The Reminder Effect: How Campaign Memory Builds, Returns and Becomes Useful | Ireland's #1 Out of Home (Outdoor) advertising agency

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People notice messages in passing, hear them in the background, encounter them again somewhere else and often recall them later when a brand, product or need becomes relevant.

The Reminder Effect is new research from PML Group, conducted through three waves of our ongoing IMPACT Research with Ipsos B&A, exploring how campaign memory develops across repeated encounters, how real-world moments can bring that memory back into play and how clear creative cues help people recognise where that memory belongs.

For Out of Home, that process is particularly important. OOH exists across everyday journeys, shopping environments and social occasions, giving brands the opportunity to build familiarity, reconnect with advertising encountered elsewhere and appear again when relevance is increasing.

Repeated encounters help advertising settle into memory

Campaign memory is rarely created through a single exposure. Repeated encounters can strengthen recognition, familiarity and later recall.

86% agree that seeing an ad more than once helps them remember the brand, while 79% remember an ad better when they see or hear it in more than one place. Almost three quarters, 74%, agree that seeing advertising in different places can remind them to buy or do something later.

OOH can play an important part in that cumulative process. 77% agree that advertising seen outside the home can remind them of advertising they have encountered somewhere else, while 72% say Outdoor helps keep brands in mind while they are out and about.

Memory becomes more useful when it meets the right moment

Remembering an ad is one thing. Remembering it when the product, place or need becomes relevant is another.

Three quarters, 75%, agree that an ad can come back to mind when they later see the brand or product. 70% say the same can happen when they are near somewhere they can buy or use it.
Most significantly, 73% agree that a reminder at the right moment can influence what they buy, visit or do.

This creates a particular opportunity for OOH. Advertising encountered while people are travelling, shopping, socialising or making plans can connect earlier campaign memory with what is happening around them now.

A reminder only works if people recognise it

Another exposure does not automatically become a useful reminder. People need to be able to identify the advertiser and connect what they are seeing now with what they have encountered before.

83% agree that a clear brand name or logo helps them connect an ad with one they have seen previously, while 82% say a simple message makes an ad easier to remember when they see it again.
Consistency also matters. 77% find advertising easier to recognise when the same colours, images or visual style are used in different places.

The implication is not that every format should look identical. Different environments require different treatments, but distinctive campaign cues need to survive those changes.

Download the full Reminder Effect report

Complete the form below to receive the full research, including findings across all three waves and the implications for OOH planning and creative.

Advertising Doesn’t Just Work in the Moment

People notice messages in passing, hear them in the background, encounter them again somewhere else and often recall them later when a brand, product or need becomes relevant.

For Out of Home, that process is particularly important. OOH exists across everyday journeys, shopping environments and social occasions, giving brands the opportunity to build familiarity, reconnect with advertising encountered elsewhere and appear again when relevance is increasing.

Repeated encounters help advertising settle into memory

Memory becomes more useful when it meets the right moment

A reminder only works if people recognise it

Download the full Reminder Effect report