Learn how marketers are wielding the power of tech innovations to beat the 8-second rule

With an ocean of content in our pockets, the human attention span has been reduced to 8-seconds. 

And professionals are coping with this change in human behaviour in their own ways. 

Writers, while writing any long-form content (article, white paper, even this blog!) have to make sure that users can comprehend and extract useful information by just scanning the content. Hence the use of lists and multiple-heading formats. 

Teachers have switched from books to informational videos, smart quizzes, and online games, hoping to keep students interested and engaged. 

In this article, we are going to look at one particular field that has been affected a lot by this change.

Marketing!!

Changing times in marketing…

Do you remember when people would sit through two minutes of ads on television?

That’s how most of us can easily recall the jingles of many popular old brands. 

Cut to today, when was the last time you watched a full ad for a brand in between enjoying a movie? With the power vested in us by the internet, our smart devices, and OTT platforms, we are well-versed in dodging ads. 

Most brands understanding these changes have shifted from traditional marketing to digital marketing. 

Marketers are finding new ways to be able to catch the attention of their audience.  

Every brand is making use of short six-second videos on their social media handles to make engaging content. Most social media platforms are incorporating short-form content features like stories and ultra-short ad videos. While these are popular ways and often work, it may not solve all the issues. When everybody is doing the same thing, what could you do to stand out? And how do you keep the attention of people when they are looking to avoid ads?

Let's have a look at how marketers are wielding the power of technology and innovations

We will be looking at the most innovative and authentic tech solutions marketers are using. 

Conversation media marketing

You know all the cute emojis, stickers, and GIFs we share with our friends on messaging apps, well those are conversation media formats. 

Conversation media marketing (CMM) harnesses the power of conversation media formats (emojis, GIFs, stickers) to weave brands right into the everyday conversations that people do with their friends and family. 

McDonald's has been using conversational media to become a part of user conversations.

In the USA, McDonald’s engaged users with its colourful “Crispy.Juicy.Tender” campaign in collaboration with Holler.

In India, McDonald’s collaborated with Bobble AI. The brand not only achieved massive user reach and engagement with this technique but also came up with the solution to use it for moment marketing. 

https://www.conversationmedia.org/post/mcdonald-is-mesmerizing-three-generations-across-the-world-with-this-proven-marketing-technique

In 2021, many seasoned brands went for conversation media marketing and saw amazing results. 

Instead of annoying ads, CMM helps brands build positive associations with users with the help of engaging content.

AR filters

Brands have to go where people are and do what people would like. Like people’s love for emoji gave birth to CMM, their love for AR selfie filters made this feature a marketing tool. 

Recently, India’s favourite mango drink brand, Frooti, created a game in which users can enable their camera and could catch falling mangoes when they open their mouths. 

https://appscrip.com/blog/ar-filters-in-marketing/

Taco Bell took a more funky approach when it came to marketing using AR filters. The filter would replace your head with a giant Taco and had Taco Bell’s logo in the bottom corner.

AR filters are getting more fun and innovative each day. Currently, Snapchat is one of the most popular platforms providing execution for this marketing technique. Other social media apps can be expected to deploy AR filters to help marketers soon as well.

Avatars

Avatars are your virtual identities. People use them to either reflect their personalities or in some cases their aspirations.

Studies have shown that be it video games or social media, people care a great deal about their avatars. Since you can dress up and accessorise your avatars, they are great opportunities for fashion brands. 

Gucci partnered with avatar creating app Genies to launch their app. Genies would allow people to create their avatars on the app that the users can then dress up in Gucci merchandise. 

Even Snapchat collaborated with multiple brands including Ralph Lauren to treat Bitmoji users with designer clothes. Through this, users can dress themselves up in Ralph Lauren’s fashion line.

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a33541889/ralph-lauren-snapchat-partnership-bitmoji/

Since avatars are considered very personal to people, campaigns like these can create amazing brand recall. 

Conclusion

Shortening attention span doesn’t mean people don’t pay attention to anything. Spiderman fans sat through three hours of the movie with complete concentration, didn’t they?

It just means you have to engage them, entertain them, or provide solutions to their problems. 

And these new marketing techniques can help you cater to their fickle minds in neat ways. 

Depending on their budget, audience segments, and interest, brands can choose platforms for collaborations. Not all platforms might work for every brand. Especially a collaboration like Gucci’s can be quite out-of-touch for many marketers.

Innovative technologies like conversation media marketing have potential and versatility that is only limited by the imagination of marketers.

Marketers need to understand their audience and hit the sweet spot balance between innovation and relatability to have an out of the box campaign in their hands.