Why advertising needs to make a lasting impression

by Nigel Hollis

As you may know by now Kantar Millward Brown has published a new report titled, ‘Make a Lasting Impression’. Implicit in the report title is that idea that making a lasting impression is a good thing, something that advertisers should be aiming to do. But why is making a lasting impression a good thing?

The Creative Effectiveness Lions celebrated at Cannes are not effective because they deliver a well-targeted exposure with rational messaging close to the point of purchase, they are effective because they create compelling feelings and impressions; ones that last in people’s memories and influence their purchasing behavior at a later date. This is the true value of creativity. It engages people’s emotions and creates a lasting impression.

A lasting impression connects positive and motivating feelings, ideas, and expectations to the brand in people’s memories. A lasting impression carries those associations forward in time from the point of exposure to influence subsequent purchase decisions. This is how brands like Premier Inn managed to gain a strategic advantage over their competition, by shaping people’s impression of the brand before they even thought about choosing a hotel.

As I noted in this post suggesting that the idea behind marketing in the moment is flawed, the fact that advertising exposure and purchase occasion are separated by time is actually a positive, because it renders people far more susceptible to influence than if advertising exposure and purchase occasion happened at the same time. And once people have formed an impression they tend to look for things to substantiate it. Their impressions are self-reinforcing.

Far from undermining the effectiveness of advertising, the delay between exposure and purchase is what enables it. Provided the motivating ideas, impressions and feelings left by the advertising are salient when people come to buy they will respond intuitively or ‘make up their own minds’, not realizing that advertising helped shape that mindset at some time in the past. For advertising to effectively influence purchase decisions it is not necessary for people to remember the advertising itself. In fact, given the negativity toward and lack of trust in advertising today, it is probably better if they do not.

Relying on the vagaries of people’s memories may sound a very uncertain way to influence a sale, but actually it is likely far more effective than trying to persuade someone from scratch in the midst of shopping. Without expectations and positive impressions seeded by advertising at an earlier date a lot of activation activities, including marketing in the moment, would likely be a lot less effective.