Leading the attention economy
“Trust is imperative to command attention in our turbulent times”, a view from Abby Carvosso, Group Managing Director at Bauer Media
In these unprecedented times in media, I feel incredibly energised to work for a multi-platform media business with magazine media and radio at our core. I’m confident that the advertising solutions we sell to our customers are high-value adding, cost-effective and can deliver on any media challenge. That is because I believe everything in advertising begins with trust and our suite of influential magazine and radio brands aren’t going to break any promises – they can be trusted. Trust is about building meaningful connections and established media brands (in magazines and radio, in particular) are built on
connections between content creators & consumers; brands & advertisers and consumers & their communities- no personal interaction can thrive without trust. Our recent insight into Trust in the Accelerated Age revealed that 6 out of 10 people don’t know who to trust these days. This erosion of trust means that consumers are increasingly looking for brands to communicate with them in a relevant, personal way and taking an ethical stance that reflect their values. Thankfully, this heralds a move away from wasteful mass blasting and towards sharper targeting with a growing responsibility to develop trust on platforms committed to creating a positive impact on society. Establishing this deeper sense of trust, in turn, sustains attention.
In recent years, we’ve seen a marked interest in moving spend towards mass digital advertising which has created a bias towards short-term advertising and neglect for the importance of brand-building. The great news for us is that now marketers are starting to pay closer attention to the platforms they advertise on and are recognizing that short-term ROI can potentially damage a brand’s position in the longer term – a risky move in our turbulent times when trust is imperative to command attention.
Gaining consumer trust in this fast moving and complex media storm we live in will be of the utmost importance for brands in 2019. 86 per cent of consumers state that authenticity is an important factor when deciding which brands to support, according to Stackla. So when it comes to building brands, gaining attention is vital andat Bauer, we are uniquely placed with our trusted brands to cut through in this new attention economy.
Evidence shows that established media are much more effective at delivering when it comes to trust & brand-building. Our insight reveals that 87% of consumers place trust in radio and 77 per cent in magazines, outstripping their digital counterparts. With research also suggesting these audiences are paying acute attention to these mediums.
Magazine media is one of the most immersive mediums, where in a world of multi-screening and multi-tasking, it provides an oasis for engagement as only 5 per cent conduct other activities while consuming a magazine. Reading is the best way to relax and even six minutes can be enough to reduce stress levels by more than two thirds according to a study by the University of Sussex.
Better yet, Ebiquity research shows that both radio and magazines confidently generate a healthy ROI on campaigns– proving themselves as an attention-grabbing cost-effective medium with radio set to retain audience’s attention with 47 million people in the UK expected to tune in at least weekly in 2019 according to Deloitte.
It’s important, however, to consider factors that can impact on consumers’ levels of attention so we can make our mediums work harder for us.
