Time truly is the most valuable resource in the world, and in the digital marketing world earning every single second of that attention has become a challenge. Joe Marchese, the President of Fox Advertising re-instated the importance of attention as he was quoted saying, “Human attention is the most valuable resource on the planet.”
Human attention is descending at a rapid rate when comparing it to 12 seconds back in 2000 down to 8 seconds in 2013. Which rather shocking when considering that a goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds. The real challenge is maintaining attention. There are two approaches, one is to be first and the second is to create a journey.
Be First
Being first means to be original. When something new and trending is introduced it gains attention. The example that was used was Sonic’s Square Shakes, which were the world’s first shakes designed for Instagram. Artists were invited to collaborate, and the option was added to order through Instagram which drastically improved exposure. With the final results being 2 billion impressions with costs per impressions being $0.00005.
Create a Journey
Creating a journey includes participation. Nike created a journey with their We Run Mexico campaign, where in 2013 a competition was created amongst several barrios including Tepito, Satelite, Portales, Iztapalapa, Del Valle, Contreras, Coapa, Churubusco, and Chapultepec. The challenge was to make it competitive and that’s where social media was utilized with tracking and reporting on progress. With the tracking of running, there was constant reporting in the respective barrios at Nike Stores to make it a stronger competition against other barrios.
Special logos were designed to represent each barrio to reflect the progress with them being light with progression.
Several events were created to help boost the attention including an event of run with the dead on the day of the dead. There was approximately 650 people that ran with 60% of them under the age of 25. Another event was a massive run in Mexico City, where Nike employees were positioned throughout the run checking for details such as how many of the runners were running with Nike branded shoes.
The final outcome was that they took their Facebook followers from 300 thousand to 1.9 million in just three months as well as a trending hashtag of #werunmexico.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be a challenge to grab attention of the general public when several people have their heads in their phones. This can easily be witnessed at any traffic light, with heads bowing and fingers flying, as the light turns green and there is no movement from the driver. The key to experience success in a world of such short attention were the two points mentioned in the presentation being first and by creating an experience. If done right, both of those tasks will improve and increase interaction and build recognition of a business.