Whether you’re trying to persuade people to bet on the Euros or sell them toilet paper, grabbing consumer attention is vital… and challenging.
This isn’t just about the presumption that our attention spans have reduced substantially over the past generation. It’s also about the vast ocean of content and messaging competing for that attention.
Attention means different things to different people. For Najoh Tita-Reid, chief brand and experience officer for Mars Petcare, it’s “earning the right to share someone’s time – their most valuable asset – with you”.
Martina Poulopati is global marketing and communications director of consumer tissue at Essity, the Swedish health and hygiene company. For her, “not being boring” is key when you’re trying to sell unsexy products such as toilet paper or kitchen roll.
“Social currency,” said Michelle Spillane, MD of marketing at Paddy Power, the famously disruptive Irish betting company. Layla Soufi, regional partnerships director DSPs EMEA, VIOOH, the global digital out of home marketplace, described attention as “relevancy and an economical use of your budget” while it’s all about “emotional connection” for Linn Frost, co-global CEO of Social Element, the global social media agency.
The power of story-telling
So, attention spans are on the wane. “It used to be seven seconds and it's probably down to like three or four now,” said Soufi. But then there’s the rise of long-form video on YouTube and elsewhere so it’s not one-way traffic.
John Harris, president and CEO, Worldwide Partners, a global network of agencies, asked the panel to name a memorable ad that they hadn’t worked on themselves. It wasn’t easy. Frost mentioned a Wilkinson Sword ad and Harris cited a promo for The Bear, the FX/Hulu restaurant-based dramedy. “It was storytelling, it brought people forward, it had romance,” he said. “AI won’t make you tingle, it’s the idea that makes you tingle.”
Spillane added: “A universal truth simply told in an entertaining way – that’s still the holy grail.”
Poulopati talked about the challenge of promoting cleaning products. “It’s easy to focus on cleaning just as an act of, say, mopping a spill up in the kitchen. It gets more interesting when you ask who spilled it and why. Where's the story? People relate to that.”
Tita-Reid added: “We did a study that told us that more than two-thirds of Gen Z, feel like we're spending our time and energy selling them stuff they don't need. One answer is creativity, story-telling in a compelling way. But the big one is adding value. It takes discipline and integrity.”
Be authentic
Spillane was asked about Paddy Power’s use of humour and how that is executed. “Humour is a part of our communications but it’s not written down anywhere that we need to make a funny ad,” she explained. The fundamental point being that if you set out to be funny, you probably won’t be. “We wanted our Euros ad [‘Europe’s favourites’] to be a joyous celebration of a summer of sport. We use research to finesse what we already know is kind of going to work.”
On a similar theme, Frost said: “If you say something is going to go viral, it really won't. It goes viral when you’ve got the perfect mix of ingredients. Before the idea, let’s think about the ‘why’.If you have a ‘why’ and a purpose that stands out from your competitor, then you have a brilliant proposition and a brilliant idea. That ‘why’ comes from an emotional place.”
Think like a human
Research and consumer insights are vital, of course, but don’t become over-reliant. “Think like a human, we’re multifaceted,” urged Frost. “Someone from the music industry said to me recently, ‘Imagine Taylor Swift wrote her next album based on what her fans asked for’. It would be terrible. If you actually follow exactly what people say, you’re not going to disrupt them because you're giving them what they’re expecting.”
Soufi added: “It's really important to be authentic.”
This also applies to the thorny issue of taking a position on social or political issues. Last year Bud Light faced a boycott after collaborating with a trans influencer, Dylan Mulvaney. Firstly, there was a backlash from conservatives in the US but more ferocious was the blowback from elsewhere when Bud Light distanced themselves from Mulvaney.
“We call it the human playbook,” said Frost. “Before you do anything, you decide how you're going to show up – in every sense. If you take a political view or support a marginalised community, you earn the right and commit to it. If you get it right, that community will be behind you and you thrive. If it goes wrong, you have to be ready to then support them even more. If you’re not prepared, you’ll fail.”
Thirst quencher: the story of Liquid Death
Amid ongoing discussions about the meaning and value of ‘disruption’, John Harris paid tribute to the success of US drinks brands Liquid Death, who would definitely count as a disruptor brand.
“Two ex-agency guys who were also skateboarders decided to do something silly, but also good,” he explained. “They just said, ‘We’re going to take water and put it in a can, because aluminium cans are being recycled and plastic bottles aren’t. They are marketing water like a beer with ‘Murder your thirst’ as a tagline.
You could buy a four pack online for $20 and they sold out in two weeks, and now less than six years on, they’re valued at a $1.4bn. They treat Liquid Death as a character: how would this character sing, dance, talk, who would it partner with? The consistency in who they are and how they show up as a brand, regardless of the channel, is something we can all learn from.”
The panellists
Campaign partners in bold, below from left to right
- Lucy Shelley, Campaign tech editor, moderator
- Linn Frost, co-global CEO, Social Element
- Najoh Tita-Reid, chief brand and experience officer, Mars Petcare
- John Harris, president and CEO, Worldwide Partners
- Martina Poulopati, global marketing and communications director, consumer tissue, Essity
- Michelle Spillane, MD of marketing Paddy Power and UKI brand orchestration, Paddy Power
- Layla Soufi, regional partnerships director DSPs EMEA, VIOOH
