Memory for advertising and information content: Comparing the printed page to the computer screen

Abstract

An experiment was used to test memory for two forms of information-ad copy (persuasive) and consumer information (nonpersuasive) presented in print and screen media. For both forms of information, print outperforms screen on recall but not on recognition. The results suggest that print information is easier to retrieve but also that screen information is available in memory. Differences between print and screen media are persistent and not readily explained by any of the obvious individual factors-comfort/familiarity, preference, and reading time. Other results with implications for marketing communication decisions show that brand name is poorly recalled from the screen relative to the printed page and that the nonpersuasive consumer information is better remembered than is persuasive ad information. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.With the rise in the use of the Internet as a communication medium, one wonders how the Internet compares to other marketing media with respect Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 22(8) to traditional measures of communication effectiveness, such as memory, attitude, intention to buy, and purchase. Various studies over the years have demonstrated that consumer responses to persuasive communication differ across media and depend on surrounding context (Aaker & Brown, 1972;Belch, Belch, & Villarreal, 1987;Soldow & Principe, 1981). Researchers (Pavlou & Stewart, 2000;Rodgers & Thorson, 2000) have argued that electronic media possess physical and consumer processing characteristics that warrant new frameworks to account for those factors. Two such frameworks for research on online advertising emphasize three key factors-consumer-driven interactivity Rodgers & Thorson, 2000), consumer control Rodgers & Thorson, 2000), and consumers' intentions (Rodgers & Thorson, 2000)-that make on-line learning different from off-line. Similarly, Hoffman and Novak (1996) posited that hypermedia possess special characteristics, such as machine and person interactivity, temporal synchronicity, breadth of communication, feedback symmetry, and linked sources, that may make on-line communication different from off-line. Despite the unique consumer factors and hypermedia factors, traditional measures of advertising effectiveness, including memory for information (Hoffman & Novak, 1996;Rodgers & Thorson, 2000), retain importance in this new medium.Differences between on-line and off-line media effects constitute a growing issue for the effectiveness of marketing communications. Increasingly, companies rely on the Internet to deliver persuasive content (e.g., banner ads, pop-up ads) as well as to provide nonpersuasive information to consumers (Dreze & Zufryden, 1998). British Airways, for instance, provides information for healthy travel as well as updated arrival and departure times. The benefits of broad, fast access to target audiences are great, but few studies have investigated differences for identical content and layout disseminated in a paper versus an on-line form. Newspapers, for example, are finding suc...

The effectiveness of nonverbal symbolic signs and metaphors in advertisements: An experimental inquiry

“…A manipulation of motivation would be stronger evidence of causality than a measured independent variable. Also, ad recall (Jones, Pentecost, & Requena, 2005;Schmitt, Tavassoli, & Millard, 1993) and attitude toward the ad (Pashupati, 2003) were not measured in this study, leaving for future research the investigation of a possible impact of nonverbal symbolic signs and metaphors on these dimensions of ad response. This research also leaves for future research the effect of individual difference variables such as hemispheric processing (Morgan & Reichert, 1999) and style of processing (Childers, Houston, & Heckler, 1985) on responses to nonverbal symbolic signs and metaphors in advertisements.…”

Modelling real-time online information needs: A new research approach for complex consumer behaviour

“…For example, Ratchford et al (2003) found consumer preference for subjective information from independent sources offline, while factual information was preferred online often from commercial sources. A possible reason for this is the different cognitive effects of online information found in lower recall compared to offline hardcopy print information (Jones et al, 2005). This effect was found to be independent of comfort with using technology as well as respondent knowledge prior to the study suggesting that it us purely a difference between modes of information access.…”

“…Finally research into online information utility reveals the complexity of information source preferences and a mix of functional (Eighmey and McCord, 1998;McGaughey and Mason, 1998;Ylikoski, 2005) and dysfunctional (Lee and Lee, 2004;Jones et al, 2005) online communication effects. To deal with this, marketers will have to understand the basis of a consumer's trade-offs between available options and the basis of such trade-offs.…”

“…Shows need for consumers to supplement online search with offline search. Jones, Pentecost and Requena (2005) Information effects online and offline…”

Exploring the Potential of Physical Visualizations

“…Jones et al [2005] compared the presentation of written content, such as advertising or consumer information, on printed paper and a digital screen. The results suggested that print outperforms the screen modality on recall but not on recognition.…”