Is Recall important today?
Advertising is now understood to be multi-dimensional in its effects on the human mind and so many measures can be important and we consider them together in evaluating an ad’s performance. At one time time, however, companies considered one measure to be important and that measure was initially recall. Much criticism was rightfully leveled at recall when it was used in a single measure capacity and the residue from that criticism shadows perceptions about recall today. It has also made it the most analyzed and best vetted measure in copy testing. Today, recall’s special contribution is that it investigates the areas of memory and branding. Every major validation study has demonstrated value of ad recall in predicting in-market success. The better view of recall is that it is not a sufficient measure of advertising effectiveness, but it is a unique, important and necessary one.
