Where is the recall

    This whole Ad story is getting curious. People love some awesome Ads on TV, yet they don't recall them. I decided to check out the science of recall.

    A small survey was in order.

    I asked 10 people in the office - Can you tell me the Ad in the first page of your newspaper this morning. Nobody answered.

    My friends were watching a cricket match on TV. A mobile operator was airing an Ad regularly over the last few days during the series and it carried a message on the price of its top-up pack. I asked my friends - If you have seen this Ad before, can you tell me the price of its top-up pack. The answer was "Oh, was the price there on screen ?".

    A friend reads all his news on a portal. He is a regular visitor. I asked him, can you tell me the banner  on the portal you visit everyday. He guessed and he got his answer wrong.

   Why people just don't recall what they have seen ? And did the money on that Ad return the favor back to the one who spent it ?

Those are awesome

    Are TV Ads boring ? No way.

    Are they awesome ? Some are.

    Does anybody care ? I chose to checkout, to ask around.

    I asked a friend of mine - whats the most awesome Ad you have seen on TV. He quickly replied - "that chewing gum Ad, with which they light up the whole palace, the car, the dining room, that was awesome." I asked back - "Do you know which chewing gum that was?". He thought and he couldn't recollect. He walked away giving me a - "Why would I care" - look.

   What about those celebrity Ads. I asked around some cricket crazy friends of mine. Do you remember that Ad where the Indian captain in a south Indian attire calls for all those fast-bowler "&#@$%" to bowl to him, etc. Yeah, everybody loved it, it was a funny Ad, really enjoyed watching. Absolutely awesome. I asked them - "Do you remember what Ad it was?". They walked away with the same "Doesn't matter" look. It was just fun for them.

   Those awesome Ads had got these guys to watch those Ads, may be repeatedly a few times. The viewers enjoyed it and forgot the brand conveniently. Who wants to remember anyway.

Those uninvited guests

    My teenage nephew has been freaking out on his iPad. He is surfing all over the place looking for fun, movie info, twitter, sports and now he has just landed on youtube. As he watches video after video, I saw him tapping a button or two on the screen hard often with a weird expression on his face when doing so.

    I was getting curious. I moved behind him to see what he was doing. As the video started, he was waiting for about 3 seconds after which he would strike the close button as hard as he could, with that same almost angry expression, closing the Ad that had just started to play before the real video.

   I continued to watch him surf and found the same behavior. He moved into a media site to check out the contestants of his favorite game and a big pop-up came up staring at his face. He hit the X button hard again, with a frustrated look at how much time and effort it takes to block that Ad.

   I asked him if he could remember any Ad he had seen in those 3 seconds before he closed it and he replied - "Remember what I just closed ? Are you kidding me ?" and went back to his business completely ignoring me, like he had ignored those uninvited guests called Digital Ads on his tablet screen.

   Over the next few days, I was asking guys around to name one Digital Ad brand or product they had seen on they tablet or laptop. Not a single guy was able to recollect.

   Those uninvited guests are not forgotten. They have never got registered in the first place. And those Digital Ads have been a billion dollar business for quite some time. Huh!

   

Whats wrong with Ads

    As I watched my cousins enjoy a gripping IPL cricket match on TV, I saw a pattern that refused to change over years and generations. May be it was because of the format of the game.

   I then probed myself a bit further to check out if the pattern was to do with Cricket viewing on TV, but then during the next few days, I looked for the same pattern as people watched serials on TV. It was there again.

   Now, I was getting more curious. I decided to checkout senior citizens, teenagers, kids, housewives, people just back from office and it was the same pattern.

   May be this was to do with the kind of programs being aired on TV. I had already watched people watching TV and serials. I then checked out people watching reality shows, contests, comedy shows, infotainment, kids, travel and living and everything else I could observe. The pattern just refuses to change.

   Whenever an Ad takes over the TV screen, people watch with interest when it is a new Ad which is funny or interesting or informative or attractive. However, as they saw the same Ad repeat a few times, their eyes went off the TV and they either switched channels (just to get away from the same repeat Ad), pressed the Mute button, switched to talking to others watching in the living room (who didn't seem to exist a few minutes back), ran away to the kitchen (to answer the screaming cooker), walked off to the restroom, picked up the phone, ate their food but they wouldn't gift their attention to the Ad on TV.

   Oh My God, Isn't there a problem here!!!!