Overloaded Minds Makes Advertising Forgettable

Image credit: Olivier Bergeron via Unsplash

Hillary is SVP/executive director of Behavioral Science at RPA. In this role she conducts and curates consumer research, and helps brands develop insight-led strategies. Hillary holds a Ph.D. in Social Psychology, with emphases in data analytics and political psych and recently moderated a SXSW panel discussing how to keep an ad icon relevant. 

Blame it on post-pandemic malaise, increasingly dire global news, and the spectre of AI. Or just blame it on TikTok (4 billion downloads and counting).

No matter the cause, consumers today are burdened by a heavy “cognitive load.” As the American Psychological Association reported recently, average stress levels among Americans are up 19% versus 2019, with the majority of younger people today feeling “completely overwhelmed.”

As decades of research in psychology would suggest, this is making people worse at paying attention, worse at understanding things, and worse at remembering. This is bad news for almost everyone. But it is especially bad news for those of us in the business of communication. Communicating is harder than ever. 

A major source of aid for brands comes in the form of brand characters, or mascots. Characters have, of course, been a stronghold in advertising since its inception (Smokey Bear is celebrating his 80th birthday in August; the Michelin Man is 122). But the current crop of characters, whose tentacles reach deep into social channels, are uniquely spirited in their quest for customer connection. Witness the recently transformed Kool-Aid Man, Grimace, and Mr. Clean. Or the instantly iconic Scrub Daddy and Duo from Duolingo. Strong brand characters, with well-developed personalities, are still effectively grabbing and holding attention—despite the cognitive load consumers are carrying.  

There are several reasons these characters are working so well while advertising in general is at risk of losing traction. For one, characters operate in large part on the currency of familiarity—and when people are cognitively loaded, they are especially likely to veer toward the familiar. Like watching a sequel vs. picking a new film; it’s just easier to lean into. 

Second, these characters are emotional. Heaps of marketing research tell us that advertising should always be emotional. But this is even more important today. Not only are consumers processing content less rationally and more emotionally, but because consumers are cognitively overwhelmed, they are also taking active steps to avoid content that doesn’t resonate. Consider, for example, new data from Gartner Research showing that, compared to three years ago, the majority of consumers say they are “more selective or careful about what [they] choose to pay attention to.”

Third, the tentacles. Brand characters today can be (virtually) anywhere, including in direct conversation with consumers. The more places these characters show up, the more associations people have with them. And the more associations people have, the easier the characters are to remember. 

Once established, brand characters can still bring a brand to unpredictable places. Novelty doesn’t necessarily need to be traded in. But the repeated presence of a strong brand character itself, across time and situation, gives brands an enormous edge. Long gone are the days of 3+ effective frequency.