Can you repeat that?

(In case you didn't catch it, "HeadOn! Apply directly to the forehead!")

Has there ever been a more annoying commercial? Probably not. Does that matter? Nope.
I remember first seeing the HeadOn advertisement, and, although I had not taken any classes related to advertising, I knew it wasn't exactly creativity at its finest. However, I also assumed that having a low quality ad meant the brand itself was also suffering. Boy, was I wrong.This advertisement, horrible as it may be, actually boosted sales 234 percent. No, I'm not kidding.
I realize that repetition is a good technique to help the audience fully register the message. That makes sense. However, is there an ideal time gap between the repetitions? Perhaps HeadOn was successful because consumers were exposed to the same message in a few short seconds compared to several airings of the same advertisment. Perhaps that is something worth researching.

Does that mean everyone should simply stop producing ads that have any creative value and settle for repeating their tagline three times in ten seconds? Probably not. The trick for HeadOn was that they not only had the solution for headaches, but they were also actively causing them during the ad. Therefore, unless a brand has that kind of positioning opportunity, it should probably stick to actually doing things well. That's just my opinion, though, and I haven't boosted anyone's sales by 234 percent.