Month: October 2018

 

Sean Sullivan – Business Unit Manager at The MediaShop. Attention spans are not shrinking, rather they are evolving to be more selective, according to new research.

If someone invited you to watch a day-long movie you’d probably be pretty quick to decline. It’s hard to imagine dedicating brainspace to a single thing for so long, but that’s exactly what bingeing on an entire television show, dozens of YouTube videos, or seemingly endless loops of

Facebook Live is. And it’s become commonplace behaviour.

Where attention goes, value flows. The articles we choose to read, the websites we view, the links we click on, the advertisements we respond to, and even the emails we read.

Attention is earned, valued, and spent. In short, attention is the real currency at work in our internet age.

The 2018 State of Attention Report released from UK presentation platform Prezi, looks at how practices such as multitasking impacts people’s ability to retain information and what marketers can do to create more engaging material.

The study has revealed a number of key findings that will help marketers boost their ability to cut through distractions and engage with modern audiences.

According to the survey, respondents felt their ability to maintain focus has actually improvedover time, despite an ever-growing mountain of available content. This demonstrates that the attention of business professionals can be captured for long periods of time with compelling content that includes great stories and interesting, gripping visuals.

More than two thousand business professionals across the UK participated in the study, conducted by Censuswide. Key findings include:

1. Respondents reported that they have increased attention spans, but have become more selective in the content they choose to consume:

• Six out of ten (58%) professionals say they can give a piece of content their undivided attention without getting distracted, more now than they could one year ago.
• 42% admit they’ve become more selective about the content they consume.

1. The key to engaging content is a compelling story and visuals :

• Nearly 9 in 10 respondents said a strong narrative (85%) or the story (81%) behind what’s being presented is critical in maintaining the engagement of their audience.
• Over a third (34%) of business professionals say a great story captures their focus and keeps them engaged with content.
• In regards to presentations, 73% of business professionals said the use of animated visuals in presentations is effective in keeping the audience engaged.

Attention is critical. Without the ability to narrow our focus, we can’t be expected to learn new things, to retain information, or to do our jobs to the best of our ability. And, as content creators, not being able to engage people means nobody is going to truly hear what it is that we’re trying to say. If we as business folk hope to maintain and grow our successes, creating content that reflects the way people consume information is absolutely crucial.

Our attention spans being shorter than a goldfish’s is a grossly inaccurate rumour. These days it’s common to binge-watch a series for six or more hours, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to pay attention to an ad. You just need to couple your content with a compelling story and great visuals. Attention spans aren’t shrinking — they’re simply evolving, and the time to cater to new preferences isn’t tomorrow; it’s now.

The human brain is amazing but it’s not perfect

 While psychologists and neuroscientists continue to work on understanding our brains better, there is a lot of evidence to show that we’re naturally curious and easily distracted.

The Distracted Mind, an award-winning book written by Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen,  a cognitive neuroscientist and a psychologist respectively — do a great job of explaining why our brains aren’t built for multitasking.

According to them, the human brain is limited in its ability to pay attention and we don’t really multitask but rather switch rapidly between tasks.

Is technology to blame for our short attention spans?

Unsurprisingly, it is easy to blame technology for our short attention spans, dwindling or otherwise. At first, we blamed cellular phones for distractions, then the internet boom, and later social media became our brains’ nemesis.

In The Distracted Mind, Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen share a few words of wisdom about technology and its impact on human cognitive ability:

 We have come to believe that the human brain is a master navigator of the river of information that rages steadily all around us. And yet we often feel challenged when trying to fulfill even fairly simple goals. This is the result of interference — both distraction from irrelevant information and interruptions by our attempts to simultaneously pursue multiple goals. Many of you may now be glancing accusingly at your mobile phone. But before we place any blame on this potential culprit, it is critical to understand that our sensitivity to interference was not born out of technology. Rather, it is a fundamental vulnerability of our brain. Our brains are designed to always be seeking new information. In fact, the same system in your grey matter that keeps you on the lookout for food and water actually rewards you for discovering novel information. Our brains are constantly on the lookout for information — relevant, irrelevant and everything in between.

 Top tips to improve our focus :

• Stop multitasking: You wouldn’t try to lift 5 tons. Your body can’t do that. Don’t try to do your best work while checking email, texting, and posting to Instagram. Your brain can’t do that.
• Exercise: You know it’s good for your body. Guess what? Your brain’s part of your body. (Shocking, I know.)
• Meditate: Simply put, meditation is attention training.
• Call your mother nature: Looking at a picture of a tree is like a deep tissue massage for your brain.
• Reduce interference: Remove anything from your environment that might distract you. Batch email and social media. Extend the time between breaks to build your attention muscles.

Source: http://www.netimperative.com

2018 State of Attention Report, Prezi

https://medium.com/flock-chat/the-simple-truth-about-technology-and-human-attention-spans

https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2018/03/attention-span/

Belinda Kayton, Media Strategist at The MediaShop looks at the differences between Xers and Millennials and highlights quite a few differences

I often get asked “Who is Gen X?” and “What is the difference between a Millennial and a Gen X?” I find that there is a lot of confusion as to which generation is called what. Let’s try and make this as simple as possible……

First of all – What is the definition of a generation?

• A generation is a group of people born around the same time and raised around the same place.
• People in this “birth cohort” exhibit similar characteristics, preferences and values over their lifetime.
• Generations are not a box – instead, they are powerful clues showing where to begin connecting with and influencing people of different ages.
• There are big differences between the generations.

What makes generations consistent at a high level?

• Generations exhibit similar characteristics – such as communication, shopping and motivational preferences.
• This is because they experienced similar trends at approximately the same life stage and through similar channels (TV, radio, online etc.).
• Generation-shaping trends are most influential as people come of age, which means that members of a particular generation will develop and share similar values, beliefs and expectations.
• It is important to remember that at an individual level, everyone is different. But looking at people through a generational lens offers useful predictability for those trying to reach, inform, or persuade a large cross-section of a population.

Who are the different generations?

These are the primary generations today:

 

 

What are the key trends that shape generations?

• The 3 key trends that shape generations are:
  • Parenting
  • Technology
  • Economics

Who are Baby Boomers?

• Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964 and grew up during the American-dream, white-picket-fence era of post WWII.
• As their younger counterparts have taught boomers how to use technology, this generation is slowly embracing it.
• According to Pew Research, by 2014, 65% of adults aged 50-64 used social networking sites, with the vast majority engaging with Facebook to revive “dormant” relationships.
• The Boomers are the most likely to misunderstand Facebook remarketing ads clogging up their newsfeeds, but still be receptive to direct marketing/sales tactics; they like to talk to real people.
• Boomers have the highest value as consumers in the market today!
• They spend the most money on each shopping trip, and as they are hitting retirement, they are more likely to splurge on items that aren’t on the grocery list. Surprisingly, this generation even spends the most on technology—everything from premium cable to the latest smartphone. (Silver Surfers).

Who are Generation Xers?

• The neglected middle child.
• Gen X is the smallest generation, born between 1965 and 1980 and often referred to as the bridge between Millennials and Baby Boomers.
• Gen Xers are now juggling child care, homeownership, and reaching the peak of their careers.
• Think of the 40-year-old who went to high school in the 80’s and hated the first Bush era, and is now working in green energy and has little kids to contend with.
• This generation remembers how video killed the radio star and are more pessimistic about having enough money to retire.
• Gen Xers are busy! They’re dealing with children, paying mortgages and tuition, and working a LOT.
• They’re also on online—more than 80% of this generation reports that they are on Facebook, MySpace (what?!) and Twitter.
• They are more on par with technology adoption and use with millennials, and are more likely to be politically loyal throughout their lives than either of the other generations.
• Gen Xers claim to be the most dedicated to lists while shopping, but also fessed up to making the most unplanned purchases on their shopping excursions. This generation is our true hybrid when it comes to marketing. They grew up without the online shopping experience, so they still enjoy a trip in-store, but have fully embraced online shopping as well.

Who are Millennials?

• The generation that is slowly taking over the workforce and out-numbering Baby Boomers.
• Millennials were born between 1980 and 1995 and came of age during the early 2000’s.
• This generation is most widely talked to and about on social media and in pop culture.
• Millennials began entering the workforce as the economy crashed, and as a result, are the largest generation of entrepreneurs. They are notoriously soft-hearted and soft-shelled, valuing social issues far ahead of economics.
• That said, Millennials are an economic force! With $200B in annual buying power, smart marketers are turning to new channels to hook this generation.
• They are the least frequent in-store shoppers (USA data).
• This generation is the most responsive to online shopping opportunities, recommendations from friends and family, and are motivated by shopping ease.
• Millennials are reshaping the way that goods and services are being marketed by staying unresponsive to traditional marketing tactics.
• This generation decides where to eat based on Instagram pictures, chooses hair stylists from Facebook and has their groceries delivered to their door.

THIS IS A QUICK BREAKDOWN:

Sources:

The Centre for Generational Kinetics

Wordstream

Mercia Lampen, Digital Media Strategist, The MediaShop

Online advertising fraud is a huge problem globally in the digital industry, with cyber criminals stealing $3 – $5 million per day from advertisers. This issue was raised in 2004 by Google’s CFO, George Reyes as a major problem stating that fraud is the biggest threat to the internet economy. But what does the situation look like in South Africa?

Ad fraud is simply when a publisher, website, network, or influencer charges an advertiser for impressions, clicks, views, or leads that are not real. It can take many forms, including ad farms, pixel stuffing, botnets, ad stacking etc. All of these forms of ad fraud make advertisers pay for ads that are effectively worthless to them as they are never actually seen by a consumer.

Awareness about ad fraud in South Africa is growing and more clients are starting to take note, but it is still a big problem globally, where ad fraud is estimated to cost advertisers about $7 billion annually…but both publishers and agencies are starting to take more decisive steps.

The IAB’s (Interactive Advertising Bureau) focus is to create a “better internet”. They’ve developed Ads.txt to assist publishers in the fight against ad fraud, to receive the revenue owed to them and to increase market transparency. Ads.txt is an acronym for Authorised Digital Sellers. This piece of technology was introduced in an effort to eliminate the ability to profit from counterfeit or spoofed inventory in the open digital advertising ecosystem supply chain. Ads.txt allows publishers and content owners the ability to authorise and publicly declare who is allowed to sell their inventory.

Agencies are partnering with global inventory sources, technologies, and third parties to tackle the problem head on. Through the use of black lists that ban sites, networks and publishers that are known to engage in ad fraud, to third party verification technology that can identify, during the bidding process, whether a site is fraudulent (and if it is, ad impressions will be disqualified from appearing on that website), agencies are working hard to ensure that ad fraud is eliminated for their brands, before it happens!

Ad fraud should not be confused with brand safety, which is a different problem altogether. Brand safety is the process of ensuring that advertisers’ ads don’t appear next to any objectionable content that the brand would not want to be associated with.

This is also something that is gaining awareness amongst advertisers, and that agencies are taking very seriously. But the reality is that brand safety is not just a digital problem. There are plenty of examples and instances of print, TV, radio and OOH ads appearing next to content that would be deemed harmful to the brand.

Overall, as digital becomes a bigger and bigger part of client’s media mixes, we will increasingly see more and more industry stakeholders addressing ad fraud, brand safety, and viewability in their scope of work and client contracts.

At the end of the day, it is important that clients are getting what they are paying for!

At The MediaShop we take issues such as ad fraud, brand safety, and ad verification very seriously. We employ a number of technologies and tools to ensure that our client’s ads don’t fall victim to fraud, only appear in brand safe environments, and we use third party verification services such as MOAT and IAS to ensure that our clients are getting what they’re paying for!

With help from the SABC commercial enterprises, The MediaShop held a fantastic immersion recently with their long-standing client, Tiger Brands to round off Heritage month. The objective of the day was to demonstrate the differences in each of the provinces in South Africa.

The event was well attended by marketers from Tiger Brands, who took the time to get a better understanding of consumers living in the different provinces within South Africa and how the relevant SABC radio stations serve the communities within each of those geographic areas.

“We wanted to highlight the nuances of each of the provinces and the role that radio stations play in connecting with those audiences, which essentially make up the majority of Tiger Brands’ target market,” says Kgaugelo Maphai, Managing Director of The MediaShop Johannesburg.

SABC radio demonstrated that they broadcast to their audiences in the vernacular languages that their listeners speak in and understand, in the respective provinces. “The key learning was that as marketers we often view the rest of the country with a “Johannesburg lens”, even though each province has its own economic drivers and their own consumer profile,” says Maphai.

“We therefore need to have a deeper understanding of these nuances in each respective province because it affects how we communicate effectively with consumers.  The reality is that the top three languages in SA are IsiZulu, IsiXhosa and Afrikaans and yet the majority of adverts are produced in English and then translated.  In there lies a potential risk of the meaning being lost if the translation is not well interpreted.” Kgaugelo adds: “We hope that this immersion will be an annual event and we would like to extend this invite to more of our clients.  Everyone, including the Tiger Brands marketing community, The MediaShop’s strategists and planners that participated, agree that this was a day well spent with many insights learned, and will definitely add to the strategic approach for the 2019 financial year.”

For more on The MediaShop visit www.mediashop.co.za, like them on Facebook: The MediaShop, follow them on Twitter @MediaShopZA or LinkedIn.