• by Masha Geller , May 3, 2001

Two weeks ago I reported on a study from Dynamic Logic which showed that the "incremental branding value of additional impressions beyond five exposures levels off and shows diminishing returns for the advertiser."

Today, another research firm released a study supporting those findings. Diameter, a division of DoubleClick, also found a direct correlation between multiple exposures to online ads and an increase in brand metrics.

The study was conducted for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and revealed that advertising awareness of the Make-A-Wish banner ad increased 51% from a baseline awareness of 16% to 25% with five exposures to the ad.

More importantly, Diameter found that additional frequencies above five exposures had no measurable effect on advertising awareness. That should definitely help advertisers decide where to cap frequency.

In contrast, the study shows an increase in brand awareness of 50% with eight exposures to the ad. Additionally, element recall, the ability to remember aspects of the creative, increased 126% after eight exposures to the banner ad.

Valuable research indeed, but keep in mind that neither study takes into account the time between exposures. As Jason Knapp, Senior VP at Strategic Data Corp. says, "Memory and brand research has shown that spacing is critical." A frequency cap of 5 may be great over 1 week, he says, but 10 exposures over a two month period is probably better, and 5 over 1 day is way too much.