Key Themes in great creativeGaining Attention
Retaining viewers in a consumer-controlled environment
Attention is a hot topic in the industry, with advertisers aiming to deliver content which both retains viewers and engages those watching, all in the context of increasing consumer control over what they get to see.
Attention represents an essential phase in advertising effectiveness, ensuring that exposure becomes viewing, and ultimately becomes engagement. Effective ads must still deliver meaningfully different messaging which inspires a response – what we say matters as much as how we say it – but content which successfully minimizes the skipor scroll delivers more viewers to be influenced.
What we call Passive Attention, or people looking at the ad as it plays rather than being distracted, is a key first step and is often impacted by big visual ideas or by sensory inputs – so ads which employ fast cuts, unexpected imagery, movement, color or sound in interesting ways make you watch.
Our 2024 winners showcase a variety of innovative and compelling strategies to gain ‘eyes on screen’. All highlight some important techniques which can encourage that initial attention.
Humans, of course, have a natural tendency to follow movement – it provides clues about our environment and identifies ‘important’ elements to track. In the context of advertising, movement – our brains assume – probably indicates or highlights the important visual elements or information we are being asked to notice and remember.
Ads which contain movement can therefore stimulate Passive Attention to keep our eyes on the screen.
The Motrin ad ‘Motrin Dual Action with Tylenol’ is a product intro and demo, but the visualization of the key features of strength and speed, using fast moving graphics as well as bright colors, ensure that compelling movement is always included, and attention is maximized.
Visual creativity helps us think about the world in different ways and make connections that might not always be obvious. Highly creative advertising can, of course, sometimes run the risk of being disconnected from brand and message – imagination without purpose will not deliver overall effectiveness. But when done well – when imaginative visual imagery is integrated – it delivers that initial attention to keep the viewer watching.
People also pay attention to imaginative pictures and images.
Asahi Super Dry's ‘Barman’ takes the main character, and therefore the viewer, on a fast-moving journey through intriguing situations and settings to illustrate how the beer delivers an unexpected experience.
As humans we also respond well to intrigue, because it can arouse our curiosity and interest.
Unexpected content can therefore be a valuable tool to retain viewers as they seek to understand and ‘fill in’ the lack of comprehension.
Again, intrigue can be a double-edged sword – ad viewers can be notoriously quick to drop out if they don’t feel the discovery is worth their time and effort. So content which uses the unexpected effectively will lead the viewer to the desired conclusions.
The La Roche-Posay ad ‘Lipikar’ takes an unusual approach to skincare advertising, in that it shows skin in extreme close-up, creating intrigue and interest in what might otherwise be a ‘standard’ execution. The swooping visuals allow us to visualize the problem of dry skin in a very innovative and absorbing way.
Passive Attention – eyes on screen – can very often be stimulated by sensory inputs.
Highly colorful content can capture interest, increase mental activity and encourage sensations, moods and feelings.
Color can play an important role in how the viewer responds to an ad emotionally when it drives engagement.
The Froot Loops ad ‘Dooooctor’ delivers an update to a long-running creative theme which is fun and engaging, and above all perfectly illustrative of the colorful nature of the brand.
Like color, enjoyable music can be a very powerful stimulus to attention.
Including music in an ad increases connection by 30% on average. Music can be used to communicate a tone or mood, to pace the ad, to build suspense, or to deliver a payoff. It can be a primary source of the ad’s entertainment.
Music can be vital to newer digital communications platforms, where it is often an essential element of the experience…but, music will be most effective as a tool to create engagement when it’s part of the deeper emotional storyline.
Bosch’s ‘Own the Kitchen’, our overall #2 North American TV winner, is anchored by a light-hearted and supremely catchy song, perfectly backing the semi-serious confidence and swagger the ad’s characters demonstrate due to their kitchen appliances, as well as effortlessly and memorably integrating the brand name.
