By Nancy Harhut, Chief Creative Officer
Recently I had the opportunity to hear journalist and author Ben Parr discuss his new book “Captivology: The SCIENCE of Capturing People’s Attention.”
His presentation was – as you might expect – captivating, punctuated with loud noises and exploding items. Of course, he was operating with inside knowledge on how to attract and hold people’s attention!
He acquired this knowledge from scientific research and interviews with various experts. And what he’s found is quite interesting.
For example, once a person is distracted, it takes 13-20 minutes for them to get back on task. This means every time we give in to the bing or beep of an incoming email or post, we’re losing not only the time it takes to engage with it, but an additional 13 to 20 minutes before we are again fully immersed in our task at hand.
He spoke about the three stages of attention
- Immediate – characterized by automatic reactions which have evolved as protective measures
- Short term – in which we transition from subconscious attention to conscious attention
- Long term – in which we focus on something for more than a brief period
And for those of us looking to attract attention, Parr distilled his research into seven attention-getting triggers:
#1 Automaticity – sensory cues trigger associations we have
#2 Framing – adapting to the audience frame of reference or viewpoint (He gave the example of the way Twinkies reframed the conversation by saying they were going out of business, which prompted a surge in sales).
#3 Disruptive effect – we pay attention because we need to; we need to know if something’s a threat. Parr explained this as closely related to the bizarreness effect. As an example, he cited Patagonia’s unexpected “Don’t Buy This Jacket” ad, which reportedly doubled sales.
#4 Reward — Dopamine creates a wanting response in people: we want rewards (both intrinsic, such as self worth or purpose, and extrinsic like food or money). Intrinsic rewards are better for long-term attention; extrinsic for short-term attention. And according to Parr, surprising rewards are the best at capturing attention.
#5 Reputation – this trigger revolves around authority and directed deference. We trust experts, authority figures and then the crowd. Parr advised the audience to leverage experts because people’s tendency is to defer to them.
#6 Mystery – we have more memory for incomplete tasks – they’re harder to forget. We don’t like uncertainty. In fact, we seek to reduce it. So to capture attention, Parr suggested we create suspense/intrigue and use cliffhangers.
#7 Acknowledgement – we pay attention to those who pay attention to us. The people we identify with reflect on us/say something about us. People have the capability to feel a two-way relationship when in reality it’s just one-way (i.e. the relationships with feel with celebrities, characters, brands). Parr recommended we validate our audience and show we care to trigger a high level of attention. For example, cake mix only sold when women were directed to add eggs – which enabled participation, acknowledging the homemaker’s role.
Parr concluded his talk with the assertion that attention is now the fundamental currency. He encouraged the audience to capture attention for our projects, passions and ideas.
As the Chief Creative Officer of Wilde Agency, where we blend social science with marketing best practices, I found that many of Parr’s findings squared with our own approach. While we focus on generating engagement and response, we know we much first capture attention. And several of his triggers are ones we employ in the strategies and creative executions we develop for clients.
As Parr would likely be pleased to know, our response rates prove they work.
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