Ad Repetition and its Affects on Consumer Perception and Engagement

Ad Repetition and its Effects on Consumer Perception and Engagement

Contemporary Issues in Marketing

By Leon Nacaj

Mere Exposure Effect - R. Zajonic (1968)

What is it?

Psychological phenomena indicating that exposing people to a stimulus constantly you can increase how much they like it. Regardless if they are consciously taking in the information.

Points to note:

• Brief Exposures work too!
• At its most effective when there are not any negative connotations beforehand
• Better if they are not consciously aware

Advantages & Disadvantages

Repeated Exposure to Ads

Banner Blindness Example:

Real World Examples

Repeated Exposure to Ads

• Repeat exposure
• Subliminal Placements
• Christmas ads - santa, polar bears
• >25% of total sales generated during Christmas period

• Unskippible ads - Intrusive?
• Banners
• Similar ads within short period of time
• retargeting
• Does it work?

• Retargeting - Shown interest but haven't converted

• Banners
• Embedded ads into feed

Examples

Stats

Survey

Survey Summary

Who: 18-24yrs old, males & females Size: 18 participants Why: To prove that ad repetition can have a negative impact on customer perception and engagement

Feeling

Perception

Skip/Ignore

Actions

Frequency

Conclusion

Takeaways

• Consumers avoid watching repeated ads where possible (88.9%)
• Must be aware of overexposure as most people feel that some may be repetitive or annoying (88.9%) and 22.2% saying they would avoid the brand
• Brands should look to adopt strategies to prevent overuse of ads such as capping ad frequency and increasing ad variety

References

Questions?

Thank You for Listening!

After seeing the same ad, would you describe your perception of the brand as:

• Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9(2, Pt.2), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0025848
• APA Dictionary of Psychology (2014). APA Dictionary of Psychology. [online] Apa.org. Available at: https://dictionary.apa.org/mere-exposure-effect.
• Zhao, J., Butt, R.S., Murad, M., Mirza, F. and Al-Faryan, M.A.S. (2022). Untying the influence of advertisements on consumers buying behavior and brand loyalty through brand awareness: The moderating role of perceived quality. Frontiers in Psychology, [online] 12(1), pp.1–15. doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.803348.
• Funnel.io. (2024). What is ad fatigue and how to prevent it. [online] Available at: https://funnel.io/blog/ad-fatigue. [Accessed 27 Mar. 2025].
• Parameswaran, M. (2025). Ad Fatigue: What It Is, Signs & 7 Proven Ways to Prevent It. [online] The Media Ant. Available at: https://www.themediaant.com/blog/what-is-ad-fatigue-and-its-prevention/#What_Is_Ad_Fatigue [Accessed 27 Mar. 2025].
• Silberstein, N., Shoham, O. and Klein, A. (2023). Combating Ad Fatigue via Frequency-Recency Features in Online Advertising Systems. doi:https://doi.org/10.1145/3583780.3615461.
• Pernice, K. (2018). Banner Blindness Revisited: Users Dodge Ads on Mobile and Desktop. [online] Nielsen Norman Group. Available at: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/banner-blindness-old-and-new-findings [Accessed 27 Mar. 2025].
• Seopremier.com. (2023). SEO Premier Blog | The Perils of Repetitive Ads and How it Can Hurt your Brand in the Long Run. [online] Available at: https://www.seopremier.com/post/the-perils-of-repetitive-ads-and-how-it-can-hurt-your-brand-in-the-long-run [Accessed 27 Mar. 2025].
• ‌onome deBBie akwara (2024). Holiday Operations Mastery: Lessons from Coca-Cola's Holiday Campaign. [online] Linkedin.com. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/holiday-operations-mastery-lessons-from-coca-colas-campaign-akwara-pjowf/.
• Macready, H. (2023). Instagram Ads: The Complete Guide for Marketers. [online] Hootsuite Social Media Management. Available at: https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-ads-guide/.
• Bhattacharya, J. (2024). Comprehensive YouTube Ads Stats for 2024. [online] SEO Sandwitch. Available at: https://seosandwitch.com/youtube-ads-stats/.
• Benway, J.P., 1998, October. Banner blindness: The irony of attention grabbing on the World Wide Web. In Proceedings of the human factors and ergonomics society annual meeting (Vol. 42, No. 5, pp. 463-467). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.Schmidt, S. and Eisend, M., 2015. Advertising repetition: A meta-analysis on effective frequency in advertising. Journal of Advertising, 44(4), pp.415-428.Severi, E. and Ling, K.C., 2013. The mediating effects of brand association, brand loyalty, brand image and perceived quality on brand equity. Asian Social Science, 9(3), p.125.
• Schmidt, S. and Eisend, M., 2015. Advertising repetition: A meta-analysis on effective frequency in advertising. Journal of Advertising, 44(4), pp.415-428.
• Severi, E. and Ling, K.C., 2013. The mediating effects of brand association, brand loyalty, brand image and perceived quality on brand equity. Asian Social Science, 9(3), p.125.

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How often do you encounter the same ad?

Sections like this will hep you organize

Sections like this will hep you organize

How often do you ignore or skip ads you see multiple times on social media or streaming platforms?

Stats

• 90% of consumers discover new products or brands
• On average brand awareness increases by 75%
• Increases website traffic by 6x vs other video platforms
• 45% higher user retention rate when personalised ads used
• 200% increase in ROI for retail brands

When seeing the the same ad repeatedly, how does it make you feel?

If you see an ad multiple times, are you more likely to take one of these actions? (Select all that apply)