Low Attention Spans Require Extreme Marketing

May 17, 2006 — -- Just a couple of decades ago, taking out a half-page ad in the Yellow Pages was considered a good marketing effort and a full-page ad might have been deemed extravagant. But as consumers' attention spans wan, marketing companies have actively tried to address consumers in high-impact ways.

"It's extraordinary how distracted consumers are, and the more they're distracted, the less engaged they are. The less engaged they are, the lower the recall scores. Today we are all experts at multitasking. I'm even guilty of being online while I watch TV and usually only put down the laptop when the phone rings," said Barry Lowenthal, president of Media Kitchen, a new media-focused marketing company in New York City.

The saturation of messages has marketers grappling with how to get through to the consumer. Volkswagen's Jetta "Safe Happens" commercial made a high-impact attempt at capturing eyes by ramming a large truck into the side of a Jetta, making airbags deploy and leaving passengers safe.

That crash ad was so jarring it made its way onto hundreds of Internet blog sites and got people talking.

With the Internet as another source of eyeballs, marketing must be all-encompassing and extreme, said Anne Gallagher, a partner with Extreme Marketing.

"What makes a campaign extreme in today's market is how well it is integrated to the media that touch a target client, whether that includes print, broadcast, Internet, direct mail and face-to-face," Gallagher said.

One example of such extreme marketing comes from GoldenPalace.com, an online gaming site that spent $25,000 to buy 11 cars, print the company's logo on each, and then drive them off a 150-foot cliff in Joplin, Mo. About a thousand people came to see the event, joining a motley crew of life-size figurines: the pope, the Virgin Mary, a rabbi, Michael Jackson and Elvis.

This sort of outrageous stunt is nothing new for GoldenPalace.com, which is known for taking high-stakes when it comes to marketing. Most of the company's marketing stunts, including this one, come from eccentric eBay purchases -- purchases that some would consider just other peoples' trash.

"What might have started off as a lark turned into something else," said Drew Black, marketing spokesman for GoldenPalace.com. The company originally intended to buy just one car, a 1997 Dodge Neon, but $25,000 later that one car off eBay turned into 11 vehicles.

"People say that's a lot of money to spend on driving cars off a cliff, but it's less expensive than hiring people to do publicity for us," Black said.

One of the company's most notable marketing purchases came again off eBay: the infamous 10-year old Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich that GoldenPalace.com paid $28,000 to own.

In the past year alone, GoldenPalace.com has made more than 100 odd purchases to gain a consumer buzz.

Many of those purchases found on eBay reveal religious images in food: the Baby Jesus Cheeto for $22, the Holy Pretzel for $10,600, a Dorito that resembles the pope's mitre for $1,209, an Australian man's frying pan bearing the likeness of Christ in burned leftover mustard for $80, the Pope John Paul II Chicken Breast for $232, and the Holy Pierogi -- fried dough bearing the image of Jesus for $1,800.

Through these odd purchases, Black said, GoldenPalace.com has not only raised brand awareness but also raised more than $2 million in the past two years for various charities.

The term "clever" seems to be the new mantra for marketers. Lowenthal said bombarding consumers with more ads is not the answer.

"Advertisers that try to engage and entertain are much more successful. Consumers respond to novelty. They also respond to relevancy, so you're going to see behavioral targeting become even more precise," he said.

Lowenthal cites Victoria's Secret as one of these clients that just gets it by knowing how to develop engaging and often played-back communications. The messages that get the most playback and make the biggest imprint on the consumer are the messages that win in the marketing minefield.