Yana VoropaiDeveloping a communications strategy is a stage that's just as important as preparing a marketing or business strategy. More specifically, it's communications and creativity that determine whether you'll achieve your high-level goals. This becomes especially important, as we've seen, when a brand has become established and consumers aren't expecting anything new—competing for their attention is more difficult.
Yana believes it's crucial to address this barrier, including from a media perspective. It's essential to always prioritize selecting high-quality placements: high viewability, large formats, innovative mechanics, etc. This doesn't negate the need for communication and creative work, but it does increase the chances of being noticed by users in a time of distracted attention.
Expert Comments: Brand Power
Daria Timoshenko, a strategy specialist at Wunder burundi telemarketing database Digital, believes that in addition to brand size, another important metric to consider is its strength. Analysts have already proven a direct correlation between sales volume and brand strength. To calculate brand strength, or influence, two metrics are needed: website traffic and search volume. Knowing brand strength helps you build a successful strategy and determine the effective frequency of your marketing communications.
Daria TimoshenkoOur team's experience confirms that a small brand's advertising frequency can be 3+, while a large brand's is 5+. Advertising from a major brand serves more as a reminder: "We're here, we're nearby, you can trust us." Meanwhile, young brands just entering the market are forced to use advertising to build awareness of their product or service, encourage targeted action, and build loyalty among their target audience. Consumers are psychologically motivated: at the store, you'd rather put a chocolate bar from a well-known brand in your basket than a dark horse under an unknown brand.
Daria believes it's important for advertisers to consider the nuances of active and passive attention when creating creative for brands of all sizes. Active attention is characterized by targeted exploration of the advertising message—the user is interested in the product or service. In the second stage of the funnel, which is responsible for generating interest, the advertiser needs to demonstrate the key unique selling points and fully "reveal" the product. This is why advertising often uses situational content—it reveals moments of consumption.
Passive attention is a bit more complicated: users don't seek out ads, but rather ads find them and nudge them toward consumption. For example, an ad for a well-known drink that brings us to the holidays. The ads can immerse us in the holiday spirit, tell family stories, or inspire. However, throughout the ads, there are moments of consumption—people don't always watch the entire ad for this brand, but they unconsciously buy the product because it's already associated with any party or holiday. Young brands need to go further: use not only situational content but also humor, unexpected solutions, and even absurd situations—anything that can attract the user's attention and keep their gaze on the advertising message.
To sum it up
In 2022, Omnicom Media Group was one of the brands that tested consumer attention to advertising using Amplified Intelligence analytics. Their goal was to measure how attentively users viewed ads. They assessed ad viewing time and audience engagement. Researchers analyzed people's gaze patterns to determine whether they were looking directly at the ad or were distracted. The system also recorded passive attention, where the gaze was near the ad but not focused on it. Omnicom Media Group analyzed the data and increased advertising effectiveness by 11%, saving $2.5 million annually in advertising budgets!
Attention metrics allow you to determine the quality of your audience reach and significantly reduce your promotion costs. When developing ads, it's assumed that the user sees the message and responds (or doesn't respond) to it. However, statistics show that most people constantly shift their attention, are easily distracted, and have difficulty maintaining it. Understanding the difference between active and passive attention is a powerful tool for advertisers, allowing them to develop content that addresses specific needs and takes into account sales funnel goals.