Torture: The most effective technique of persuasion in advertising

Chances are, you remember an ad slogan or jingle from your youth. You might not even like it, but you’ll never forget it. That’s because repetition is one of the simplest techniques of persuasion used by marketers to increase brand recall.

Repetition is used everywhere—in the media, politics, religion, education, even as a method of torture. It was a technique used by Donald Ewen Cameron in the CIA Brainwashing Experiments of the 1950s. Subjects’ brains were flooded with thousands of repetitive ‘driving’ messages that would alter behaviour over time. Now referred to as the ‘victims’ of an ordeal, survivors have reported suffering terrible psychological effects.

Not to make light of torture, but if you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to see the same ad over, and over again, you may have an inkling as to what it feels like.

Drip marketing is a direct response term whereby prospects are drip-fed a series of messages over a set period of time. Drip, drip, drip, drip marketing—effective advertising or water torture? Do consumers remember your brand because they like your advertising, or because they can’t escape it? 

Less plaguing, more pleasing

Consistently repeating a message until consumers are familiar with it adds credibility and builds equity. So research and marketing textbooks tell us.  

Studies claim that we have maximum confidence in an idea after it has been repeated between three and five times. After that, repetition ceases to have the same effect. Evidence suggests it’s actually reversed.

We’re exposed to around 3,500 ad messages every day. Yet, only a few media companies now control what we see and hear. They offer huge discounts to large advertising media companies. So we see the same ad, repeating every day and night because it costs less. Media consolidation has compounded the problem of repetition.

How to use repetition without becoming repetitive:

1. If you’re going to repeat, the message must evolve

MasterCard’s 'Priceless' campaign, begun in 1997, is considered the industry’s most successful ever. It increased purchase volume by 16 per cent using a repetition-break plot structure.

Research at the University of Illinois concluded that repetition-break structures are the most effective form of advertising. The study found ads with this format are more likely to engage consumers, improve their opinion of a brand and be viewed on YouTube. They are even more likely to win industry awards. Despite this, it’s only used in around 4 per cent of TV adverts. 

2. Use the same message, but adapt it for different mediums

Use a different angle that takes advantage of the medium. If you need to educate, do an online video where people can post questions and interact. Everyone learns better when they participate. In radio, your ad is competing against pop stars for airtime. So unless you adapt your message to suit, you’re wasting your money.

Responsible repetition

Repetition is a powerful tool. Once remembered, a culture assimilates messages, and pretty soon a society that believes these ideas (either true or false) emerges. We could be in for a nasty wake-up call.  From finance to food, we’re told it is clever to use a credit card to pay for things you can’t afford and that margarine is healthy because it contains omega 3.

To put this into perspective: In advertising repetition is called effective, in the elderly it’s called dementia.

Clinton Manson is ECD of JWT Bangkok.