Print Marketing, Attention Metrics

Getting your customers’ attention and keeping it is the Holy Grail of marketing. Now attention metrics shows that print is one of the best performers.

As the sheer amount of commercial messages we see every day rises, marketers must look harder than ever for quality amid the quantity. To achieve genuine cut-through requires focused engagement on the part of the consumer, which is why attention metrics is the hottest area in marketing right now.

Attention metrics have grown in popularity across the world over the past few years. In November 2022, ad industry magazine The Drum called attention metrics ‘The new marketing must’, while a survey by the Interactive Advertising Bureau in the US published in the same month found that over a third of American ad buyers said they would focus more on attention metrics in 2023.

Do We Have Your Attention?

For attention metrics, the quality of attention is key. Last year, research organisation RAM (Research and Analysis of Media) aggregated the results of more than 5,000 adverts from over 800,000 responses in UK and Ireland. It tested not just for recall, but for ‘high attention’ recall – the kind where consumers don’t just remember the ads but also key details.

The study’s first set of results was from the food and drink sector. It was found that high-attention consumers are a startling 60% more likely to take action than the average. The banking and finance sector followed, where it was found that the spike was a still very impressive 49%. All powerful support for the idea that effective advertising depends not just on attention, but sustained engagement.

Direct Mail Grabs Gen Z

When it comes to obtaining the attention of consumers and, more importantly, holding onto it, recent evidence has shown that print performs well on a number of fronts.

As the world recovered from the pandemic in 2021, light was shed on the enduring effectiveness of direct mail. A World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) survey found that this channel’s ability to capture both the sensory and mental attention of readers resulted in an engagement rate of 95%. It also found that, contrary to the popular notion that print engages older demographics most effectively, Gen Z was the most likely to engage with direct mail.

More recently, WARC joined forces with Royal Mail’s Marketreach and the BlueYonder agency to conduct another survey that revealed that people are highly focused when looking at a piece of mail. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents claimed it attracted their undivided attention.

These findings were complemented by a JICMAIL study, which found that the average direct mail item generates 108 seconds of attention across 28 days, with business mail achieving an impressive 150 seconds.

“In a world where the battle for attention is becoming ever harder to win,” said Paul Stringer, WARC’s Managing Editor, Research & Advisory, “we’ve found that not only is mail highly effective at generating attention, it’s also one of the most cost-efficient channels at delivering against this objective. This is a good time for marketers to reconsider the role of mail in the media mix.”

Turning Heads. And Keeping Them Turned

Another area in which print’s ability to catch the eye has been noticeably successful is reactive print ads, many of which have made light of current events in a way other channels would struggle to pull off.

“Marketers retain a special place in their hearts for a witty ad contextually placed within newsprint,” said The Drum’s John McCarthy in their March 2023 edition. “The layers of trust the medium affords and the implied effort in getting the comms onto the page signal to readers a worthy message.”

McCarthy was pointing towards retailer Asda’s promotion of a new vegetable policy, where they teamed up with Havas and Spark Foundry to run an ad with the memorably punning headline ‘Romaine Calm’ in response to widespread coverage of vegetable shortages.

Similarly impactful were adverts such as the cheeky Butterkist ad positioned next to newspaper coverage of the ‘Wagatha Christie’ libel trial. The ad referenced the meme-friendly notion of people settling down with popcorn to watch and enjoy the trial, as if in front of a Saturday-night movie.

Then, in April 2022, grocery delivery brand Gorillas positioned their ‘Westminster Loves Popping Off’ ad next to print coverage of ‘Partygate’ in April 2022, which featured the image of a Boris-esque figure partying with a champagne cork for a head. It’s a juxtaposition that works so well in print.

All of which points to the fact that when you need to really grab your target market, print should be the first port of call.

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