Managing attention scarcity in brand building

Oliver Egan

The vital importance of commanding consumer’s attention to brand building is frequently overlooked.

The importance of attention

Over recent weeks, marketing effectiveness’ big beasts have clashed over the importance of consumer attention in brand building. Byron Sharp’s purist approach maintains the primacy of reach above all, while Mark Ritson, Karen Nelson-Field and Mike Follett have presented a more nuanced view that recognises (amongst other things) challenges of real-world viewability.

They argue that while media is still routinely planned and bought based on opportunities to view (as defined by 50% of an ad being visible for two seconds), those ads are frequently not actually viewable (because they’re hidden...

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