If there was any question in your mind about smartphones having altered the human brain and the way business gets done, look no further than Senator John McCain’s “gotcha” moment during last week’s Syria hearings.
Caught in the act of playing poker on his iPhone, McCain could only try to laugh off the incident, but it was a statement about diminishing attention spans that cannot be overlooked and the magnetic power of mobile phones. After all, these weren’t hearings about a farm bill or even the budget deficit. We’re talking about the decision about whether to sic the might of the U.S. military on a Middle Eastern nation that has allegedly been using chemical weapons on its own citizens. I’d call that a pretty significant issue. Meanwhile…
“I’ll take three cards, please.”
So what does this “short attention span” moment tell us about the public’s ability to assimilate and focus on any messaging? If serious hearings can’t keeps Senators engaged, how can a meeting about the ratings or a :60 second promo about your new contest do any better – for your staff or your audience?
And there’s that new study from comScore and Jumptap reports that over half of all time spent online is now taking place on mobile devices – and the lion’s share is occurring on smartphones. Senator McCain can no doubt relate.
It’s about boredom, plain and simple. And smartphones were designed to always keep us engaged and interested – even if it’s on the wrong stuff.
As Kurt Hanson concluded at a recent RAIN conference, “Things are moving faster than we think.”
So, what does this suggest about the content we create, how promos and production need to be freshened on a regular basis, and how we can continue to keep our audiences tuned in to our brands? Guy Kawasaki – an Internet guru who takes a lot of pitches from would-be startups offers the “10-20-30 Rule” for PowerPoint presentations:
No more than 10 slides, a story or pitch that goes no longer than 20 minutes, and font that’s at least 30-point in size.
So given the boredom with the status quo and shortening attention spans, how do you get attention in this space?
Perhaps you’ve seen the Jimmy Johns commercial that’s in Hungarian. And it runs right here in the U.S. What’s that about? It’s an obvious, but very smart attempt to grab attention during yet another tedious, long, and boring cluster of TV spots. And it’s effective.
>EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO WATCH JIMMY JOHNS COMMERCIAL<
Radio – like any other infotainment medium – has to work hard to delight, amaze, and capture the attention of its audience – now in a shorter time span than ever. It’s not just PPM that encourages concise, clever, and compelling content – it’s what’s happening to our brains.
So maybe we should start broadcasting in Hungarian now and again.
Or offer up some video games on our apps.
Anything that gets attention.
Just ask Senator McCain – if he’s not staring at his iPhone.
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