Have you ever noticed yourself singing a jingle or purchasing a product after being impressed with the punch line of its ad that you saw on television or heard on radio, sometime back? If your answer is affirmative, then the marketer has influenced you through Mnemonics.

Human mind easily registers data attached to meaningful information. ‘Mnemonics’ are such memory devices and brand retention tools that help customers recall larger pieces of information through short verbal and non-verbal connections like a short poem, word, music, image, logos, and punch line, etc. It helps in increasing brand recall and brand perception, generates an emotional attachment with the brand, thereby, increasing the brand loyalty. “A mnemonic is a means of marketing where the company intends to describe its motive in a single line” says Mr Tarun Garg, Managing Director at KonsultingIT.

Being a business-owner, you too can take the benefit of these memory devices to help your product retain in the minds of your customers.

Types of Mnemonics

The following will help you understand and decide on the right type of Mnemonic that suits your product,

Music Mnemonics- This could be in the form of jingles, songs, poem, or music that reminds a customer of the product.  Classic examples are the tune (or ring tone, composed by music director AR Rehman) used in Airtel ad, and the “ting tin t-rin” sound present in the Britannia biscuits commercial.

Model Mnemonics- Model Mnemonics includes logos, images, signs, mascot, etc. that remind customers of the ads and the product. Popular ones are the Adidas logo, the Swoosh of Nike, mascots like utterly butterly girl of Amul, Pilsbury Doughboy of Pilsbury flour, Ronald McDonalds of McDonalds, and zoozoos of Vodafone. You could have similar mascots created for your company or products.

Word or expression Mnemonics- Word or expression Mnemonics include short phrases that convey the trustworthiness, belongingness, service that is associated with the brand. Some examples are IBM’s punch line ‘On Demand’, ‘because you are worth it’ of L’Oreal, Wipro’s ‘applying thought’, ‘driven by thought, Fiat’ of Fiat motors, ‘The worlds local bank’ of HSBC, and “Kuchh meetha ho jaye” of  Cadbury. A punch line is a means to describe the commitment associated with the brand. Mr Garg, states “Our company’s punch line is ‘making IT simpler and affordable’, the reason we chose this punch-line is that we wanted to highlight our business idea of providing quality IT services at an affordable price to our clients.” You can also develop an attractive punch line for your company depending on the kind of reputation you want to build among your prospective customers.