Not Optimizing for Human Attention? Then Forget About Advertising (Part II) 

In Part I of our recent publication, we introduced you to some of Paolo Provinciali’s thoughts on the importance of human attention in advertising. Enjoy our selection of further insightson this hot topic in the marketing industry, from a practitioner’s perspective:

• The role of innovative platforms. According to Provinciali, the sell-side should constantly work to develop highly attentive environments through content, formats, and programming innovation. In turn, the buy-side should seek and reward platforms, networks, or programming that deliver above-average levels of consumer attention with a price premium. But as long as media will be priced mostly based on reach (and in some cases “premiumness” of the programming), the industry is missing an opportunity to influence advertising effectiveness through the development of high-attention environments and messaging. 

• Sharing accountability between Media and Creative. Provinciali starts the important conversation about sharing the responsibility with creative. He points out that many will complain that the sell-side cannot guarantee a certain level of attention on a specific creative. There is a fundamental distinction between the efforts to create or choose high-attention environments to deliver a message, which is an effort for the media industry, and the craft of developing content that captures and retains high-level attention, a job best tackled by the creative industry. At the same time, creatives that retain high levels of attention may not be able to transmit enough information to persuade the audience, so maximizing attention alone may not lead to the desired outcome. In the same way, having a very powerful message but few people watching it in its entirety can also lead to disappointing results. 

• The impact on media ROI. While high-attention environments deliver higher media effectiveness when measured through a structured media mix model (MMM), it’s always best to isolate the impact of cost to have a positive effect on ROI. As stated before, there’s value in both high- and low-attention environments, when secured at the right price (not dissimilar to Reach).Although higher levels of attention cannot solely guarantee campaign success, breaking down the different components that ultimately influence outcome allows sophisticated marketers to increase the ROI of their investment by having more (in-flight) optimization levers at their disposal.

• Shorter ads, higher attention. To add some data in the picture, according to the expert speakers at a recent virtual conference dedicated to attention metrics, shorter ads have a greater percentage of high attention. For a 15-second commercial, average attention is 50% (so 7.5 seconds); for a 30-second commercial, average attention is 30% (9 seconds). Therefore, advertisers might consider greater use of shorter ads (which are also less expensive). Ad formats with calls to action drive higher attention. Also, ads with brand presence throughout (more time on screen) have higher attention.

To wrap up, the above observations confirm that attention is not a guarantee but a prerequisite for success, which among others demands more accountability from a brand’s creative partners. Novelty Media, via SmartAdd, provides an innovative high-attention medium for short-form creative content and ads optimized exclusively for human attention. Our audience is 100% human, consisting of verified mobile subscribers. Keep following our Marketing Bites to learn how to achieve maximum results with your creative in an innovative high-attention environment.