Duly Noted: The Value of Attention

It’s all about attention. Whether you are trying to reach the younger generation or their older counterparts, you don’t need a crystal ball to see where they are. Look no further – your audience’s attention is there, hooked to the ubiquitous point of attraction which, for better or for worse, makes us tick 24/7 – the smartphone. 

Still betting on the old-school marketing practices and hiding your head in the sand denying the obvious?
The solution is simple, but not before you as a marketer have taken a step back from the obvious overwhelming options and have selected the right medium. Check this out:

• 49% of online display advertising: that’s what mobile ad spend accounts for, globally; 
• Mobile advertising will reach approximately 97% of incremental display spend globally over the next 5 years, according to a recent study
• Still, a whopping 84% of marketers say their organizations are not capable of measuring customer attention with mobile ads today (customer attention metrics defined as all the discrete behaviours a consumer exhibits on their mobile devices to signal involvement while looking at an ad — like swipes and tilts) 
• Many marketers keep ignoring consumer attention and preferences in order to maintain and serve content to the platforms they deem the most important
• At the same time, marketers are hungry for better customer attention data: nearly 80% of respondents say they are either very or extremely interested in gaining deeper insights into customer attention
• At a time when the audience’s undivided attention is easily hijacked by a cluttered digital landscape, the solution would be crisp and easily digestible brand messaging (think video!), grabbing the full attention of a consumer who is in a hurry, and served in a non-intrusive way

As the popular Gary Vaynerchuk said, the time has come for marketers to follow attention, not platforms. If you really want to achieve the critical KPIs representing the difference between successful and wasted ad spend, attention is the only value you should focus on. Stay tuned and follow our Marketing bites section for further insightful updates.