We've talked about how customers learn about products. Now let's move on and talk a bit about how we remember what we've learned. So in this section, we're going to review how our brains process information about brands to retain them in memory. Memory is a process of acquiring information and storing it over time so that it will be available when we need it. Obviously, this is pretty important to marketers because it doesn't make much sense to educate your consumers about your product, only to have them totally forget about this information at a later point in time. So information is only good when it's not only learned but retained in memory.

Now, contemporary approaches to the study of memory employ an information processing approach. We talked about this a bit earlier in the in the last section. perception. These perspectives basically assume that the mind is at least in some ways, like a computer. It's like a computer in that data are input. They're processed, and their output for later use in some revised form.

According to this perspective, data processing occurs in three distinct stages. The first is called encoding. And in the encoding stage, information enters in a way that the system that is our brains will recognize. In the storage stage, we integrate this knowledge with what we already have in memory, and then we warehouse it until it is needed at a later point in time. Finally, during retrieval we access the desired information. Now, of course, sometimes our memories are not exactly perfect and this certainly is a problem as you get a bit older.

And so we often rely upon various kinds of memory aids to help us in the process, especially of retrieving memories. So the grocery shopping list, the very simple shopping list is a good example of a powerful external memory aid. In fact, research shows that when shoppers use grocery lists, they buy approximately 80% of the items on the list. So obviously, if you're in the kind of business, whether it's groceries or something else, that involves people making a list, you want to do whatever you can to facilitate that process. One of the things that we see now that is very popular are grocery shopping apps that people use on their phones. And these apps, many of which are free, are a great, a great new addition to, to the ordinary traditional shopping list.

So this is a very powerful tool that at least some grocery chains are starting to realize can really be of great benefit to their business. So let's start by talking a bit about how our brains encode information in the first place. First of all, it's more likely that we'll retain incoming data when we associate it with other things that we already have in memory. For example, we tend to remember brand names that we link to physical characteristics of a product category, such as coffee, make creamer, or Sandy flush toilet bowl cleaner, or that we can easily visualize Such as tide detergent, or Ford Mustang cars, compared to more abstract brand names, sometimes we process a stimulus simply in terms of its sensory meaning, such as the literal color, or shape of a package. So in the last section on perception, we talked about the importance of differentiating your product, in terms of its design.

And this is another great reason to really keep that in mind because we not only notice it more to begin with, we're also more likely to keep it in memory. But of course, in many cases, we often engage in a process of more abstract encoding where we're remembering objects such as brand names, not because of their literal meanings, but because of something that's a bit more complicated. semantic meaning refers to symbolic associations, such as the idea that rich people drink champagne. So I'm sure you can see that many advertising messages rely not so much upon literal meanings as semantic meanings. By presenting images to us that we have already learned to associate with various abstract categories, such as sophistication or fun. episodic memories relate to events that are personally relevant.

A person's motivation to retain these memories will likely be very strong. For example, couples often have their song, which reminds them of their first date, or wedding. In many cases, of course, these episodic memories are highly idiosyncratic that is you have your own special song but market I just have no way of knowing that. But nonetheless, as a culture, we also have a variety of episodic memories. Unfortunately, some of these are quite negative. For example, remembering where you were at 911.

Probably the most powerful form of memory takes the form of a narrative. A narrative is a description of a product that is written as a story, and it's often a very effective way to convey product information. Our memories store a lot of the social information we acquire in story form. So it's often a good idea to construct ads in the form of a narrative so that they resonate with the audience. narratives persuade people to construct mental representations of the information they see or hear. For example, pictures and In this construction and allow us to develop more detailed mental representations.

And over time, some of the most successful advertising campaigns have been those that created a very powerful narrative. One great example you may recall, is the famous tasters choice couple. And here tasters choice, invented an entire story around a fictional couple and created a whole series of advertisements that really got people very interested in the backstory of this couple. In fact, a book was later published a romance novel was later published that was actually based upon this tasters choice ad campaign. That's how powerful it was. So when we look at a lot of the so called spokes characters, that classic advertising campaigns abused there's a reason why they have been around for so long.

Long and why they were so effective. research supports the idea that we're more likely to positively evaluate and purchase brands when they connect with us in this way that is in the form of a narrative or an ongoing story. Whether it's the loneliest guy in town that is the Maytag washer repairman, or the Jolly Green Giant, or even flow who sells Progressive Insurance. Oh, it's time for another pop quiz. Let's make sure that you're awake at this point. See if you can answer this question.

The elation you felt when you got your first driver's license is an example of a semantic memory be episodic memory. See classical conditioning, or D and unconditioned response. If you chose B episodic memory, then you remembered what we talked about here. Good job. The takeaway, especially about narrative memory is simple but really, really important. If you can link your brand to existing stories, if there's not an existing story that makes sense for you make up a new one like tasters choice did.

This is a very, very powerful way to embed your brand, and your customers memories as opposed to just touting how wonderful the product is.