Memory really matters. Yet it just isn’t talked about enough. If our communication isn’t memorable, it won’t work!

It doesn’t matter how on strategy, on brand, whether it follows the guidelines or whether the chairman’s partner likes it.

So, asking what makes things memorable, is a useful endeavour.

This can’t be answered in a quick blog but having a handful of children going through school at the moment, I have two pointers.

Pointer 1

Lists of facts are hard to remember: unless you write down the list and go over and over it again and again and who does that with an ad?

Stories are much easier: you only need to hear them once to remember them.

Pointer 2

The more unusual the story, the more memorable

The more ups and downs, wrongs and rights, glamour, scandal, fear and joy in the story the better

The best example is probably Henry VIII. You only need to hear it once: his six wives, his size, his ginger beard, his problems having children, the dissolution of the church. Try getting a 10 year old to remember any other historical figure after one reading without any revision. But they all remember Henry VIII. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Henry VIII could well be the most famous UK celebrity, dead or alive.

There’s a simple principle here: the next time you’re doing an ad, don’t do a list of product features and benefits and expect anyone to remember it. Try instead to tell a story, a bit like the Henry VIII story.