Understand the "Multi-Store Model of Memory" to Acquire Evoked Sets and Top-of-Mind Awareness
(Updated November 22, 2024)
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Since my previous article on evoked sets and top-of-mind awareness has been widely read, I will summarize the "memory mechanisms" that form evoked sets and top-of-mind awareness as a sequel.
※ It's a secret that this is a rejected manuscript cut for space reasons from my new book "The Map of Sales".
Memory Mechanisms
In the previous article, I explained in detail that an evoked set is "a collection of favorable options that are purely recalled in the mind when a need becomes apparent," and that if you are not in the evoked set, you have (almost) certainly lost at that point, while if you have secured the top-of-mind position, the probability of being purchased is extremely high.
Evoked sets and top-of-mind awareness are not semi-permanently fixed once formed; they have the characteristic that their rankings constantly fluctuate. To correctly understand this phenomenon and apply it to marketing strategies and tactics, it is important to understand the "memory mechanisms" of the human brain.How is memory related to evoked sets organized in the brain? And how are memories stored and retrieved?
Types of Memory
The structure of memory is famously described by the "Multi-Store Model of Memory" proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968. In this model, it is posited that memory has storage areas (registers) called sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
Sensory Memory
This is memory where stimuli received through sensory registers such as the eyes, ears, nose, mouth (tongue), and body (skin) persist for about 0 to 5 seconds (the diagram indicates 1 second).
In other words, it refers to all external stimuli received in daily life. Because storing all of this would require an incredible amount of storage, it has the characteristic of repeating input and forgetting in an extremely short time.
Visual memory (iconic memory) is said to be held for about 0.2 to 0.5 seconds, and auditory memory (echoic memory) is said to be held for up to about 5 seconds. It can be said that the brand jingle (sound logo) played at the end of a TV commercial is utilized to remain in echoic memory.
Short-Term Memory
Short-term memory has a limited capacity (7±2 chunks), is characterized by being forgotten in a short time (15 to 30 seconds), and has the function of assigning meaning to information transferred from sensory memory and information stored in long-term memory.
The point is that it is not just memory held for a short while, such as when remembering a phone number, but also an output location for information retrieved from long-term memory.
A chunk is a block of processed information.
For example, if you try to remember the string 0467233000 as numbers, it is difficult because there are 10 chunks, but it becomes easier to remember if you make it 4 chunks: 0467-23-3000.
Also, if you try to remember the string "eyenoseearmouth" as letters, it is difficult because there are 15 chunks, but it is easier to remember if you see it as 4 chunks: the words "eye," "nose," "ear," and "mouth."
This is important: the reason why you were able to recognize these as chunks is because you retrieved knowledge about the body—eye, nose, ear, mouth—from long-term memory and [are assigning meaning within short-term memory] that eye=eye, nose=nose, ear=ear, and mouth=mouth.
In this way, the process of assigning meaning to sensory memory is called "perceptual encoding", and the process of grouping multiple related chunks into one is called "chunking".
On the other hand, since short-term memory can only be held for a short time, it is necessary to intentionally prolong short-term memory or transfer it to long-term memory.
The process performed at this time is "rehearsal".
By performing the act of "rehearsal," short-term memory can be maintained within short-term memory for a longer period or transferred to long-term memory.
Rehearsal includes maintenance rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal. Maintenance rehearsal is typified by the repetitive act of muttering a phone number over and over while pressing the buttons so as not to forget it. Repeating a product name in a TV commercial or having a campaign car repeatedly announce a candidate's name is done to encourage maintenance rehearsal.
Elaborative rehearsal refers to repetitive acts that involve linking information to other memories or understanding its structure. This includes memorizing chemical symbols using mnemonics like "Sui-He-Li-Be..." or understanding structures such as how adding the suffix "-tion" to English verbs or adjectives turns them into nouns. It is said that elaborative rehearsal has a higher probability of being transferred to long-term memory than maintenance rehearsal.
Long-term memory
This is memory transferred from short-term memory that is stored semi-permanently and without limit. Once information enters long-term memory, it becomes possible to organize and retrieve it.
Taking in information is called "encoding", saving it is called "storage", and retrieving memory is called "recall".
In other words, brand information that is recalled is in long-term memory, and the consideration set that is "searched" for and retrieved (based on stimuli input via the sensory register) is in short-term memory (working memory).
Also, long-term memory is broadly divided into declarative memory, which is remembered through language, and non-declarative memory, which is learned with the body.
Declarative memory is divided into episodic memory, such as experiences and memories, and semantic memory, such as knowledge and concepts.
Non-declarative memory is also called procedural memory and refers to skills and experiences that are difficult to express in words. It is formed by repeating the same experience, like riding a bicycle or swimming, and is the kind of thing that "the body remembers." It can be said that the UX/UI of easy-to-use smartphone apps is structured according to the general procedural memory that many people possess.
Yo-Ho Brewing, a craft beer maker that continues to make rapid progress with its flagship brand "Yona Yona Ale," holds numerous real-world events to increase its base of enthusiastic fans.
Many other companies' products try to remain in semantic memory by appealing to product specs, functional benefits, and RTB (Reason To Believe) in marketing communications such as advertisements, but Yo-Ho Brewing mainly uses real-world events to approach "beer enjoyed with passionate Yo-Ho fans" and "beer enjoyed with friends while camping in the fresh green of North Karuizawa", which are episodic memories.
Brands stored in long-term memory along with episodic memory, not just semantic memory, are stronger. This is because, in addition to being remembered along with contextual information etched as one's own experience, the possibility of recalling Yona Yona Ale increases when visiting the fresh green of North Karuizawa or going camping, as the episodic memory from that time is revived.
Note that episodic memory can be realized not only through real experiences such as events, but also by communicating when, where, with whom, and how a product or service is used, and what kind of emotional experience it brings through communication activities.
If your product is etched as an episodic memory within long-term memory, you can subsequently lead to brand recall by providing cues through stimuli such as descriptions, scenery, colors, logos (visual), sound logos, jingles (auditory), and scents (olfactory).
If we compare sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory to a computer, sensory memory corresponds to the memory elements used for calculations and holding execution states inside a microprocessor like a CPU, short-term memory corresponds to the main memory (primary storage) that performs various information processing, and long-term memory corresponds to the SSD or hard disk that stores all information. It can also be said that long-term memory is (inside) a desk drawer, and short-term memory is (on) the desk.
When doing work such as processing slips, you pull documents out of the drawer and work on them on the desk.
Shopping behavior is the same; a lot of product information is always stored in a drawer, but when a need becomes apparent or some kind of stimulus occurs, the drawer is opened, and the top three cards are pulled out onto the desk (recalled), considered, and purchased.This is the mechanism from stimulus to evoked set to purchase.
So, what specific measures are effective for being remembered?
The answer is in the new book 'Sales Map' (Nikkei BP)... (Boom!)
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