Exploring the Importance of Autobiographical Memories

This paper examines autobiographical memories (memories of past personal experiences) for different product categories, presenting the results of two exploratory research projects: i) ten in-depth interviews asking consumers to describe the autobiographical memories that they can recollect for financial services and for packaged food; and ii) an online experiment adapting a protocol commonly used in psychology to trigger biographical recollection for a range of services (cinemas, car insurance, fast food and gyms). The results show that the consumer ability to recall autobiographical memories and the vividness of the memories elicited vary in line with the level of involvement with the product category. This outcome complements recent research showing that autobiographical memories facilitate the consumer ability to retrieve brands from memory, and suggests that biographical recollection could be very relevant to the design of effective advertising strategies for products and services with high levels of consumer involvement.