Influencing Memory: What Matters is What People Remember

• Crisis
• February 8, 2017
• by Merrie Spaeth

If you’re a Spaeth devotee, you know that our fundamental insight is to structure communication to influence what a listener hears, believes and remembers.  A recent article from an editor at Scientific American, describes how much of what we remember is wrong. That’s interesting, but what we paid attention to is his comment that what we remember is affected by “what we talk over with friends,” along with many other contributions. This jumped out at us because it reinforces one of our other dearly held principles, that it’s critical to enlist and involve your company’s employees and customers and other stakeholders in carrying forth your message. They need to talk regularly about your mission, culture and tell your story.  This is also ultimately how a company survives a crisis, bad news or an experience with poor customer service. While paid venues like advertising are important, ultimately, these conversations shape what we remember and ultimately influence our beliefs about an experience or brand.