The metrics of technical ad impressions or ad view time may not be enough for effective communication. What becomes more important is the actual attention people pay to the message. Attention and its integration into communication and media buying (attention planning) was the focus of the second edition of the OmniConnect conference. It was organised by Omnicom agencies (PHD, Hearts&Science, OMD, DDB Prague and FleishmanHillard).
The keynote speaker for the second edition was marketing research and attention research specialist Karen Nelson-Field, who presented her forthcoming book The Attention Economy: A Category Blueprint. In it, she explores the transformation of the marketing landscape over the past three decades and sees the current era as the beginning of a fundamental shift in measurement. He sees a return to an understanding of real consumer behaviour as essential and warns against overestimating the technical parameters of internet communications in particular. The length of time spent watching an advertisement does not predict attention, although it is generally understood to be equivalent to it. "Viewing time has been considered the absolute, fundamental pillar of modern measurement and the element that holds everything together. But the reality is different because time has very little relationship to actual attention," she described.
In a hierarchical model that describes the factors that influence attention, audience attention is most dependent on the device and platform on which the ad appears. Conversely, she said, demographics and campaign creative play a smaller role in gaining attention.
The link between attention and brand reputation was then discussed by Nick Andrews, Senior Partner, FleischmannHillard. He pointed out that marketers are not thinking about reputation and attention in context. "Context is everything. Not in the sense of location, but in the sense of what's happening in the world," he said, adding that understanding context is key to communicating with a wide range of customers. Many companies today are polarised and understanding context will help answer the question of which part of society brands are speaking to. Not all audiences are the same and some are more important than others. Also, not all attention is the same and, furthermore, it may not be 'wanted'. It is important to consider the expectations that audiences have of a brand. "Reputation should become part of the planning process," Nick Andrews stressed.
Nick Andrews; Source: OmnicomSusie Walker, Creative Chief of Staff DDB, considers creativity to be the most powerful force in business and a critical driver of attention. Using the example of a number of award-winning campaigns at Cannes Lions, the largest advertising festival, where she served as Head of Awards and, more recently, as Vice President of Awards & Insights, she described some of the key traits that successful ads carried. For example, she mentioned emotional and empathetic storytelling or engaging the fan base. Most of the successful ones also "push the boundaries." But such campaigns do not come about by chance, it is "hard work". Barriers that can limit creativity in the making are the quality of the brief and also the advertising budget. But even with a low budget, successful creatives can be produced, she argued. In doing so, she sees creativity as a team effort, and even as everyone's responsibility.
Susie Walker; Source: OmnicomIn a panel dedicated to practical examples of attention planning, Zuzana Horáková from OMG and Markku Mäntymaa, CEO of Viomba, the company behind the Pathfinder platform, which allows you to test creative and optimize a campaign for the highest possible attention already during the campaign. The solution combines location-specific data with billions of impressions measured in other markets, including the use of eye tracking data. OMG already uses the platform to test campaign creatives for maximum attention.
David Vejtruba from Savencia and Klára Palmer from DDB Prague agreed that attention is a very dearly acquired value of today and is the new currency not only in marketing but also in other spheres of society. They therefore welcome the application of attention planning principles into practice. David Vejtruba stressed that less is more and it is therefore better to focus on a smaller number of major projects than to produce a lot of small campaigns that have no chance of gaining real attention. At the same time, according to Klara Palmer, companies and agencies cannot ask people for attention when they themselves do not spend time and effort on getting information about target groups and trying to provide relevant content. It is also important, from the perspective of both speakers, to look at creative through the lens of the consumer and to watch both the length of videos and the visuals of campaigns, which are often not easy to read on smaller displays.
Source: OmnicomAt the conference, the McDonald's brand revealed the results of a campaign it created in collaboration with DDB Prague and OMD to promote its limited edition cheese range while reinforcing positive brand perception. In collaboration with Follow Bubble, the company used CGI technology to attract attention (especially on social media), thanks to which virtual yellow balls littered many streets. They symbolised playfulness, fun and other positive emotions. The campaign, which also involved the construction of a large ball pool in Olomouc, helped spontaneous awareness of the ad (a fourfold increase compared to the previous year's campaign), as well as gaining organic impressions on social networks and increasing sales in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Daniel Časar from the insurance company Kooperativa, which prepared a campaign for Flexi life insurance in cooperation with OMG, shared his experience with the first use of Viomba in planning campaigns in the Czech Republic. "In the past, we tried to find a more innovative approach, we tried visibility optimizations, we increased visibility, we reduced the price, but we did not achieve higher recognition. A visible format doesn't mean that people have seen it," Daniel Časar explained why Kooperativa used the Pathfinder tool, which can test the campaign creative and help predict how much attention the used formats will get on individual devices. Together with media optimization using AB testing, it was then able to significantly improve the campaign results. The right combination of graphics, campaign format and placement led to increased active time spent with the brand.
Marcel Bodnár from PR agency FleishmanHillard included several client projects from recent months and years in his presentation. He used separate campaigns for clients Lenovo, Czech Brewery and Maltsters Association and Alstom to highlight an important aspect of PR managers' work. In addition to gaining the attention of their clients' target groups, they often have to deal with the issue of gaining the attention of journalists or politicians. According to Bodnar, the task of PR is not to gain attention once, but to gain long-term credibility and attention from the media and politicians. This can be achieved primarily through authenticity when communicating to these specific target groups.
The OmniConnect conference took place at DOX+ in Prague on Thursday 18 April. Approximately 250 participants, mostly clients and partners of all organizing agencies, were in the audience. The conference was opened by Jan Faflík from DDB, Radek Maršík from FleishmanHillard and Luděk Hatoň from OMG.
Source: mediaguru.cz
