Reconsidering Recall and Emotion in Advertising

ABSTRACT Recall, one of the key metrics in advertising testing, has been criticized over the years as favoring rational advertising over emotional advertising. An analysis and reconsideration of the available evidence show that emotional advertising is not penalized by recall, and that emotional content in well-executed commercials can actually boost recall. Strong empirical evidence shows that recall, when used in combination with other measures, is a valid measure of advertising effectiveness and, as the analysis here illustrates, does not miss the emotion in advertising that builds brands.