Marketing to the Memory: Ad Blindness

One of the challenges of advertising is "breaking through the clutter." It's becoming increasingly difficult to be noticed in the sea of advertising that surrounds us. In order to gain more attention, many ad agencies have turned to new forms of advertising. Some have even resorted to placing ads on parking stripes, further adding to the clutter.

The New York Times Magazine estimates that people who live in the city are exposed to an average of 5,000 advertisements per day. That figure may sound unrealistic until you consider an average drive to the store:

• You enter the car, where the brand and logo of the manufacturer is displayed on the front, back, sides, and interior.
• You put your branded key into the car and start it.
• You turn on the stereo, with its brand name printed on the face.
• An advertisement is playing on the radio, so you change the station—only to hear another ad.
• You pull out into the street and see a bumper sticker on your neighbor's car.

It's been less than a minute, and you've already seen plenty of ads. And this goes on and on throughout the day, but it doesn't really bother most people. In fact, we hardly even notice it anymore. How is that possible? It's possible because of "ad blindness." Our brain automatically ignores things that it deems unnecessary or unimportant. It's how we adapt to the world around us.

Have you ever looked up at the sky and seen those little things floating around in your eyes? Those "floaters" increase in number as your eyes change shape. (By the way, this is called myodesopsia, and a good old fashioned carrot can help clear it up.) So, if the amount of floaters increases throughout our lives, how can we still see past them? Over time, your brain adjusts until you no longer notice them. They're tuned right out of your vision. New floaters will develop, but soon they will be tuned out too. It's pretty remarkable, and it's the same process that causes ad blindness. The first time I saw an advertisement on a parking stripe I paid attention. The second time? I just stepped on it as I got in my car. I don't even remember what the ad was.

There are several principles for preventing ad blindness. In the next few articles, I will cover three of them that I've found to be important: simplicity, frequency, and creativity.

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