Decreasing Attention Spans in an Overcrowded Ad World
Written by Esther Llanos Llorca
Countless advertisements are produced every day. Some convey emotions, laughter, nostalgia, or anger, while others merely entertain viewers to convince them of the superiority of a brand. And, with ad saturation across platforms, comes more consumer resistance to actually listening to what companies have to say. As consumers, we know, consciously or not, that we depend on our digital devices. That beep from notifications is usually enough for us to take our phone out and check what is new on the screen. We want new information, entertainment, and content as soon as “yesterday,” the Keystone Education Group joked.
All of these behaviors are new to marketers. In the early 2000s, advertisers counted on an average of two and a half minutes of screen time to reach and engage an audience with their creations. In just 20 years, subconscious willingness to pay attention to a screen has diminished to 47 seconds, and when presented with an ad, a study by Microsoft found that the human attention span has dropped to eight seconds only (Vrublivskyi, 2024). This phenomenon continues to challenge marketers as they have to scavenge different ways to reach an uninterested audience tired of being bombarded with advertisements.
Messages and copy have become shorter. Instead of two-minute-long ads, marketers have turned to straight-to-the-point content. In most cases, award-winning campaigns excel due to their storytelling. But, how much can you tell in eight seconds?
The key to a successful campaign depends on its extensibility throughout the correct platforms. Therefore, many companies have opted for a 360º approach to their communications campaigns. Instead of focusing all efforts on a video ad, marketers with a futuristic vision opt to boost engagement by creating snackable content for the same campaign and directing it to other platforms. For example, a way to create user-friendly content that consumers digest seamlessly is to split up messages into various social platforms and create short social stories that lead to longer pages.
Bacardi is a clear example of an organization that has leveraged the power of snackable content. As early as 2016, the company realized this trend toward shorter and more direct content. Therefore, they began to reduce the length of their videos and work towards an interactive platform where the company shared cocktail recipes in short-form videos. They acknowledged that people couldn’t connect with the brand through a five-minute advertisement. Instead, the lemonade recipe gained 2.3 million views, over 14,000 likes, and 1,000 comments within the first couple of weeks. It was a revolutionary discovery that, most of the time in advertising, less is more.
Personalization is another trend attempting to captivate and increase attention spans. As buyers, we like to feel that the product or service is created specifically for us; it has to call our attention immediately, or we will ignore it. In this overcrowded ad world, many agencies and organizations overlook consumers’ preferences by observing their target market as a group of individuals who share certain traits. While it is true that there are some common motivations and preferences among those people, credibility and trust are affected when individuals feel like a mere number. Therefore, the key is personalizing a user’s experience so much that they feel like the leading factor dictating an organization’s performance. They must see an ad and believe it was created specifically for them, which will grab their attention immediately.
Coca-Cola’s 2012 “Share a Coke” campaign has become one of the most recognizable for using personalization techniques. The organization placed common names on their cans to spread advocacy and love for the brand, encouraging consumers to share a Coke with friends or post it on social media under #shareacoke. This campaign is an example of a company that took what seems to be a product for everyone and turned each consumer experience into a unique one. As a result, Coca-Cola saw an exponential increase in sales for the first time in over a decade (Horberry, 2023). Consumers were struck to see that Coca-Cola had included “their” names in the cans, making them feel special. The campaign drew people in so much that everyone was scavenging for that can with their name on it. A small change triggered consumer action, revealing the benefit of making the consumer the center of an organization’s business processes.
Many professionals believe the more intricate the ad is, the more traction it will have. However, that is not always true – eight seconds go by faster than we think. Therefore, considering easy-to-understand visuals that highlight the most crucial aspects of the ad in a way that is skimmable and eye-catching is all that marketers can aim for in the awareness stage. Once the product or service has gained traction, advertisers can consider branching out to more intricate concepts. The key to success is acknowledging diminishing attention spans and using simplicity, personalization, and genuineness to create campaigns that connect with the audience more than at a surface level.