The Ultimate Marketing Challenge
Here’s some tough love for marketers:
No one wants to watch, read, or listen to your ad. They do not care.
There is staggeringly strong competition for attention to your ad. And, besides, your ad is probably not relevant because the vast majority of people who are exposed to it are not, at that moment, in a buying mode for your product.
We call this reality: Conquering Mt. Indifference.
Achieving success in marketing communication is immensely difficult – we must approach each project with the intensity of tackling a most challenging climb. Only those with a depth of skill and perseverance are guaranteed success. Acknowledge this first, then you’re ready to get to work.
A lot has been written about Americans’ short attention spans. This misses the big picture about what’s going on with modern brains. We’d argue that, contrary to popular thinking, a major consequence of the digital and social media age is that human attention spans are probably stronger now than at any time in history.
Here's proof:
In 2023, U.S. audiences streamed 21 million years’ worth of video – this is a 21% increase from the 17 million years’ worth we all streamed in 2022 (Nielsen). That’s an incredible increase in attention being paid to video, against an already high benchmark.
70% of Americans engage in binge-watching television shows. 20% of binge-watchers watch between 5-10 episodes in a single sitting. Yikes. This is not a lack of attention. It is hyper-focused attention.
And social media? The average daily social media usage last month, among all users, was reported to be 2 hours and 23 minutes. This happens every day! Why? In the most basic terms, it is because the platforms are so good. They satisfy users at levels rarely seen by any non-narcotic product, ever.
These things are not evidence of poor attention spans. Streaming and social media do not diminish our attention. They command our attention. They dominate our attention.
Many marketers have given up. The thinking for some seems to be: why try to create brand awareness against this juggernaut of competition? It seems impossible to break through.
Here’s an irony worth considering: The problems that digital media pose to marketers are also a source of great opportunity. To the down-hearted we say, with enthusiasm, Mt. Indifference can be conquered!
Today’s marketing environment presents a great opportunity to grow your brand’s awareness, drive better lead generation performance and help your sales teams close more deals. We are living in a Golden Age of Marketing – Americans’ feeding frenzy of digital media provides robust access to your customers. But you must be bold if you’re going to challenge the powerful digital competition for human attention.
The thoughtful advice of marketing aficionados has been good: consider shorter ads, user generated ads, influencers, storytelling, and compelling creative.
But if you want to scale the heights of Mt. Indifference to achieve guaranteed marketing success, here’s a simple winning formula:
Create a Campaign Concept that you love – this is not easy but do-able.
Stay with the campaign for a long time – be committed to your campaign for years.
Think about the best marketing happening today. We can all name the top campaigns in the insurance category – Progressive, Allstate, State Farm, Liberty Mutual. They’ve penetrated our consciousness after years of consistent investment in campaign-level brand building. They’ve found a place in our consciousness (brand awareness, familiarity, likeability) because we’ve come to know Flo, Jake, Mayhem, and that silly Emu over many years.
Yes, these guys spend a fortune on marketing, but your brand doesn’t have to.
One of the great benefits of the explosion in digital media is the precision in reaching narrowly defined audiences. Pick your priority customer prospects with great care, and hammer away at them consistently, aggressively, and for an extended period of time.
At SMA, we know something about this. Our award-winning campaign for BDO, the 5th largest Accounting & Consulting firm in the world, has been running consistently for more than fifteen years. You can check out some new creative here:
BDO knows that having success in marketing is based on full-funnel, campaign-level branding and highly intentional strategies that get the most from their media investment. And BDO knows that in Branding, as in most relationships, true understanding and lasting connections can best be achieved over time.
