Advertising in the Age of Shrinking Attention Spans
The landscape for marketing and advertising has changed due to the current millennial generation of consumers. In order for brands to remain relevant with “digital natives”, the 18-34 demographic, they must be aggressive in their strategies to gain the attention in a digital age that is person-centric and content driven.
With the incendiary takeover of social media, marketing strategists are being forced to contend with the rapidly shrinking attention span being tapped out at roughly 140 characters or five seconds worth of video. Although many will mourn the loss of a more literate society, those in marketing are facing an audience that is developing discriminating tastes as well as a discerning eye for visual content.
If the message is not fast-paced and engaging, the viewer will “swipe left.”
The late great communications theorist Marshall McLuhan is famous for saying, “The Medium is the Message.” According to McLuhan, it was the medium itself that shaped and controlled "the scale and form of human association and action.” This has proven prophetic as marketing agencies devised ways to hold the attention of a consumer base which is gadget driven and short on patience.
For those who are in the generation of baby-boomers and Generation X, advertising slogans became intertwined within the lexicon of American culture. It was not that long ago when catch phrases such as “I Can’t Believe I Ate the Whole Thing,” (Alka Seltzer) “Where’s the Beef” (Wendy’s) and “Got Milk?” (Milk) were interspersed and used liberally within our daily vernacular. The famous advert created by the Doyle Dane Bernbach agency for Life Cereal, “Hey Mikey…He Likes It!" took on a life of its own.
Today however, advertisers are faced with a DIY culture that can create their own content which is rapidly finding ways to avoid advertisements. There are studies indicating that Millennials are the largest demographic to use ad-blockers, thus avoiding all exposure to unwanted stimuli. This aversion places the industry at the mercy of a generation who simply does not care about being “sold.”
All About Branding
As any marketing strategist will attest, any idea or product, if packaged correctly, can provide some form of inspiration which translates directly into a revenue traffic stream. What makes companies successful in the long run is being able to have a pulse on the future of the market, the burgeoning demographic and the values that the demographic holds in order to build a stable consumer base.
Being successful in branding for millennials is not simply about grasping what makes the younger generation “tick”, or understanding young people in general. It is about having a vision for the future. What millennials want from brands is not cohesive to the mores of a by-gone era.
More importantly, the values of this generation are not going to disappear anytime soon. In fact, as this group becomes more financially stable, these values will be more and more common; eventually becoming the new norm for future generations.
Two Schools of Thought
When the idea of branding comes up in conversation in terms of creating an image that sells to the public, invariable; and often unconsciously, there are two schools of thought which are often voiced. One school of thought focuses on the identity of the brand itself as being person or company-centric.
This monolithic approach can be seen in brands such as KFC, Coca-Cola, Chevy, IBM and Google. These brands are so ingrained in the American psyche that the company names have become synonymous with the product they sell.
In other cases the company name has morphed into the form of an intransitive verb; such as “Googling” or IG’ing. While still current, the monolithic approach to branding is being replaced by one that is more movement driven in nature.
This second approach to branding is one where the mission that drives the company is ultimately the brand that consumers are buying into. It is this shift in branding which currently attracts Millennials and their hard-earned dollar.
Mission and Product Value
The value of this demographic is that companies stand for something outside of manufacturing product. They are looking for brands to be socially conscious and offer personal interaction with the public. For example,
[1] Mitscoots, a company in Brooklyn, New York makes socks for those transitioning from homelessness. One view of the site and it is clear that their brand is mission driven. In keeping with their mission, for every piece of gear purchased,
Mitscoots will donate an item of equal value to someone in need. The millennial generation is one where the traditional route of education, career advancement, and stability is not the same as those of previous generations.
This is causing a redefining of success to include more controllable values such as creativity, purpose and service to the community in order to achieve fulfillment.
The convergence of these conditions has caused a consciousness within the millennial generation to question the value of those they associate with not only on a social level, but also in their consumer practices
Culture Driven Society
Advertising no longer drives the culture. The culture is dictating its own terms. Brands are being forced to create content which does not play like an advertisement in order to reach the younger audience that will soon become the bigger wage earners. It is one thing to talk about engagement, ideas, and forging future relationships, it is another to actually hit the target successfully.
While it is true that the current generation of Millennials are changing the landscape of the advertising industry, the question arises as what is will the landscape be like when the next generation steps up to the plate. Imagine in the future a demographic of digital savvy adults who began their introduction to electronic media prior to learning to their “A-B-C’s.”
Sources
Marshall McLuhan
http://www.marshallmcluhan.com/common-questions/
Marshall McLuhan Understanding Media page 9