Wilson, Baack, and Till (2015) test whether creativity is enough to get a billboard noticed, or whether the ad also has to be conspicuous in the visual field.
A field study of billboards along an urban expressway finds an attention-capture threshold. Creativity improves brand recognition only after the ad is conspicuous enough. Billboard size, visual saliency, and brand familiarity also raise recognition.
Method
The authors scored real expressway billboards and related those scores to whether people recognized the ads. Visual saliency was estimated with computational neuroscience software rather than a lab eye-tracker.
Main findings
- Creativity needs a threshold. The message-processing benefit of creativity shows up only once a billboard is conspicuous enough in the visual field.
- Size and saliency still matter. Larger boards and more visually salient boards are recognized more often.
- Familiar brands are recognized more. Brand familiarity raises recognition rates alongside the creative and conspicuity factors.
Why this is in the Darwin index
This is a field boundary condition on the creativity–memory link: originality does not substitute for being seeable. It sits next to the index records on stopping power, visual complexity, and banner blindness.
Source of record: doi:10.1080/02650487.2014.996117.