James T. Heimbach .

Jacob Jacoby
Nationwide Research Center Purdue University
If advertising is to be effective, its impact should persist over time* It i3 not enough that an
advertisement have some effect at the moment of presentation; rather, it must continue to exert its effect
throughout the decision-making process.
In general, there are two broad approaches to enhancing the persistence of an advertisement's effect.
First, the strength of the initial impact may be raised, thus raising the residual impact at any point along
the decay curve* Second, the slope of the decay curve (i.e., the rate of loss of effectiveness) may be
decreased. Either of these processes will lead to an advertisement presented at time £ retaining greater
impact at time t + x, the time of decision-making or purchase. The primaty .purpose of this
investigation was to examine a technique for increasing the initial impact of an advertisement and the
slope of the subsequent decay curve.
Numerous operational definitions of ’’advertising impact” have been developed. In general, they fall
into three categories:
1« Memorial effect (e.g., awareness, recognition, recall, knowledge of product)
Attitudinal effect (e.g., opinion, liking, belifef, preference, intention, conviction)
Behavioral effect (e.g., inquiry, purchase).
The pair of studies to be discussed in this paper focus on two type* of memorial effects awareness
and recall. The assumption which underlies this investigation is: “That version of an advertisement
which produce*
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the greater memorial impact is the more successful version of the advertisement,” Immediate
measures (e.g., awareness, immediate recall) reveal changes in the initial impact of the advertisement,
while delayed measures (e.g., awareness change, delayed recall) reveal the compound effect of
changeB ifi the initial impact and changes in the rate of decay of 4ffectivehesd.
Both types of measures were employed in this investigation.
Since Zeigarnik's (1927) classic study, it has repeatedly been dsmon-
■■4
Btrated that incomplete tasks are better remembered than complete tasks (cf* Butterfield, 1964).
Zeigarnikfs explanation for this effect (now named for her) was that the subject beginning a task
develops a need to complete it. If he is prevented from doing so, he is left in a state Of tension, which
manifests itself in improved memory for the uncompleted task.
Extending this explanation from tasks to messages (i.e., advertisements), one could suggest that
hearing the beginning of a message leads to the i>
 development of a need to hear the rest of it — rather like waiting for the second shoe to drop. The
resulting tension leads to improvement in memory for that part of the message which has already been
heard.
As might be supposed, this is a rather short-term phenomenon — one does not stay up all night
waiting for the second shoe to drop. So whAt is its significance for advertisers? The key lies in the fact
that, in the situation discussed, the subject is unable to complete the task on his own — he does not
know the rest of the message. This is not the cast with an advertisement. Few people hearing MWinston
tastes good lik« A
M
would be unable to complete the message. Most probably, a
good proportion of readers have completed it just now* this illustrates two further forces .leading to
improved recall for the message. The first, suggested by Heller (1956), is that completing the message
is positively reinforcing, thereby improving learning and memory. A second force is provided by Che
fact that the audience will have actively participated in the message, and it is a well-known learning
principle that active participation, as opposed to passive reception, improves learning and memory.
These effects would be expected to persist over extended periods of time.
In addition to testing the general hypothesis (i.e., that incomplete ads would be better remembered
than complete ads), the two experiments also examined other factors which could be hypothesized to
strengthen or diminish the magnitude of the Zeigarnik effect.
Subject's need for achievement (nAch). Several studies (e.g., Atkinson, 1953; Weiner, 1966) have
found that high n-Achievers show a stronger Zeigarnik effect than low n-Achievers.
Subject's prior familiarity with the advertisement. It is expected that greater familiarity will lead to
better ability to complete an interrupted message, thus strengthening the Zeigarnik effect.
3# Subject's prior involvement with the product and brand advertised.
It is predicted that subjects more involved and interested in the subject of the commercial will pay
closer attention to it and will make more effort to complete an interrupted message.
Presence or absence of a jingle in the advertisement. The presence of a jingle should strengthen the
Zeigarnik effect in three ways; (a) by adding strain for completion of the musical .phrase to that strain
already present for the verbal material; (b) by increasing the awareness of the interruption; and (c) by
providing a well-known slogan which should be highly familiar and therefore easy to complete when
interrupted,
5* Presence or absence of a post-commercial pause. Providing a brief pause between the termination
of the commercial and the resumption of the program should enhance the Zeigarnik effect by giving
subjects a chance to complete the commercial without interference,
EXPERIMENT I
Procedure
Two video tapes wore prepared of a 30-minute television program, each containing four test and tive
filler commercials. These commercials were inserted into existing program breaks (i.e., replaced the
original commercials
 appearing in the program as broadcast). Two test commercials (for cigarette* and soft drinks) were
for highly familiar products, were highly familiar themselves (as established in a separate pre-test with
different subjects), and contained jingles. The other two test commercials (for rug shampoo and
automotive services) were relatively unfamiliar and did not contain jingle*.
One commercial of each type was presented in complete form in Tape 1 and incomplete — the last 5
to 6 seconds deleted — in Tape 2i In a crossover control design, the other two were presented complete
in Tape 2 atid incomplete in Tape 1. This design allows analysis utilizing a replication factor to
determine the reproducibility of the results.
Subjects were selected by administering the nAch scale from the Personality Research Form
(Jackson, 1967) to 172 Introductory Psychology Students at Purdue University during the Spring of
1970. The 30 highest and 30 lowest scoring students were selected for this experiment.
The two video tapes were shown simultaneously on' 24-inch monitors in different rooms, with 30
subjects — 15 high and 15 low in nAch -- assigned to each room. Immediately following presentation
of the program, the subjects completed an advertisement-recall measure. This measure consisted of
asking the subjects to identify the product class (e.g., toothpaste) and the brand name and to provide a
detailed description of the contents of each of the nine commercials. Upon completion, this measure
was dollected and an evaluation measure was distributed. This consisted of a listing of all the
commercials, each accompanied by a seven-point, good-bad semantic- differential scale.
The recall measure was 3cored on a five-point scale. A score Of zero represented total non-recall for
a commercial, one point was assigned for recall of the product class, one point for the brand name, and
zero, one, or two points were given for recall of specific copy points. The questionnaire*
were scored by two .Independent racers, who achieved a conspect reliability of ,96,
The hypotheses tested in Experiment I were:
X, Incomplete versions of commercials will produce greater recall
than complete versions.
2- High nAch subjects will manifest a stronger Zeigarnik effect than low nAch subjects,
Familiar commercials with jingles Will produce a stronger Zeigarnik effect than unfamiliar
commercials without jingles^
Results
Profiles of the recall scores are shown in Figure 1, It can be seen that the high-nAch subjects
exhibited a Zeigarnik effect for both high- familiarity commercials with jingles (soft drinks and
cigarettes) while the low nAch subjects showed the effect only for the cigarette commercial. The
unfamiliar commercials without jingles consistently produced a small anti-Zeigarnik effect, in that they
tended to be recalled less well when interrupted. The analysis of variance, however, revealed that
neither the main effect for completeness nor the interaction between completeness and nAch were
significant* The predicted interaction between completeness and “familiarity/jingle” was marginally
significant at p < ,10,
 While it was not expected that the technique of interrupting a commercial would have any effect
upon subjects’ liking for it, this measure was included because it was felt that the possibility of either a
positive or adverse effect should be explored. One significant effect of interruption upon evaluation did
appear: a marginally significant (p < ,10) triple interaction betveen completeness, nAch, and
familiarity/jingle* This interaction may be due to an unplanned confounding factor. The two high-
familiarity, j^y.gls^containing commercials were for pleasure-oriented
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Fig, 1, Profiles of recall scores, Experiment I.
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products (cigarettes and soft drinks), while both low>~ familiarity., nonjingle commercials were for
functional products (rug shampoo and automotive services). It appears, then, that the high-nAch
subjects preferred the complete versions of functional-product commercials and the interrupted
versions of commercials for pleasure-oriented products, while the iow-nAch subjects exhibited the
opposite pattern, preferring complete pleasure- oriented and incomplete functional product
commercials*
Although this experiment did not provide strong support for the application of the Zeigarnik effect
to broadcast advertising, it was felt that since all results had been in the expected directions, the
question did merit further study. Therefore, a second, somewhat more elaborate and better controlled
experiment was designed to clarify some of the questions raised, as well as to explore new issues*
Specifically, the following questions were raised: •, .
1« What is the effect of different levels of subjects1 involvement with the brand and product
advertised? Will those who use the product or brand pay closer attention to the commercial or make
more effort to complete an interrupted message than those who do not use the product, thus showing a
stronger Zeigarnik effect?
2. What is the effect of different levels of-prior awareness of the brand advertised? Will subjects
more highly aware of the brand pay closer attention to the commercial, thereby exhibiting a stronger
Zeigarnik affect?
3* Will allowing a brief pause after the commercial strengthen the Zeigarnik effect by allowing the
subjects a chance to complete the interrupted commercials without distraction?
Does the presence of a jingle enhance the Zeigarnik effect in the absence of large differences in t he
familiarity of the commercial#?
What would be the effect of truncating the beginning of a commercial rather than deleting the end?
Can a Zeigarnik effect be shown for other memorial criteria than unaided recall of copy points?
Specifically, can basic awareness o£ the brand name be stimulated via the Zeigarnik effect?
Finally — and most importantly — does the Zeigarnik effect persist over time?
The second experiment was performed to -answer these questions.
EXPERIMENT II
 ;-j:p cedure
Si:-: audio tapes were prepared of the sound portion of a TV show.
, ea':h contained four test commercials, two with and two without a Single, T.u this experiment,
however, all test commercials were of roughly faquai familiarity, A pre-test, in which 24 subjects
viewed the four commercials (counterbalanced for order effects via a Latin square design) and assigned
familiarity ratings from 1 to 7, established that the range of familiarity among the commercials was
from 5.38 to 5,70; no differences were significant at the p < .25 level. The products advertised were
cigarettes, chewing gum, mouthwash, and a headache remedy.
Each commercial was presented in one of six modes on each of the six tapes: it could be presented
complete, interrupted at the end, or truncated at the beginning; in addition, it could be followed by
immediate resumption of the program or by a four-second delay preceding program resumption.
One week prior to the presentation of the program, students in three classes of Introductory
Psychology at Purdue University (Spring 1971 semester) were tested on their usage patterns and brand
awareness for a number of low-price consumer products. This testing was performed by a graduate
student having no ostensible connection with the present study. The awareness measure consisted of
asking the subjects to list five brands of each product class* The product/brand usage measure asked if
the subject used «ach product, whether he had a regular brand, and what that brand was*
This pretest was used to select brands for use in the experiments as well cs to determine which tape
each subject would hear.
Each tape was played to a group of 15 subjects which included three subjects in each of the
following five categories for each advertised brand: (1) regularly uses advertised brand; (2) uses
product but not advertised brand and is highly aware of brand; (3) uses product but not advertised
brand and i3 not highly aware of brand; (4) does not use product and is highly aware of brand; and (5)
does not use product and is not highly aware of brand.
The subjects were told that the experiment was concerned with the relative amount of information
carried by the audio and video portions of TV broadcasts. Immediate recall for the commercials was
tested directly following the presentation, using the same recall measure as was used in Experiment I..-
The page containing this measure was the second of three pages of the questionnaire; the other pages
asked questions about the program itself in order to continue the deception*
Two days later all subjects were retested on brand awareness; thii testing was performed by the same
graduate student who had administered the pretest under the pretext that he was checking its reliability*
One week after the presentation, the advertisement recall test was again administered to measure
delayed recall. At this time the deception was dropped and the subjects were debriefed.
The recall measures were scored by two raters, with an overall con- spect reliability of .97. The
awareness measure was scored in two way#.
The first provided a measure of “change in awareness.” This was achieved by subtracting the
awareness score on the pretest from awareness on the posttest, counting five for listing the advertised
brand first, four for listing it second, and so on, down to zero for failing to list it at all*
 The second scoring method provided a measure of “first-brand awareness” —
listing the advertised brand first on the posttest gave a score of “on«,M while anything else gave a
score of “zero.”
Thus, this experiment contained five independent variables: (1) Completeness (complete; cut-at-
beginning; and cut-at-end); (2) Subject's Product/Brand Involvement (does not use product; uses
product but not brand; uses brand); (3) Subject*s Prior Awareness of Brand (high; low))
(A) Jingle (absent; present); and (5) Post-Commercial Pause (none; £our- seconds), ■
There were also four dependent variables: (1) Immediate Recall (Measured within 10 minutes of the
presentation); (2) Delayed Recall (measured one week after the presentation); (3) Change in Awareness
(posttest measure two days after the presentation); (4) First-Brand Awareness (measured two days after
the presentation).
It was anticipated that the dependent variables would react similarly to the manipulations, although
first-brand awareness was expected to be the least sensitive measure.
The major hypotheses were:
Interrupting the end of a commercial is superior to cutting the beginning, which in turn is superior to
presenting it in complete fotm.
increased involvement with the product and brand advertised leads to a stronger Zeigarnik effect.
3* Increased brand awareness produces a stronger Zeigarnik effect*
4* The presence of a jingle strengthens the Zeigarnik effect.
5* The presence of a posw-coramercial pause strengthens the Beigarriik effect.
Results
The primary hypothesis — that interrupting commercials produces greater memorial impact than
presenting them complete — was strongly
supported* This effect was significant beyond the p < .01 level for immediate recall, delayed recall,
and change in awareness; it was in the expected
direction, although not significant, for the first-brand awareness. In
addition, the hypothesis that cutting the end of the commercial would be best, cutting the beginning
second best, and leaving the commercial uncut worst was also strongly supported. This pattern was
exhibited fot all four dependent variables, and each interval was significant at the p < .05 level

on the Tukey (a) test for immediate and delayed

awareness* The profiles of these data appear in Figure 2.
 As was noted earlier, it is important that the memorial impact of a Commercial persist over time*
Therefore, the relative performance of complete, cuf-at-beginning, and cut-at-end commercials was
examined over time (i*e., from immediate to delayed recall — a period of one week).
For the sake of simplicity, and since two points are hot enough to es-^ tablish thevnature of the
curve, a linear decay has been assumed.. Thii plot appears in Figure 3.
It can readily be seen that cutting the beginning of a commercial produces an effect which decays
over time, although it still prdduce* recall superior to that for complete commercials after a period o£ a
week* But the effect of cutting the end of the commercial appears to be a lasting one — its superiority
over cut-at-beginning and complete versions in producing recall is even slightly greater after one week.
The hypotheses concerning the effects of product/bifcnd involvement, brand awareness, and the
presence of a jingle were not supported* None of these factors exerted any effect upon the Zeigarnik
effect on any of the dependent variables*
The presence of a four-second pause following the commercial did have
Ftg. 2. Profiles of results for all dependent variable#
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Fig, 3. Profiles of recall across time.
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a significant effect, although thi£ effect was considerably more complex than had been predicted. It
appears that the presence of a post-commercial pause has different effects upon subjects with low and
high initial brand awareness. As is shown by the profile of the triple interaction between completeness,
post-commercial pause, and brand awareness (Figure 4), post commercial pause improved immediate
recall of the cut-at-beginning commer** cials and decreased recall of complete commercials and those
cut at the end for the subjects high in brand awareness. For those low in brand aware- ness, on the other
hand, the post-commercial pause improved immediate recall of commercials cut at the end and
decreased it for those presented complete or cut at the beginning. This same pattern also occurred it
statistically ''significant (p < .05) levels on delayed recall and on first-brand awarenes*.
DISCUSSION
It thus appears that a number of tentative conclusions can be drawn concerning the effects of the
incomplete-commercial technique;,however, a considerable number of questions remain.
First, it is apparent that the technique can have a substantial and significant effect upon recall for
commercials, both immediately following the presentation of the commercial and one week later* In
Experiment II, commercials cut at the end generated 33.8% more immediate recall than did complete
versions of these commercials; one week later the recall advantage of the cut-at-end version was
52.4%* A similar effect was also obaarvtd for brand awareness.
It appears that truncating the beginning of a commercial is also an effective technique for increasing
its memorial impact, although this technique is not as effective as deleting the end of the message.
While the data on familiarity of the commercial are not as complete
 Fig. 4. Interaction between completeness, poet-commercial
pfmee. '’nd brand awareness.
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as one would desire, it appears chat Che Zeigarnik effect will not occur with unfamiliar
commercials.
There seems to be no support for the suggestion that the presence of a jingle will enhance the
Zeigarnik effect, nor for the hypothesis that the viewer's involvement with the product and brand
advertised will affect the strength of the effect*
The question of providing a brief pause after the commercial obviously requires further research —
the effects of this procedure ■are rather nebulous at this point.
Several basic questions remain. For example, to what degree ia the improved recall for interrupted
commercials due to a uniqueness or '‘shock11 'effect? Will a single interrupted commercial lose its
effect with repetition, or would the production of a number of different interrupted commercials for
different products cause the effect to disappear?
The effect of interruption of a commercial upon other than memorial criteria is also unknown. The
single evaluation scale employed in Experiment X revealed the interaction which was interpreted—on
a post hoc basis— in terms of functional vs. pleasure-oriented products, but did not reveal any main
effect due to interruption. It must be emphasized, however, that this scale was probably not especially
sensitive; the absence of significant effects suggests only that attitudinal effects are probably not very
large. Further research on attitude, preference, and intention to buy as a function of interruption of
commercials might well prove fruitful.
Finally, it should be noted that none of the advertisements utilised in these experiments were
originally designed to be interrupted. It is probable that commercials could be specifically tailored to
maximize the Zeigarnik effect; in addition, experiments could be performed with only
the audio channel interrupted and the video channel left uncut. This technique also might prove
effective.
In summary, it appears that the interrupted-commercial technique showa considerable promise for
enhancing an advertisement^ impact> but further-research is necessary if the full potential of the
technique is to be revealed.
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REFERENCES
Atkinson, J« W, The achievement motive and recall of interrupted and completed tasks. Journal of
Experimental Psychology, 195i, 381-39Q* Butterfield, E. C, The interruption of tasks: Methodological,
factual, and theoretical issues. Psychological Bulletin, 1964* £2, 309-322, Heller, N. An application of
psychological learning theory to advertiaing* Journal of Marketing, 1956, 20, 249-254, . •»
Jackson, D. N. Personality Research Form Manual« Goshen, New York?
Research Psychologists Prelss, 1967,
 Weiner, B, Achievement motivation and task recall in competitive situations* Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 1966* 3t> 693-696* Zeigarnik, B, Uber das behalten von erledigten und
unerledigteh Handlungon. Psychologische Forschungen, 1927, 9^, 1-85.