A previous internal study by Unilever found that people who engage with FreeWall® could later recall the advertised brand 86% of the time, compared to less than 10% for a standard banner.

The aim of this study was to investigate why FreeWall® outperforms other digital ad formats by such a high margin.

Method: i) Participants: 54 female, age 18-24 ii)Equipment: To measure brain activity and memory encoding a unique methodology was used - Steady State Topography (SST) - which tracks electrical responses in the brain in real time. iii) Procedure: Participants were exposed to 4 articles, each containing a different ad: 2 ads for a haircare brand (designed to target the participants gender and age) - 1 interactive FreeWall® ad and 1 standard mid-page unit (MPU) display ad; and the same for a brand with broad, gender neutral appeal.

1) Peak response level of memory encoding 41% higher for FreeWall® compared to MPU 2) Brain activity when interacting with FreeWall® 31% higher than the benchmark norms for typical online activity 3) The peak levels of memory encoding recorded with FreeWall® were significantly above the minimum threshold required for later recall. Whereas the MPU peaks failed to reach this threshold required for significant memory encoding 4) Interestingly, contrary to expectations, engaging with FreeWall® created a positive emotional response. Please download white paper for full report.

This data now explains why no one remembers standard banners and almost everyone recalls a FreeWall®. This is because FreeWall® pushes memory encoding over the threshold needed to encode to long-term memory and recall the ad, whereas standard ads never reach this required threshold. It is well known that puzzle solving generates a positive experience and the similar nature of FreeWall® might explain this positive emotional response. Finally, these results achieve the study aim by explaining Unilever's previous findings