Welcome to the Attention Economy

WHY WE HAVE SHORTER ATTENTION SPANS THAN GOLDFISH, AND HOW WE CAN FIX IT.

Once upon a time, a group of brave young scientists decided to compare the attention spans of humans and goldfish. In 2000, humans had a several-second advantage over the goldfish regarding attention, but since 2010, the goldfish has surpassed humankind. In the digital age, the average human’s attention span is only 8 seconds, while a goldfish can concentrate on something for a whopping 9.

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What does this mean for businesses in the digital age?

As a brand, it’s become even harder to compete for your target customer’s attention. Although, there are several proven metrics for gauging how well your audience is paying attention to your brand and your content.

How can you measure audience attention?

You can accurately measure audience attention by considering how often your content is liked, loved, shared, or commented on.

People assess a brands credibility and gauge its trustworthiness within 50 milliseconds of first viewing a website or landing page. If you want to know whether your audience is paying attention to your content and finds it credible or trustworthy, you need to pay attention to how often they interact with it, and what type of interaction is taking place.

A comment or share is a much more robust indication of trust, credibility, and attention than only a ‘like’ or a ‘love.’ A ‘like’ or a ‘love’ doesn’t entail much investment on the consumer’s end, although a ‘like’ or a ‘love’ will still shed a favorable light upon you. People want to associate with that which is popular, and likes and loves do indicate popularity.

But with a comment, they viewer is making a time investment in your content by responding to it and possibly hoping for a response back. A ‘share’ indicates an investment of their own credibility by associating with your content.

So, how can you get people to pay more attention to your brand?

The first thing you need to consider is your content. Is it engaging, well-written, valuable, and informative? Research says that if your content is riddled with poor grammar and spelling mistakes, you’re actively sabotaging your brand’s credibility. Also, if your content is uninspiring, people may not necessarily find you untrustworthy, but they won’t pay any attention to it. Give your viewers interactive, informative content while still being fun and they’ll more likely pay attention to what you have to say. Furthermore, you want to add a call-to-action to your content.

This way, you’re inviting the reader to respond by either liking, sharing, or commenting. Better yet, specifically ask for a comment or share since it adds more weight and credibility to what you’re saying, not to mention on social media, the algorithms will look upon you more favorably with the more interaction your brand receives.

In this way, attention is an economy. The more people you get to interact with your brand, the more the algorithm will show your content to more consumers. Attention compounds upon itself. If you want to gain consumer trust and build your brand’s credibility, don’t ignore the attention economy.

Brands and Businesses, Pay Attention to the Attention Economy

Have a listen to this latest TED Podcast: Attention Please. It should offer some additional insights.

Thanks again for paying attention 😉

Start Acting More Childish

Why the world needs “childish” thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism.

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I recently listened to the TED podcast about how we get wiser with age. It touched on many different people and what experiences attributed to this claim. What I uncovered was that age doesn’t necessarily make you wiser, and being “childish” is a good thing.

In an interview with child prodigy, Adora Svitak, she talks about how the world needs more “childish” thinking. And that the word itself shouldn’t carry the negative connotation it does among grown-ups. It should be redefined so that acting “childish” means to enable us to dream up big ideas, be wild and creative, optimistic, fun and free.

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She goes on to call-out that in fact if the world would adapt to being more “childish”, that we might not be living in such tough times. We might not be living in an era where negativity, fraud and distrust are becoming the new normal. And that grown-ups need to be more willing to learn from children as much as to teach them.

I for one, couldn’t agree more. I’ve always thought that taking yourself too seriously dilutes the essence of life and most certainly creativity. That if you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun. With this shift in behavior, people, companies, brands and cultures can shape a better world. A world where we’re inspiring our peers more than ever, rather than frightening or appalling them. One where big dreams deserve high expectations. And where fundamental honesty becomes the core attribute in what we are marketing or selling.

Now, there’s no way this will happen overnight, but if we all were to start acting a bit more “childish”, and let our imaginations run free, then maybe, just maybe, we could get there soon.

Here are some quotes we live by at Canopy that reflect the heart of this post, and the spirit behind what Adora preaches. We use them in our signatures so that we never forget to behave this way, and our colleagues don’t either:

  • “Creativity is contagious, pass it on.”
  • “Creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye.”
  • “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.”

Now go on, do something childish!

TTYL!

The Truth Doesn’t Hurt, It Sells.

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Studies indicate that 66% of consumers, regardless of age, will purchase from a brand they feel is sustainable and trustworthy. The numbers are even higher once the Millennial cohort is isolated; at 73%. When companies and brands tailor their advertising with trustworthy information for their target customer, conversion rates are boosted 30%.

Demographics Are Everything
Baby Boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1960, were once considered the largest generation to ever live. This generation, for decades, has been the foremost influence driving business’s marketing efforts and product lines. But, all that’s about to change.

In the next few decades, the largest transfer of wealth, over 30 trillion dollars, will take place—from Boomers to the Millennial generation and their little brothers and sisters; Generation Z. Demographics are everything, and the aging of the Boomers and the rise of Millennials and Gen Z is going to severely change the marketing and business landscape.

Millennials and their younger counterparts look at companies, brands, and businesses through an entirely different lens than Baby Boomers, and brands are starting to feel the pinch of their critical gaze.

The Millennial generation is far more risk-averse than their Boomer elders. Millennials are more likely to value experiences over things, and will spend their money accordingly. They are not investing in real estate, and are far less likely to buy a car new and on loan, or even own a car at all. Furthermore, this generation is more skeptical of brands than their predecessors.

Trust Is Visceral
While trust has always been an important metric and component driving customer buying decisions, with Millennials, trust is now a key component, not a peripheral, nebulous concept. For them, trust is visceral, and necessary. Despite their young age, this generation and the one behind it are jaded toward the business and advertising worlds.

It’s hardly surprising. While Boomers came of age during the post-war boom, when housing prices, relative to income, were still affordable across socio-economic status, for Millennials this is not the case. Furthermore, this generation witnessed and experienced the massive fallout of the housing crisis of 2008. Since then, this generation’s trust in institutions and brands and businesses was severely crippled and eroded. To earn Millennials coveted trust in the business world, brands are required to operate in a trustworthy, and sustainable fashion. And, brands who are perceived as civically responsible will be more likely to obtain those depreciating Millennial dollars in the coming years.

So, how can a brand appear trustworthy to younger consumers?

  • History: By sharing the company history or brand’s personal story, offering social proof
  • Accountability, i.e.: ‘money-back guarantees’ or offering free trials
  • Affiliations: Proving authority through affiliation with other trustworthy brands in the sphere
  • Relatability: Approaching from a sympathetic angle by understanding the customer’s pain points. Telling stories in an informal, casual tone
  • Subtlety: Offer value first without requiring anything in return

Businesses will have to compete in this new generational ethos. Boomers will not be the largest holders of disposable income soon, and in order to stay competitive in the new market, brands that build trust with their customers will reign supreme.

Why Consumers Crave Real Connections

Connecting Digital to ExperientialImagine a tool so powerful that it could yield results faster than any other traditional marketing tactic. Not only would you be able to cut through the clutter and reach out to your audience, but also engage and get a reaction from them.

Enter the world of experiential marketing.

In today’s overly connected world, the amount of messaging we receive on every digital channel is staggering. Studies show that consumers see about 4,000 ads every day. On top of that, brands also have to compete with their audience’s social networks, friends, emails, text messages, and so on. With this amount of noise, there’s no wonder that consumers have raised the bar and become selective about the content they engage with.

Creating a Bond with Your Audience

Digital marketing has made it easier for brands to reach out to and engage a wide audience. However, most of the messages received through these channels don’t stick in the consumer’s mind. Just think about it: you can probably remember the content of a billboard you saw a few days ago on your way to work, but you can’t tell what the ad on the website you visited ten minutes ago was about.

Although we live most of our lives in the digital world, we still crave real connections. That’s why we go to concerts, attend events or watch sports competitions. The emotion and excitement of these experiences make us feel closer to our peers and, by extension, to the brands that happen to initiate them. Even when it comes to simple things, such as watching a horror movie, studies show that consumers feel a great attachment to the brands nearest to them when they’re scared or along (interesting, huh?).

The beauty of experiential marketing is that it allows you to spark powerful emotions and build a lasting connection with your audience that could transform into brand loyalty. And, it makes sense if you think about it: prospects are more likely to engage with your brand and mention it to their friends and family if you provide a unique and immersive experience than if you were to reach out to them with a standard online ad or sponsored post. We’re not talking about PR stunts here, but experiences that engage your audience and make them excited to share it with their network. Think about IKEA’s slumber party, Refinery29’s 29Rooms events or Red Bull’s jump from space.

Blending Digital & Experiential

You don’t have to burn a hole through your marketing budget to offer engaging brand experiences. Today’s technology has made it easier for brands to augment their digital marketing efforts and increase brand loyalty. With a VR headset, for example, you can enable prospects to see how it would be if they would use your products or services. If you’re a travel agency, you could use virtual reality technology to show prospects how the hotel room would look like or what they can expect to see when they reach their destination. These experiences engage all five senses, empower the consumer, and make them more excited about your offer than traditional tactics.

In Conclusion

You could have advanced tools that measure every possible metric, from impressions to click-through rates – and, that’s all good and necessary. But, the smile you manage to put on a prospect’s face is priceless. And, that’s where experiential marketing can make the difference and help you build a powerful bond.

We Recycled Super Bowl LII. Here’s the Replay.

As part of PepsiCo’s Zero Waste initiative, we were brought in to drive the message home at this year’s Super Bowl in Minneapolis. Along with the PepsiCo Recycling team, we created Rush2Recycle, a high-energy activation featuring several immersive experiences, allowing fans to drop themselves into fun football action to see how many bottles they can recycle throughout Super Bowl Week. See all the action below in our Rush2Recycle highlight video.

Running parallel to the physical activation, we launched a website to drive awareness, while capturing the excitement through social media. Rush2Recycle.com will serve as an ongoing tool to further the movement through online engagement.
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This innovative project aimed to set a new standard for waste diversion at one of the nation’s premier events and inspire action across the country. The long-term goal is to recover more than 90% – more than 40 tons – of stadium waste by recycling bottles and cans, composting organic materials like food waste and service ware, and repurposing items through local community organizations.

For more information on this activation, visit Rush2Recycle.com or shoot us a note at info@canopybrandgroup.com.