When “The Attention Economy” warned marketers of the increasing difficulty of engaging consumers “in the face of overwhelming options,” it was 2002. Twenty years later, consumer attention has never been more valuable – or scarce.
The world that prompted psychologist, economist, and Nobel Laureate Herbert A. Simon to coin the term “attention economy” in 1971 was still obsessed with TV ratings. Today, people are bombarded with alerts from ever-present smartphones, social media featuring highly attention-grabbing content and an endless backlog of shows to stream.
Marketers now have more options than ever to identify content that will resonate with their audiences. From cameras that track and calibrate our eye movements to empirically trained AI models, finding that perfect combination of images and words that can stop consumers in their tracks – even for a moment – has become an industry obsession.
But the attempt to engage consumers could end up leaving them cold. After all, not all attention is created equal.
Identifying two types of attention
According to the National Institute of Health, there are two major types of attention: exogenous takes the form of stimulus-driven attention, e.g., reacting to a glass suddenly breaking. This attention is often thought of as “interruption.” Meanwhile, endogenous is more conscious and purposeful, like concentrating on work or taking an exam. This attention is often thought of as “earned.”
Attention that’s “grabbed” through loud, splashy or repetitive creative messaging tends to be fleeting – interruptive and irritating. Research conducted with Ipsos last year found that 73% of consumers say the ads they see are repetitive. No doubt they thought of them as irritating, too. As a result, it’s no wonder that IPG’s Media Lab found that 57% of consumers punch the “skip ads” button on YouTube, with 76% indicating that it is a natural reflex and ingrained behavior.
Conversely, data shows that endogenous attention is a strong driver of marketing success. Measurement by Adelaide shows that when consumers opt into an ad, it increases attention scores and drives brand outcomes through the funnel. While the expectation is that attention correlates more strongly with the upper funnel, the data indicates otherwise for “earned” attention. In fact, attention scores from purposeful attention showed the strongest correlation to purchase intent among the KPIs studied.
How understanding attention can drive engagement
Considering the relationship between attention and brand funnel impact, the benefit of measurement will depend on clear industry delineation between earned media products and interruptive ones.
So, which approaches attract the kind of attention that motivates the consumer to lean into advertising?
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Respecting a consumer’s interests and time. Knowing that a consumer prefers one brand over others isn’t enough. You also need to know the right time and the right way to reach that person.
The best location marketing serves as a good example: A consumer strolling near a favorite store might be open to a special discount offer at that moment. The idea is to interact naturally with consumers without upsetting their routines.
Think of two friends chatting as they cross paths – natural, genuine engagement. That’s so much better than engagement via a swarm of bees.
Making a trade. Consumers are more likely to share information – and view advertising – if they expect something of value in return, like shorter commercial breaks, access to articles or games, even money-saving promotions. And they’re increasingly savvy about their side of the value exchange: They want useful products, services or information.
What they don’t want: messages that are ceaseless and jarring.
Offering control and choice. Marketers are often surprised by how many consumers “opt in” for ads when the opportunity is presented in the right way.
With CTV and other interactive formats, marketers can let consumers choose to view ads when and how they want. Do they want an ad from this company or that one? The technical specs of a product or the story behind it?
We spend enormous amounts of time, effort and money to attract consumers. Their attention is the currency we seek in return. The biggest winners in the attention economy will be the ones who earn consumer engagement through opt-in ad placements that tangibly save consumers time and money or that offer an educational exchange.
Marketers who embrace and operationalize the attention dichotomy will learn the extent to which prioritizing the good kind of attention can deliver significantly improved results.
“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media.
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