“In the 1980s and 1990s, advertisers needed to be in front of prospects six to eight times to become recognizable, says Bill Corbett, Jr., president of Corbett Public Relations. “Today this number is closer to 21 and may even be higher.”
Stop and track that. In about 20 years, the number of needed “brand interactions” increased 3-4x. Ironically (or perhaps not), this is happening at the same time that the power of “brand” is legitimately declining.
Now think about this: it’s 21+ interactions right now, OK? What happens when “Generation Z” — the first-ever fully-wired generation — are the primary consumers of goods? Here are some early thoughts on that, but summarize it briefly this way: the old ways of marketing and advertising will need to die if people want to keep using those channels as a way to drive revenue. It’s that simple.
We’ve known for a long time that attention spans are declining (or options are increasing, however you feel like phrasing it) and I think some are now starting to realize that as part and parcel of that, the way we think about marketing absolutely has to evolve.
It’ll probably take 5-10 years to play out fully, but those who don’t understand that marketing is now about stories and the power of organic, real-time, two-way communication are eventually just going to get left behind.
