Participants:
- Sarah Collinson, CEO, Havas New York
- Greg James, CEO, Havas Media Network North America
- Moderator: Alison Weissbrot, editor-in-chief, Campaign US
Breaking through the noise has long been a goal — nay, a mandate — for brand marketers. That has never been more acute, though, than it is now. Ours is an age where consumers’ attention spans are shorter than ever because there are more distractions than ever.
In this Havas-sponsored panel, “Attention Wars: How Brands Can Win in an Age of Distraction,” a pair of experts shared their blueprint for rising above the clutter and forging those lasting connections with consumers.
Of course, overcoming an obstacle begins with fully understanding what the challenge is.
The challenge today? Consumers are inundated with 10,000 messages a day from a variety of channels. Furthermore, stress has become a public health epidemic. Those factors combine to make it harder than ever to entice consumers to pay attention and make emotional connections.
Now add this: Media fragmentation and short-format content continues to grow. As such, media specialists and advertisers need to create different types of content and creative assets. Bluntly put, they need to rethink their media investment, asserted Greg James, CEO of Havas Media Network North America.
Creativity will save the day
One thing is clear: creativity is the key to defeating consumer distraction.
“Really brilliant, creative ideas that make you stop, think and feel something are more important than ever,” explained Sarah Collinson, CEO of Havas New York. “That emotional connection is what we really need to chase.”
That means brands may have to step out of their comfort zones.
“You have to break category norms and show up in lots of different ways that you may not have done before,” advised James. That holds true even for conservative sectors, such as financial services and pharma.
And don’t think something will succeed for your brand just because another entity has done something before and it worked for them, cautioned Collinson. In fact, she suggested, in this current saturated environment, “if someone’s done it before, it's actually the most dangerous thing you can do because no one's going to care about it. If you're not bold, you're going to miss.”
Panelists talked about the importance of using an attention-grabbing moment to create a long-term narrative that enhances trust and builds relationships with consumers.
CeraVe, for example, used a simple, funny idea of having actor Michael Cera serve as a spokesperson for the brand and “turned it into a full-blown campaign with follow-through on all channels and really delivered that brand love,” recalled Collinson. “If you grab attention, you've got to make sure to continue that messaging further.”
“It's not about media planning, which is just about reach and frequency,” noted James. “It's about recognizing that relevance and recency. And experience will have to play a bigger part. You think about the connection, the context and the content all at the same time. You're building a total brand experience, which should have a long-term focus.”
Long- and short-term impact
While long-term brand building is a worthy goal, there are definitely times when very short-term, fast results are the order of the day.
Collinson recalled a recent collaboration with New York-Presbyterian Hospital to drive blood donation. In a great example of stepping out of its norms, Havas partnered the hospital with Dominique Ansel, the creator of the Cronut, to launch a confectionery treat consumers could only get if they donated blood. Food influencers helped the activation drive incredible results.
“You can build long term, but also get short-term performance by being more inventive,” she emphasized.
James added that the most inventive work often comes from working with creators, which requires brands to work with agencies in new ways and to relinquish some control.
“It takes a different kind of partnership between agencies and clients,” he counsels, “and it takes a different set of behaviors to be able to capitalize on it.”
Collinson advised brands to really know who they are and what they want to say before choosing the right creators to work with. Once a decision is made, the best results are achieved when clients allow creators to be themselves and connect with their audiences in truly authentic ways.
For a Keurig iced-coffee launch, Havas forged an unlikely partnership with the Rolling Stones.
“Gen Z loves iced coffee. They also love the Rolling Stones. So, we partnered to create a new blend — Start Me Up —and a new machine,” she shared. “And we launched purely with 20 creators chosen for their creative storytelling. The difference in storytelling was incredible. It was really bold, interesting, inventive. And the product sold out within 24 hours.”
Ascertaining attention
Collinson and James also weighed in on how the ability to measure attention can lead to better storytelling and strategy. Especially when risk is involved, measuring the results of an activation can offset the fear of trying something new.
“Measuring TikTok creators through to e-commerce and direct-purchase metrics helps clients feel more comfortable because they can see what it can do for them,” offered James.
To that end, Havas has drilled down on creating a meaningful attention unit that measures “eye-level tracking, time spent, where people went next, all those things you'd want to deeply understand,” he added.
The panelist pair also discussed how hyper personalization of content through AI can be the right choice for the right audience at the right moment for the right brand. At the same time, Collinson reminded marketers that “sometimes the power of the macro and bigger emotional messages can be much more powerful.”
“A shared experience of the Super Bowl creates cultural capital for a larger audience,” said James, who reminded marketers that tried-and-true tactics, such as messaging placed around blockbuster films in theaters, still has its place in this equation.
“It's important that those things stay on the plan as part of the media experience,” he concluded.
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