
it sounds like when we bite into it, or what it tastes like. Representing the visual, auditory, tactile, and/or
olfactory properties of an apple uses imagery processing. Unlike discursive processing, an object in
imagery processing bears a close resemblance to the thing being represented. Therefore, if you were
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asked to imagine an apple and a car, imagery processing would ensure that you preserve their relative
sizes.

Marketing Implications
Working memory, particularly imagery processing, has several key implications for marketers:
1. Imagery can improve the amount of information that can be processed. Adding more information to
ads, websites, or packages, like lists of attributes, can create information overload and hamper
discursive processing.
2. Imagery can stimulate future choice. When making choices, we often imagine what consuming the
product or service will be like. For example, our choice of a vacation may be greatly influenced by
what we, imagine it will be like. We value some of the products we buy (e.g., novels or music) because
of the imagery they provide.
3. Realistic imagery can improve consumer satisfaction. We may create an elaborate image or fantasy
of what the product consumption experience will be like (how great we will looking a new car or how
relaxing a vacation will be). If reality does not confirm our imagery, however, we may feel dissatisfied.
Realizing this possibility, some marketers help consumer’s established realistic imagery.

Long-Term Memory
Long-term memory (LTM) is that part of memory where information is permanently stored for later
use. The two major types of log-term memory are episodic and semantic memory.

Episodic (or autobiographical) memory represents knowledge about ourselves and what has
happened to us in our past, including emotions and sensations tied to past experience. These memories
tend to be primarily sensory, involving visual images, sounds, smell, tastes, and tactile sensations.

Episodic memory can influence how product and services are evaluated. For example, f you once ate
at a particular restaurant and found a hair in your food, the memory of this experience might prevent
you from eating there again. This is a form of operant conditioning, where one vivid event produces a
lasting memory and a changed behavior. Positive experience would have the opposite effect, as finding
a pearl in an oyster at a restaurant might led to returning to that restaurant.

Much of what we have stored in memory consists of facts and general knowledge unrelated to specific
episodes in our life’s history. This is called semantic memory. For example, we have memory for the
concept “cola”. We know that colas are liquid, come in cans and bottles, are fizzy and brown in color,
and are sweet. This knowledge holds for coals in general.

Marketing Implications
Various techniques can leverage the power of episodic memory for marketing.
1. Promote empathy and identification. Episodic memories can play a role in creating identification with
characters or situations in ads. For example, if an ad for Hefty bags can make consumers think about
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incidents in which their own garbage bags split open, consumers may be better able to relate to ads
showing inferior bags splitting apart while Hefty bags remain strong.
2. Cue and preserve episodic memories. Consumers value some brands or products and have a
positive attitude toward some ads because they promote episodic memories by creating feelings of
nostalgia-a fondness for the past.
3. Reinterpret past consumption experiences. Advertising can affect episodic memories, such as how
a consumer remembers peps experience with the advertised product. One study had consumers
sample good and bad-tasting orange juice and then watches ads that described the products’ good
taste. Those exposed to the ads remembered the bad-tasting juice as being better tasting than it
actually was.

Explicit Memory, Implicit Memory, And Processing Fluency

Memory may be explicit or implicit. Explicit memory is when consumers are consciously aware that
they remember something. For instance, consumers may remember that they ordered from the site.
Implicit memory is when consumers are not consciously aware that they remember something. Implicit
memory makes it easier to process information that we have encountered before. This ease-of-
processing or processing fluency leads to feelings of familiarity. So consumers may not remember that
they actually visited a particular website before, but may instead experience a sense of familiarity with
it. Much of our memory is implicit, and this is efficient. It would overburden our information-processing
ability to constantly and consciously remember everything we encountered and did before. In fact,
consciously remembering what we know might prevent many of our automatic behaviours: it may be
dangerous to try to remember and speak out loud the exact movements of the hands, feet, body, and
head while driving a car or riding a bike.

Suppose you are driving down the highway at high speed and pass a billboard bearing the word
Caterpillar (a brand of construction machinery). Later you are asked whether you remember seeing a
billboard and, if so, what was on it. You have no explicit memory of the billboard and its message. But
if you are asked to say the first word you can think of that begins with cat -, you might answer "caterpillar"
Why? Because when you are asked for a word that begins with cat, your implicit memory brings the
brand to mind.

Exposure to brands via advertising and other marketing stimuli enhances perceptual fluency, making it
easier for consumers to recognize a brand and process perceptual information leads also to tend with
more about to which favorable result it (text the and brand pictures), attitudes. Positive attitudes also
tend to result from higher conceptual fluency, the ease with which the meaning of an ad or brand comes
to mind and can be processed. Such forms of processing fluency are a key element in implicit memory
and in learning new behaviours.

How Memory Is Enhanced

Because we must attend something before we can remember it, many of the factors that affect attention
also affect memory and, ultimately, recognition and recall. Explicit memory expresses itself in two forms.
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Recognition occurs when we remember we have seen, heard, smelled, touched, or tasted some
stimulus before, after being re-exposed to the stimulus again. Recalls occurs when we remember we
have seen, heard, smelled, touched, or taste a stimulus before without being re-exposed to the stimulus
again. A brand recall question could be: Which car brands do you remember having owned before?
Without providing list. A chunk is a group of items that are processed as a unit. Chunking means that
we try to create meaningful combinations (chunk) of information to improve memory. Rehearsal means
that we actively and consciously intact with the material that we are trying to remember, perhaps by
silently repeating or actively thinking about the information and its meaning.

Information can also be transferred to long-term memory by recirculation. Just as water is recirculated
when it goes through the same pipe again and again, information is recirculated through your working
memory when you encounter it repeatedly, such as when passing the harbor with a billboard advertising
Malibu boast on your way to the supermarket.

Finally, through elaboration, we transfer information into long-term memory by processing it at deeper
levels of meaning." We can try to remember through rote memorization or rehearsal; however, this type
of processing is not always effective over a long period. If you have ever rote-memorized material for
an exam, you probably noticed that you forgot most of what you had learned within a few days. More
enduring memory is established when we try to relate information to prior knowledge and past
experiences. If you see an ad for a new product, for instance, you might elaborate on it by thinking
about how you would use the product, how it fits in your lifestyle, which personal benefits it has, and
therefore store the brand and the ad with rich associations in your memory.

Marketing Implications
Marketers can apply chunking, rehearsal, recirculation, and elaboration to help consumers remember their
brands, communications, or offerings.
Chunking
Marketers can increase the likelihood that consumers will hold information in short-term memory and
transfer it to long-term memory by providing larger bits of information that chunk together smaller bits.
Rehearsal
When motivation is low, marketers may use tactics such as jingles, sounds, and slogans to instigate
rehearsal.
Recirculation
Recirculation is an important principle for marketing because it explains why repetition of
marketing communications affects memory; particularly in low-involvement situations.

KNOWLEDGE CONTENT, STRUCTURE, AND FLEXIBILITY

• Knowledge content reflects the information we have already learned and stored in memory about
brands. Companies, stores, people, how to shop, how to use public transportation or bake a cake, and
so on.
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• Knowledge structure described how we organized knowledge (both episodic and semantic) in memory.
When we say we “know” something, it has to do with what we have encountered (knowledge content)
and the way in which that knowledge is organized in memory (knowledge structure).

Knowledge Content: Schemas and Scripts

Knowledge content is not stored in memory as a bunch of random facts. Instead, content takes the form
of schemas or scripts. As the next sections, schemas are a form of semantic knowledge: knowledge
about what objects and people are, and what they mean to a consumer. Scripts are a form of procedural
knowledge: knowledge about how to do things with the objects and people and are related to episodic
memory.

Schemas and Associative Networks

A schema is the group of association or associative network linked to an object or person. A schema
for the concept banana has various associations –it has 100 calories, is yellow, and bruises easily, and
the peel can be slippery if stepped on.

Because association in the network are connected, activating one part of the associative network leads
to a spreading of activation to other parts of the network.

• Spreading of activation. The process by which retrieving a concept or association spreads to the
retrieval of a related concept or association.
• Priming. The increased sensitivity to certain concepts and associations due to prior experience
based on implicit memory.

The association in schema can be described along several dimensions. First, association vary in what
they are about-their content. One schema for a banana might include an association that reflects its (1)
attributes (yellow, long, 100 calories), (2) benefits (nutritious, low in fat), (3) values (being a healthy
person, a sweet tooth), (4) consumption occasions (as a snack, dessert), (5) consumption locations (at
home, school), (6) brands (Turbana, Chiquita), and so on.

Most importantly, the association in schema vary in three dimension that are crucial to building and
maintaining strong brands.
1. Favorability. Association can vary in favorability. Associating a banana with 100 calories might
result in a favorable evaluation.
2. Uniqueness. Association varies in their uniqueness: the extent to which tey are also related to other
concepts. “Fast service” is not unique to McDonald’s, but the Big Mac and the Egg McMuffin are.
3. Salience. Associations vary in their salience, or how easily they come to mind.

Specific Schemas: Brand Image, Personality, and Anthropomorphization

A brand image is a specific type of schema that captures what a brand stands for and how favourably
consumers view it. For example, our brand image of McDonald's may be favorable, and it may include
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such associations as a family-friendly place and fast food. An image does not represent all the
associations linked to a schema-only those that are most salient and that make the brand different from
others in the category.

• Brand image. Specific type of scheme that captures what a brand stands for and how favourably
it is viewed.
• Brand personality. The set of associations include in a schema that reflect a brand’s
personification.
• Script. A special type of scheme that represents knowledge of the sequence of actions involved in
performing an activity.

Knowledge Structure: Categories

Consumers have various associations with each of the objects and people surrounding them. They also
have the natural tendency to group these objects and people together in categories that share certain
characteristics, called taxonomic categories. A taxonomic category is a specifically defined division
within an orderly classification of objects with similar objects in the same category. For example, our
schemas for Coke, Pepsi, Diet Coke, and other brands can be clustered in a category called soft drink;
we might also use subcategories to cluster specific brands and separate them from others. Thus, we
might have one subcategory for diet soft drinks and a different subcategory for nondiet soft drinks.

Once we have categorized an object, we know what it is, what it is like, and what it is similar to. Although
categories allow us to efficiently process complex information, both the size and the number of
categories can affect our perceptions of risk and outcome. Note that consumers do not always
categorize offerings correctly. This is why the Timberland brand helps. Consumers put its Earth
keeper’s boots in the category of "eco-friendly products" via the product name (Earth keepers) and the
description ("Made with natural and recycled material"). When consumers encounter a product or
service provider that does not seem to fit the category, they may elaborate more on the information
about that provider. And when they categorize the provider as a member of the product category, they
may infer that the provider has features or attributes typical of the category.

Graded Structure and Prototypically

Objects within the same taxonomic category share similar features, which are different from the features
of objects in other categories. A category member such as Diet Coke shares many associations with
members of its own category of diet colas but shares few associations with members of other
categories.

Within a category, some category members represent the category better than others. The prototype
is the category perceived to be the best example of the category, like Disney being the prototypical
theme park, and apple pie being the prototypical pie. Prototypicality is the extent to which category
members are considered to be representative of the category. To most consumers, a diamond ring may
be piercing. To many consumers, the i{ad may be the prototypical tablet computer.
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Hierarchical Structure
Another way in which taxonomic categories are structure is hierarchically, which affects the number of
associations. The broadest level of categorization is the superordinate level, where objects share a few
associations but also have many different ones. Finer discriminations among these objects at the basic
level. Beverage might be more finely represented by categories such as teas, coffees, and soft drinks.
The finest level of differentiation exists at the subordinate level.

Correlated Associations
When an associative network contains attributes that are linked in the consumer’s mind., these
attributes are correlated. With automobiles, consumers may expect the size of a car to be negatively
correlated with fuel efficiency, or the price to be positively correlated with quality or luxury.

When consumers are developing a schema or when they are confronted with ambiguous information,
they can mistakenly believe that is a product in a particular category has a type of attribute, other
products in that category have similar attributes. To understand these illusory correlations, consider this
example: Just as some smokers mistakenly thought that “clean” smokeless cigarettes were safer than
regular cigarettes, they may also mistakenly believe that low-toxin and natural cigarettes are safer.
Cleary understanding such illusory and real associations between attributes is crucial for marketers and
policy makers.

Knowledge Flexibility
The content and structure of a consumer's associative networks and categorizations are flexible and
adaptable to the requirements of the tasks that he or she faces. This flexibility depends, in part, on the
consumer's specific goals and the time to implement these goals.

Goal-Derived Categories
Taxonomic categories are fairly stable and based on the similarity between objects in terms of attributes
("all drinks that are carbonated"). Consumers may also organize their knowledge in goal-derived
categories. A goal-derived category contains things that consumers view as similar because they serve
the same goal, even though they may belong to very different taxonomic categories. "Lighter, water,
beef jerky, and a tent" have very different attributes but they may belong to the goal-directed category
"things to take on a camping trip," while "mystery books, T-shirts of hard rock bands, and home-brewed
beer" might be part of the category "gifts to take to your grand-dad."

Because consumers have different goals over time, they also have goal-derived categories that change
flexibly. Thus, Diet Coke might be part of the taxonomic categories of diet colas, soft drinks, and
beverages and also a member of goal-derived categories such as "things to have for lunch" and "things
to take on a picnic." And, like taxonomic categories, goal-derived categories exhibit graded structure.
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Construal Level
The associations that become activated in consumers' associative networks depend on the time interval
between now and the moment of implementing the goals. That is, when consumers are far away from
implementing a goal, more abstract knowledge about the desirability of attaining the goal becomes
salient (the "why"). This is useful because it helps people to move toward the goal and block out
competing goals. However, when people are close to implementing a goal, more concrete knowledge
about the feasibility of attaining the goal becomes salient (the "how"). This helps people to prepare for
the required activity and perform well.

To illustrate, when your wedding day is months away, more abstract associations such as the "union of
souls" and "the joy of sharing thoughts and values" are salient in the associative network "my marriage."
Yet, as the designated day draws near, more concrete associations about "who to invite" and "which
dishes to have on the buffet" become salient. That is, the activated knowledge varies from very abstract
to very concrete levels, and the time to act is an important determinant of this.
• Construal level theory describes the different levels of abstractness in the associations that a
consumer has about concepts (people, products, brands, and activities) and how the consumers
psychological distance from these concepts influences his or her behavior.
• Attributes of products and brands may have concrete or abstract associations, depending on the
time to act, which is an aspect of psychological distance.
• For instance, the price of a product may be an indicator of quality when the purchase is far in the
future; yet price may also be an indicator of the “pain”; of paying when a consumer is in the store,
and ready to buy (or not). Another important point: When consumers feel confident, they will focus
on the abstract aspects of products, whereas when they feel less confident, they will focus on
concrete details.

Why Consumers Differ in Knowledge Content and Structure

Goals and their timing influence the content and structure of knowledge within the minds of consumers.
The consumer's culture and level of expertise influence the structure and content of knowledge between
consumers. That is, the associations that consumers link to a concept may vary considerably across
cultures.

Culture can affect how associations are correlated, as well. For example, price and store size may be
negatively correlated in U.S. consumer’s knowledge because big stores like Costco and Waymart tend
to price products lower than small stores do.

MEMORY AND RETRIEVAL

Marketers not only want consumers to store information in memory, properly categorize, and with
favorable, unique, salient associations they want consumers to retrieve this information from memory when
making decisions. You have already seen how information becomes salient within the minds of consumers
over time when moving toward or way from decisions, and between consumers due to culture and expertise.
13 Module 2 – Channel Institutions

Marketers also want to understand and influence more specifically how consumers retrieve this information
from memory and remember the information.

Marketing communication aims to increase the memorability of a bend name and logo, the brand
attributes, benefits, and perhaps personality. More importantly, the likelihood that a particular brand is chosen
depends on whether it is remembered when consumers make a choice, independent of the attitude that
consumers have toward brands.

Retrieval Failures
Three elements in particular contribute to retrieval failures: decay, interference, and serial-position
effects.

Decay
Occurs when memory strength deteriorates over time, for instance, because it has not been used. Thus,
we tend to forget entire events or small details from childhood because they happened so long ago.
Decay is reduced by repetition of the information, such as by advertising, and by recirculation, such as
when repeatedly retrieving it from memory.

Interference
Occurs when the strength of memory deteriorates over time because of the presence of other memories
that compete with it. Similarity between products, brand, and ads increase the likelihood of memory
interference. Suppose you watch an ad that focuses on car brand A’s safety, followed by a similar ad
that focuses on car brand B’s speed. You may then remember that some brand excel in safety but
forget which brand it is. Competitive advertising affects interference. When as established brand
promotes a new attribute, consumers knowledge of the brand’s old attributes can interfere with retrieval
of information about the new one. Yet when competitive advertising is present, consumers are able to
suppress older attribute information and effectively retrieve the new attribute information, an
accomplishment that works to the brand’s advantage.

Serial-Position Effects: Primary and Recency

Decay and interference can be used to explain primacy and recency effects- that is, the fact that the
things we encounter first or last in a sequence are often those most easily remembers. As an example
of primacy effects, consumers are likely to remember the first ad during a commercial break because
there is no other ad information to interfere with it. That information may also be less likely to decay if
they rehearse it. Sampling two desirable products, consumers tend to prefer the second sample,
because of recency effects. Considering primacy and recency effect, many advertisers believe that the
best placement for an ad is either first or last in a commercial sequence or in a paper or digital magazine.
Research supports that importance of being first, but the evidence in support of being last is not as
strong.
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Retrieval Errors
Memory is not always accurate or complete and may be subject to selection, confusion, and distortion.
Memory is selective when you only remember the good things that happened on your last vacation but
not the bad things that happened. Memory can be confused, as when you remember your friend telling
you a great story about a new movie, when it was really your neighbor who told you. This example is a
form of source confusion because you accurately remember the story about the movie but confuse who
the source of the story was.

Finally, memory can be distorted, as when you remember experiences or events that actually did not
happen. Perhaps you remember that a waitress who treated you badly at a restaurant clunked your
coffee down loudly on the table, and asked for a larger tip. While this "memory" is consistent with the
"bad waitress" experience, it might not have actually happened. And virtual interaction with a product
lead to more false memories because it generates vivid images that consumers later come to believe
were real occurrence

Enhancing Retrieval
Given the importance of retrieval, marketers need to understand how they can enhance the likelihood
that consumers will remember something about specific brands. In addition to memory-enhancing
factors mentioned earlier in this chapter, retrieval is affected by: (1) the characteristics of the stimulus
itself, (2) what the stimulus is linked to, (3) the way the stimulus is processed, and (4) the consumer’s
characteristics

Characteristics of the Stimulus

Key characteristics of the stimulus that affect retrieval are salience, prototypically, redundant cues, and
the medium.
• Salience. Salient objects to attract attention and induce greater elaboration, thereby creating
stronger memories. Research has shown that consumers remember longer commercials better
than shorter ones and bigger print ads better than smaller ones.
• Prototypicality. We are better able to recognize and recall prototypical or pioneer brands because
these have been frequently rehearsed and recirculated and are linked to many other concepts in
memory, and pioneers were the first to occupy the links. The fact that we tend to remember these
brands may explain why they have been so successful over time and why so many companies fight
to establish themselves as category leaders.
• Redundant cues. Memory is enhanced when the information items to be learned seem to go
together naturally. Marketers can enhance consumers memory for brands by advertising two
complementary products together and explaining why they go together.
• The medium in which the stimulus is processed. Researchers are exploring whether certain
media are more effective than others an enhancing consumer memory. Compare to magazine,
television may be more effective because it combines visual and auditory information.
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What the Stimulus is Linked to

Retrieval can also be affected by what the stimulus is linked to in memory. A retrieval cue is some
stimulus that facilitates the activation of memory. For example, if you want to remember to go to a sale
at Macy’s, you might leave a note on your desk that says, “Macy’s “. The note serves as a retrieval cue
when you see it sometime later and remember the sales.

How a Stimulus Is Processed in Working Memory

Another factor affecting retrieval is the way information is processed in working memory. One consistent
finding is that messages processed through visual imagery tend to be better remembered than those
processed discursively. Importantly, multisensory imagery (text and pictures) can create a greater
number of associations in memory, which, in turn, enhance retrieval. 136 This is because mental
images are processed as pictures and as words. This dual coding of information provides extra and
stronger associative links in memory, enhancing the likelihood that the item will be retrieved, whereas
information encoded verbally is processed just one way and has only one retrieval path. Dual coding is
one reason that marketers often use the audio portion of well-known TV ads as radio commercials.
When consumers hear the familiar verbal message, they may provide their own imagery of the visual
part.

Consumer Characteristics Affecting Retrieval

Consumers' mood and expertise can affect retrieval. First, being in a positive mood can enhance our
recall of stimuli in general. Second, we are more likely to recall information that is consistent with our
mood. In other words, if we are in a positive mood, we are more likely to recall positive information.
Several explanations account for these mood effects. One is that feelings consumers associate with a
concept are linked to the concept in memory. Thus, your memory of Disney World may be associated
with the feeling of having fun.

EXPLAIN: DEEPEN YOUR UNDERSTANDING

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer the following questions below.
1. How are sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory linked?
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2. What techniques can enhance the storage of information in long-term memory?

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3. What is schema and how can the associations in a schema be described?

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4. Why are some links in a semantic or associative network weak, whereas others are strong?
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5. What are taxonomic categories and how do consumers use them to structure knowledge in memory?
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TOPIC SUMMARY

In this lesson, you learned that:

• Consumer memory is the persistence of learning over time, via the storage and retrieval of information,
which can occur consciously.
• Retrieval is remembering or accessing what is stored in memory.
• Sensory memory (iconic and echoic) involves a very brief analysis of sensory inputs.
• Working memory is where we interpret incoming information, involving discursive and imagery
processing.
• Long-term memory represents the permanent memory store, covering both episodic and semantic
memory.
• Explicit memory involves active efforts to remember what’s in memory; implicit involves remembering
without conscious awareness. Chunking, rehearsal, recirculation, and elaboration are useful for
influencing working, memory.
• Knowledge content is represented by a set of associations about an object o an activity linked in
schemas and scripts.
• Knowledge in long-term memory is organized according to associative networks, with concepts
connected by associations or links.
• People forget because of retrieval failure (due to decay, interference, and primacy and recency effects),
or they may retrieve information that is not accurate. Factors that facilitate retrieval include
characteristics of the stimulus, what it is linked to, the way it is processed, and the characteristics of
consumers.

REFERENCES
• Hoyer, Wayne D. et.al, Consumer Behavior 7th edition. Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd., 2018.
• Hoyer, Wayne D. et.al, consumer Behavior in the 21st Century. Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd., 2012.