Intention, Not Attention
In 2002, we created 5 billion gigabytes of information. By 2020, that number is expected to climb all the way to 44 trillion. That’s an 8,800X change in less than two decades, and a massive increase in little bits and bytes hoping to gain a few seconds of our attention.
In the 90’s, it was a novelty to walk up to my grandparent’s television set and listen to the clunk, clunk, clunk as the knob turned from channel to channel. There was something charming about feeling the thud as it locked in on a station.
And then there was our old Gateway computer clacking along as it connected to the internet. It was a glorified fax machine by today’s standards, but it got me to the myriad of chat rooms where I’d announce myself — Paul 13/m/Dallas.
Most of what we did using technology seemed very deliberate. That caused hundreds of little gaps in our day when we weren’t doing anything in particular. We were just there, waiting, thinking, reading, whatever.
Advertising relies on the friction between doing one thing, and then doing another thing. So stations could create a series of gaps — the commercial breaks — and it took more time to do something else than to just sit there and stare. Ads could work with that. They had just enough attention to leave a little brand residue, and for the greatest ads to wake you up and knock your socks off.
That world doesn’t really exist anymore. TV ads worked a little less when remotes became the standard and you could change the channel with the click of a button. They worked a lot less when the DVR made recording and fast-forwarding just as easy. It works less still when the ads play, but the audience is lost on WhatsApp chatting with their friends.
The progression for radio has been much the same. When cars added buttons to save stations, the ads worked less because it was too easy to see what else was on. Then satellite and streaming and podcasts stole even more thunder.
Ad blockers, the apps, all the rest of it, all give people more reasons to not give an ounce of attention to the ads.
That is not to say that there is no role for these media, but that they need to be given the proper seat at the table and the proper objectives.
So what to do next.
First, design for intention, not attention. What do people want to do? Now make it easier for them to do that in a way that enhances the position of a brand.
When you focus on intention, your ultimate goal is not hammering hundreds or thousands of GRP’s down the throats of a disengaged audience with the hope that a little bit breaks through. People are more likely to pay attention to something when they’re in the market for it, when it’s connected to something else they like, or when the thing itself is something they like. That’s it. In other words, the whole world is a user experience challenge.
Second, treat your customers as your source of growth. Don’t just sell them more stuff, teach them how to sell you.
Billions are spent on telling stories to a passive potential market of buyers, but most often the buying experience has been managed by people who are charged with making an interaction efficient and satisfactory, not necessarily exceptional and shareworthy. This isn’t a crisis of possibility, but one of imagination.
When customers venture out, they expect something unique and shareable. When they know what they want, it has to integrate easily into their habits and their perspectives. If you want to reach more customers, you have to reduce friction and increase joy for the ones you have.
Third, manage toward insight. There is a massive fixation on customer data, but it’s not exactly easy or inexpensive to get the kind of data you can act on, particularly for primarily offline businesses. You have to give customers a reason to engage more deeply with you using tools that also increase your insight into what they do.
We are just now starting to understand what it means to live in a post-attention world. Even still, companies will need to find affordable ways to grow. We may be seeing the dusk of artificial sales spikes resulting from a massive spend and massive discounts over a short amount of time, and the dawn of a more sustainable model where companies focus the battle in the trenches — adding more customers, learning more, and improving experiences day after day after day.
When we begin thinking of marketing as a system of growth rather than a foghorn for selling messages, we may move to a far more equitable arrangement between advertisers and the customers they want to reach. Give customers memorable, thoughtful and seamless experiences, and they’ll do much of the work of growth for you.
