Memorable marketing messaging—the science behind concrete language, visualization and lasting impressions

In his recent bestseller on animal senses, Ed Yong describes taking his dog for a walk and spotting the neighbor cleaning his car:

“It’s a sunny afternoon in March 2021, and I’m taking Typo, my corgi, for a walk. As we approach a neighbor who is rinsing his car with a hose, Typo stops, sits and stares. As I wait with him, I notice a rainbow in the water arcing from the hose. To Typo’s eyes, it goes from yellow to white to blue. To mine, it goes from red to violet, with orange, yellow, green and blue in the middle...”

Did you imagine the scene? Picture the differing rainbows?

What if Yong had just written, “Humans and dogs experience color differently. Dogs can’t see reds, purples or oranges, so they observe a rainbow as yellow, white and blue.” Same information. Far less impactful.

But why, exactly?

To humans, being able to see things in our “mind’s eye” is incredibly important. This idea has long roots. In 55 BC, Roman orator Cicero said, “The keenest of all our senses is the sense of sight, and consequently perceptions received by the ears or from other sources can most easily be remembered if they are conveyed to our minds by the mediation of vision.”

Using the mind’s eye

So, how important is this visual emphasis for you? Well, let’s try an experiment now to explore the question. Here’s a list of word pairs—take a good look, then cover them up and read on.

Now, try writing down as many as possible.

Which words did you recall? My bet is that you found it easiest to bring to mind the concrete phrases—those describing things that exist physically, such as “square door” and “muscular gentleman.” But the abstract ones, such as “common fate” or “better excuse” most likely slipped your mind.

If so, your experience reflects the classic demonstration in 1972 by psychologist Ian Begg at the University of Western Ontario.

Begg recruited 25 students and read them a list of two-word phrases, including the ones you’ve just read. He then asked the subjects to recall as many as they could. And the results were stark: People remembered 9% of the abstract words and 36% of the concrete words. A massive four-fold difference.

What about real life?

You might wonder whether a study among 25 students is applicable to the real world. I did too. So, in 2021 Mike Treharne, from Leo Burnett, and I ran a similar study, with a few tweaks.

We recruited a 425-strong sample and gave our subjects a list of phrases, some abstract, and some concrete. All of these phrases might realistically appear in ads or other comms.

Some of the phrases were concrete, such as:

Others were abstract, such as:

We also tweaked the timings, introducing a five-minute delay before asking participants to remember the words. Not as long as we need to remember ads in real life, but a step closer to reality than Begg’s immediate recall.

Our results were even more pronounced than the original study.

Participants remembered 6.7% of the concrete phrases, but just 0.7% of the abstract ones. That’s a ten-fold difference.

These lab studies are also supported by real-world evidence. The book “Made to Stick” describes the analysis of ancient stories conducted by Michael Havelock, a classicist at Yale. Havelock has shown that stories that have been passed down by word of mouth, such as the Odyssey and the Iliad, have plenty of concrete words but few abstractions.

Begg suggests that concrete phrases are stickier because we can visualize them.

What should marketers do?

To boost memorability, take a look at the language you’re using. Strip out anything abstract and replace it with something real. Never use words such as durable, fast, easy or innovative without explaining in concrete terms why these adjectives apply.

One great example of concreteness in action comes from Apple’s early iPod days.

While other MP3 players of the day emphasized their storage size in megabytes, Apple made it real with “1,000 songs in your pocket.” The consumer was able to picture the device in their jeans pocket, easily storing all their favorite tunes. That act of visualization helped cement the claim in the mind.

Apple’s preference for concrete language is not as common as it should be. Far too many brands are attracted to vague abstractions such as Rightmove’s “Find Your Happy” or Hitachi’s “Inspire the next.”

Work hard to paint a picture that your customers can imagine. Even better if they feature in that scene—like the iPod in their pocket.

And they’ll literally keep you in mind. If you can create a scene as impactful as a rainbow, like Typo’s limited rainbow experience, then you’re really onto something.