Point of View: Recall Revisited: Recall Redux

Abstract

Day-After-Recall (DAR), as a means of determining the sales effectiveness of television commercials, is reviewed from the perspective of how DAR is measured during the 1990s as opposed to a decade earlier when the (now dead) Burke DAR system was dominant. In addition to questioning the validity of much of the reliability-impugning research which has been reported, it is shown that the variables which threatened the reliability of Burke DAR are better managed by today's surviving systems, such as Gallup and Robinson, Mapes and Ross, ARS, and ASI. Prior validity studies which have been reported as showing “checkered” results are sorted out by Burke versus the other systems; the studies showing no validity are all noted to be Burke-based, while the several which did show validity are seen to come from the non-Burke pool. Reanalysis of prior research, along with the addition of more recent studies, leads to discussion regarding the shape of the recall function and how recall scores ought to be interpreted. Arguments are presented which (1) support a threshold, rather than linear, recall-to-sales function, and (2) speak to the necessary-but-not-sufficient argument for recall. Additional discussion addresses the issue of which measure, among those that DAR can generate, may be the most propitious. Both applied and future research implications of this revisitation of recall are discussed.

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