When 15 Year Olds Write, the World Listens

The tie that binds these two stories is of course the fragmentation of attention caused by the Internet’s immense capacity for differentiation and our own latent desires to spend our limited attention on those things that add the most value to our lives. The question that kept popping into my head as I read Matthew’s report and pondered the demise of Businessweek was how do we as marketers address an audience hellbent on maximizing the value of their attention?

Let me start with a review of the Matthew Robson’s (the author) disquisition of the teenager’s consumption of media. Matthew mentioned that TV has shifted such that teenagers will watch the hits or sports, but will not watch a network. In fact according to Matthew after a program finishes they might not watch TV for weeks (Interesting also to note Fred Wilson’s comment’s on his son’s entertainment consumption behavior, specifically dialing into Netflix’s streaming programs). Matthew also had nothing but invective for newspapers, though I find this less telling as it seems very few teenagers would be interested in the content of newspapers, as their lives don’t necessarily intersect with many of these stories. He also had an interesting comment on the prevalence of Facebook over Twitter, though again it may simply be a matter of life-stage and content matching, rather than something more profound.

What courses through the entire piece is the fact that content and accessibility are the primary virtues that young people will bestow their attention upon. Interestingly enough, this is the truth behind all generations. For older generation’s newspapers may still be the most accessible content for them, but that doesn’t mean they’re any more liable to engage with an ad unit, then a young person reading content on their mobile.

This total lack of interest in anything that does not demonstrably improve our lives is a function of distribution monopolies being shattered and in their place totally unfettered competition. As marketers we must abide by these rules and deeply engage with our clients rather than try to game the system or rely upon what worked in the past.  That deep engagement will draw out the unique aspects of the business, which can be put forth to the world in a variety of compelling ways. Maybe that means making the Kraft iPhone app the best possible recipe maker in the app store, constantly improving its UI and content to maintain a top position. Maybe its digging into your client’s supply chain and coming clean with a Footprint Chronicles style transparency that creates a massive halo of consumer goodwill. The answer is that we are no longer tack on, short run, service providers, but rather long term solution providers guiding, iterating and improving so that our clients gain the attention of audiences by dint of value, not interruption.