Oh, You Were Talking to Me?!

Posted on by Carla Caban

In the busy world we live today the average attention span is about 8.2 seconds. You might be asking yourself, how do we ever get stuff done? I personally don’t know. I’m constantly looking at my phone, texting, switching to Facebook, getting notifications from Instagram, running into something random so I have to SnapChat it to my friends. It’s a constant battle of what things I find more interesting and about staying connected. We millennials are curious. We want to know what’s new, what’s trending, what’s happening now but most importantly we want to be able to express ourselves and be opinionated about it. We don’t like being told what to think or do. We enjoy being our own individuals with our own personal characteristics that makes us who we are. Therefore, we only pay more attention to the things we are actually interested in but how much time do we truly spend looking at it?

I remember growing up as a kid when I saw those Coca-Cola Christmas ads and it automatically became the best time of year. I even made my parents find the crystal bottles so I could drink from them. Now I see that it’s all branding and great advertising that made me feel that way.  Fast forward to today and Coca-Cola still makes me feel like that, like sharing. They are a great example of a brand that has adapted and stayed relevant to its public, without losing its image and personality.

Now, every time I go out, look at my phone, go on Facebook or play games, ads are EVERYWHERE! What does this mean for advertisers and marketers? Well, they just have to work a little bit harder to reach us. With so many clutter and annoying ads on TV and on the Internet I don’t want to be forced to watch some ad that is irrelevant to me.

With the growing of digital media, companies like Google and Facebook have made a huge impact on how advertisers and marketers can execute more influential campaigns that target their specific audience. Presenting it only to the people that are most likely to find it relevant for them. But sometimes we go on the Internet and be like:

Every time you go online and online shopping ads come up.

Advertisers and Marketers now have to face the challenge of generating creative content that will make their audience want to engage with them. The big benefit of digital media is that it provides a more interactive and personalized experience. Users are able to get the information they want when they want it and they are willing to pay for it.

A company that actually did a great job with this was Domino’s and thank god they did (big Domino’s fan). On May 13th, Domino’s flooded Twitter feed with pizza emojis pretty much making up sentences. They engaged with other brands such as JCPenney and even with people that were just curious about their stunt. Some must have found it annoying but they were promoting that beginning May 20th they would let their customers order through twitter by just tweeting them a pizza emoji. This created huuuuuuuge customer engagement plus a lot of buzz about their brand.  Customers could get what they wanted, when they wanted while having a personalized experience with Domino’s. Pretty genius of their part. Domino’s keep killing it please.

Another fun brand that has also made an impression is GEICO with their “Unskippable” YouTube preroll ads. Playing off that “skip ad” option on YouTube GEICO really wanted to make something different that would make you want to watch their ad and it’s just hilarious to watch. Basically they tell you that they DO get you, you don’t WANT to watch ads and that makes their brand more approachable. Also they emphasize the importance of hooking your audience within those first 5 seconds (its in that average 8 second attention span) so your ad can be more successful.

 

 

Only 6 percent of millennials in the US consider online advertising to be credible.

This is why it is such a big deal for companies to give their customers a reason to stop what they’re doing and engage with them. Digital media is a great way to do it. Creativity and strategy are still the main key to be successful about it. Especially now with such a high concentration of video content and big data.  Brands need to prove that they can play a meaningful role in the lives of their consumers. It’s not just about the product anymore, people are skeptical about ads. It’s about giving your audience a reason to believe you and show that you add value to their lifestyle.

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