How Brands Can Embrace and Build on Distraction Culture 

This post was created in partnership with Screenvision Media

Key takeaways

• It’s still possible for brands to break through in an increasingly fractured media environment.
• Consumers inundated by AI are craving authenticity and real human moments.
• Focused and niche immersive and in-person experiences are a great way to get attention from distracted consumers.

Shrinking attention spans, multiple screens, and endless content streams have marketers exploring new ways to earn attention, remain culturally relevant, and show up for audiences in meaningful ways.

During an ADWEEK House Advertising HQ Group Chat co-hosted with Screenvision Media, industry leaders discussed how brands are breaking through and building lasting connections with audiences through immersive environments, high-impact cultural touchpoints, and good old-fashioned storytelling. 

(L-R) Zoom’s Whitney Magnuson, Screenvision Media’s Kevin McGaw, Lyft’s Jessica Bryndza

Embracing distraction culture

How can brands earn attention at a time when there are so many options for audiences? Kevin McGaw, SVP and head of marketing for Screenvision Media, got the discussion going by pointing out that young people are more attentive than brands assume.

Case in point: “90% of Gen Z has gone to the movies in the past year, so they’re looking for ways to unplug, ways to connect, and have communal experiences together,” shared McGaw.

In other words, it’s time to reframe the conversation, said Mona Munayyer Gonzalez, president of Pereira O’Dell. Rather than say younger audiences are constantly distracted, brands need to recognize that their culture is distraction. “They are opting into that, and they’re comfortable with it. They are moving much more easily around the world, between screens, between experiences, and they thrive off that,” she explained.

The question shouldn’t be “How do we get attention from someone who’s never paying attention?” Gonzalez added. “They are. They’re just doing it and behaving in a different way than we’re all used to.”

And it’s not just younger people. The baseline behavior of most consumers today is engaging across multiple screens and multitasking, explained Lori Goode, CMO of Index Exchange. Brands must tap into the “fluidity of attention,” she said. “If you lose attention on one screen or one device or one moment, it’s all about recapturing it in the next moment.”

Also, brands need to create content good enough that gets people to “stop the scroll,” Shannon Jones, co-founder of VERB, pointed out. “What makes it to the group chat? What makes it to the DMs?” she asked. “What are they passing on to other people? How do you incorporate that shareability?”

(L-R) VERB’s Shannon Jones, Simon Property Group’s Chip Harding

Creating authentic, human connections

The proliferation of “AI slop,” as Whitney Magnuson, head of brand and media for Zoom, called it, has people longing for authenticity. “People are craving something that feels real, that feels tangible, that feels curated and authentic for them. We’re really seeing a resurgence in events,” she shared, both in-person and virtual.

Brands also have opportunities in communal spaces. For example, Chip Harding, EVP, Simon Property Group, would love it if more brands took advantage of programmatic advertising. “I’m a huge fan of programmatic. All our screens in our shopping centers—and we have thousands of them—are all programmatically enabled,” said Harding. “And I give that spiel to brand marketers five times a week.”

Immersive experiences are also popular, but success requires being able to differentiate your brand, explained Greg Holtzman, senior director of partnerships and communications for Hudson Yards Experience. He shared two of their most successful promotions: “We had a solar eclipse party up at Edge that got a ton of media impressions. And then on Leap Day, we let all Leap Day babies into Edge for free,” he said. “Sometimes it’s the simpler, niche things that nobody else is thinking of that could really make you stand out and get that social buzz and press.”

(L-R) Index Exchange’s Lori Goode, ADWEEK’s Bill Bradley, Pereira O’Dell’s Mona Munayyer Gonzalez

Capturing the right cultural moments

As someone whose brand is all about celebrating “priceless moments,” Jill Moser, SVP of customer acquisition and engagement for Mastercard, encourages being an active participant in big cultural events as much as budget allows. “You have to be in the moment and relevant, and that’s how you’re going to capture attention,” she said.

But Zoom’s Magnuson acknowledged that if there’s too much noise around a particular cultural moment (like the upcoming release of “Wicked: For Good” or the Super Bowl), look to more niche opportunities that align with your brand.

“You don’t have to engineer one experiential or one activation or one campaign that reaches the entirety of your audience, but if you can really, truly, meaningfully reach just one small segment of it, that impact can carry on for quite a long period of time,” Magnuson shared.

Understanding your audience—especially if it’s a different demographic than your own—is also crucial. “One of our social media tenets is ‘our audience doesn’t work here,’” explained Jessica Bryndza, VP of brand marketing for Lyft.

She shared how, when Lyft was about to launch a big campaign around The Summer I Turned Pretty, there was some initial pushback from people who weren’t familiar with the show, but she encouraged putting trust and faith in her team. “They do their research,” she said. And the campaign was a success.

(L-R) Hudson Yards Experiences’ Greg Holtzman, Mastercard’s Jill Moser

Storytelling still matters

The last leg of the discussion turned to emerging trends like streaming TV advances, generative engine optimization, and a resurgence of physical, branded, and communal experiences. It concluded with a reminder from Screenvision’s McGaw that storytelling will remain at the heart of whatever comes next.

“You can be in a lot of different spaces, but what’s going to move the needle is your creative,” explained McGaw. “I feel like we’ve got to lean back into that if we want to see some successes.”

Featured Conversation Leaders

• Bill Bradley, Deputy Editor, Media, TV, and Sports Marketing, ADWEEK
• Jessica Bryndza, VP, Brand Marketing, Lyft
• Mona Munayyer Gonzalez, President, Pereira O’Dell
• Lori Goode, CMO, Index Exchange
• Chip Harding, EVP, Simon Property Group
• Greg Holtzman, Senior Director, Partnerships and Communications, Hudson Yards Experiences x
• Shannon Jones, Co-founder, VERB
• Whitney Magnuson, Head of Brand and Media, Zoom
• Kevin McGaw, SVP, Head of Marketing, Screenvision Media
• Jill Moser, SVP, Customer Acquisition and Engagement, Mastercard