Abstract

It is no secret that creativity is an important component of advertising. It can enhance attention, facilitate recall, and drive emotional responses. However, there is continued opportunity to explore the boundary conditions regarding creativity’s ability to break though clutter. This article looks at whether two types of interference—external interference and competitive interference—limit creativity’s ability to enhance recall. We test this across three studies investigating the effects of these types of interference on individuals’ ability to recall creative ads and brands. The first experiment tested external interference using digitally manipulated print ads and three external music conditions. The second experiment tested competitive interference through TV ads. A third study extended the second study by holding creativity constant within the interference conditions. Results indicate that creativity does indeed facilitate recall under limited interference. However, this effect is lost under conditions of high interference, implying that creativity can be dulled and lost in the noise. We find these effects under both immediate and one-week-delay recall conditions. These findings are important for researchers and managers as the positive impact of creativity may not be realized under conditions of high interference but may certainly be fully realized in conditions of low or moderate interference.

摘要

众所周知，创意是广告的重要组成部分。它可以增强注意力、促进回忆并驱动情绪反应。然而，我们仍然有机会探索创造力突破混乱的能力的边界条件。本文探讨了两种类型的干扰——外部干扰和竞争干扰——是否限制了创造力增强回忆的能力。我们通过三项研究对此进行了测试，调查这些类型的干扰对个人回忆创意广告和品牌的能力的影响。第一个实验使用数字操纵的印刷广告和三种外部音乐条件来测试外部干扰。第二个实验测试了通过电视广告的竞争干扰。第三项研究通过在干扰条件下保持创造力恒定来扩展第二项研究。结果表明，创造力确实可以在有限的干扰下促进回忆。然而，这种效果在高干扰条件下会消失，这意味着创造力可能会在噪音中变得迟钝和丧失。我们在立即召回和延迟一周召回的情况下都发现了这些影响。这些发现对于研究人员和管理者来说很重要，因为创造力的积极影响在高干扰的条件下可能无法实现，但在低或中度干扰的条件下肯定可以充分实现。这意味着创造力可能会在噪音中变得迟钝和迷失。我们在立即召回和延迟一周召回的情况下都发现了这些影响。这些发现对于研究人员和管理者来说很重要，因为创造力的积极影响在高干扰的条件下可能无法实现，但在低或中度干扰的条件下肯定可以充分实现。这意味着创造力可能会在噪音中变得迟钝和迷失。我们在立即召回和延迟一周召回的情况下都发现了这些影响。这些发现对于研究人员和管理者来说很重要，因为创造力的积极影响在高干扰的条件下可能无法实现，但在低或中度干扰的条件下肯定可以充分实现。