Abstract:

Much of the academic research of outdoor advertising recall predates the industry's many technological advances. This study updates past research and adds to our understanding of how new technology such as the 'smartboards' affect consumers' recall of outdoor messages. This study finds that the newest technology, the smartboard, produced the lowest level of aided recall. Two related factors, consistency and repetition of the message, may account for these findings. Recall of the new technology formats may be related to repetition insofar as the smartboard rotates at eight-second intervals multiple advertisers, such that each is likely to have fewer exposures thus failing to achieve wear-in, while the tri-vision boards repeat multiple messages for one advertiser, reducing the chance of early wear-out.