The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) and Temple University’s Center for Neural Decision Making conducted a neuromarketing study to understand the human response to the sequencing of digital and physical advertisements. (PDF download link.)
For example, if a consumer first receives an ad in the mail and later sees the same ad via email, did the order in which she viewed the ads influence the ads’ effectiveness? Would a reversed, digital-physical media sequence have resonated more powerfully with her? How about if she had seen two advertising mailpieces instead?
The results of the lab portion indicated that the physical-physical sequence was particularly effective at eliciting ad recognition, brand recall, and ad likability. […]
The field study campaigns, although not statistically conclusive, showed a higher consumer response to a physical-digital ad sequence compared to a digital-digital sequence… Other findings from the lab study have practical implications for marketers and the Postal Service: faces spurred higher recall rates than scenes or words, and the physical-physical sequence was best for brand-building messages.