The 25th frame technique is a method of inserting a different image into the last frame of a 25-frame second of video. In cinema, 1 second of video is made up of 24 frames, while in television in Europe, it is made up of 25 frames. In the simplest terms, a 1-second video on television is created by photographing 25 frames of an ongoing action and combining them. In today’s technology and in different countries, this is also applied at 30 frames. However, our main topic here is to provide information about how the method known as the 25th frame technique, which is thought to have a subconscious power, can be used in the field of persuasion and marketing.
How Effective is the 25th Frame Technique?
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The 25th frame technique is actually a technique that started with the directors and producers for self-entertainment and later became famous. Those who first applied this technique probably did not expect this method to reach such a popular point today.
What makes this technique so popular today? In one word, the sense of “curiosity”. Let’s give a very simple hypothetical example. You went on vacation with a loved one. Before you go there, a friend of yours told you that he never forgot the place and had many different experiences. While you have these information in your head; You are watching the sunset on the seashore. You were about to get up when the person working at the cafe you were sitting at the beach stopped you. He said that many dolphins came here towards the end of the sunset and some of them jumped into the water by approaching the shore very closely. After a moment of confusion, you decided to stay. We ordered a drink from the cafe. When it got dark, the expected dolphins did not come. But on the other hand, you were experiencing the satisfaction of having a good time. This is exactly what the 25th frame consists of. We will see it more clearly in the article.
Does this Technique Have Anything to Do with Subliminal Marketing?
There are many texts about the 25th frame technique being a subconscious marketing method. However, these are extremely far from providing scientific evidence. The subconscious theory was intensively dealt with by Sigmund Freud and the framework was drawn as a theory. However, as it has remained a theory, its scientific validity is still being questioned. However, the subconscious concept of Freud and the subconscious concept used in advertising and marketing are different. Freud’s concept and the theory he put forward are focused on accessing some information in the subconscious. When we return to the field of advertising and marketing, we encounter the opposite situation. In subliminal advertising, it is generally thought that those who produce this advertisement work on adding a new information to the subconscious instead of revealing an information in the subconscious. Therefore, there is a clear deviation from Freud’s subconscious theory at this point.
How is the Subconscious Effective?
While the subconscious is still an unproven area and when this theory is acted in the opposite way in marketing studies, how do we think that these contents can affect human behavior by affecting the subconscious? How do we believe in this when there is no reason to think so? Here, we can again place the sense of “curiosity” of human beings in the center.
How is the 25th Frame a Marketing Method?
You are watching a video on the internet that does not interest you at all. Because it is a very short video, you have already watched it all by the time you pass it. Afterwards, a friend of yours says that there is a hidden 25th frame in this video. Usually in such cases, users try to see the 25th frame. If this video contains content that includes a brand or product, the user will see the ad repeatedly.
Overall, the 25th frame serves conscious advertising. It has the potential to increase the frequency of viewing of the advertisement by the user. Especially in social media content, the repeated viewing of the video by the users increases the interaction rate. Thus, the publisher’s content can be more prominent due to the algorithm of social media platforms.
In conclusion, there is no known technique that can clearly and scientifically measure the area we call “subconscious” today. Therefore, it is not very likely that we can understand at this time to what extent which content affects the subconscious. However, the contents that spread under the label of “subliminal advertising” are interesting to users