Report Explores Brand Retention and DVRs

CHESTNUT
HILL, November 4: A new research study indicates that commercials can still
have an impact and create "brand memory," even when viewers are
fast-forwarding through them with their DVRs.

Boston College researchers have found that fast-forwarding viewers
actually pay more attention and can be influenced by brand images they view
only for a fraction of a second. Professors S. Adam Brasel and James Gips at
the Carroll School of Management discovered that ads with brand information
placed in the center of the screen still create brand memory despite a
95-percent reduction in frames viewed and a complete loss of audio.

"In the age of DVRs, advertisers who place their brands
anywhere outside the center of the viewing screen do so at their own brand
peril," said Brasel, an assistant professor of marketing. "Even in
fast forward, consumers can focus in on a product logo or brand and that
fraction of a second can later influence their preferences."

The findings suggest that marketers can counteract the impact of
DVRs by ensuring their ads are heavily branded and the branding is centrally
located.

"DVRs aren't going anywhere," said Brasel. "So it's
up to advertisers to work with these new technologies."

—By Mansha Daswani