The Shifting Response Curve

Erik du Plessis

A criticism of recency planning on the grounds that it is an oversimplified model. Learning curves (response functions) change over time: how memories are formed in the learning process is well understood.

The Shifting Response Curve

Erik du Plessis

From the 1970s until the 1990s media planning in the UK and us (therefore the world) assumed that the advertising response curve was sshaped, with effective frequency being at least three exposures. Recently, however, much has been made of Jones conclusion that the response curve is convex and that frequency above one is wasteful (Exhibit 1). No one suspects that the typical response curve has changed in the intervening 15 years or that Naples studied something very different from Jones.

More probably, the curve for a particular ad shifts...

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