Brand Recall is the extent to which a brand name is recalled as a member of a brand, product or service class, as distinct from brand recognition.
Common market research usage is that pure brand recall requires "unaided recall". For example a respondent may be asked to recall the names of any cars he may know, or any whisky brands he may know.
Some researchers divide recall into both "unaided" and "aided" recall. "Aided recall" measures the extent to which a brand name is remembered when the actual brand name is prompted. An example of such a question is "Do you know of the "Honda" brand?"
In terms of brand exposure, companies want to look for high levels of unaided recall in relation to their competitors. The first recalled brand name (often called "top of mind") has a distinct competitive advantage in brand space, as it has the first chance of evaluation for purchase.
Promotional materials such as visual aids and product information leaflets are used as means of conveying the product message to the prescribers, by pharmaceutical companies.
After personally interacting with the doctor, more often than not, the PSR "leaves-behind" the product leaflet with him, the objective being to serve as a reminder to the doctor about the product attributes.
Since many pharmaceutical companies consider product leaflet as merely an "aid-to-memory", they just mention the names of the products in their promotional materials. Several others think that pictures of beautiful models would help them attract attention of the doctor. All these companies are sadly mistaken in their approach. What these companies fail to realize is that a well-designed promotional leaflet adds to the efforts of marketing team by helping achieve brand recall.