THE FUTURE OF ATTENTION: FROM CHEAP CLICKS TO DEEP RESONANCE

How brands can cut through the noise by trading the megaphone for meaningful human connection.

THE FUTURE OF ATTENTION: FROM CHEAP CLICKS TO DEEP RESONANCE

How brands can cut through the noise by trading the megaphone for meaningful human connection.

Attention is the most valuable currency in marketing, where constant demands for our focus flit from one thing to the next, yet we can endlessly binge on content from TV to podcasts to films.

This dynamic, and the explosion of AI and misinformation, creates a new challenge for creators and brands to connect with consumers in their screen-saturated lives.

Taped during the buzz of the 40th SXSW in Austin, Texas, this What the Future: Attention webinar explores the dual realities of our fragmented yet focused habits in a new conversation format.

Join us May 13, 1pm ET/11 am PT to hear about the emerging pushback against constant connectivity in favor of mindfulness and why building genuine brand communities might just be the antidote. And get exclusive new data from Ipsos on future of attention.

In conversation with:

Matt Carmichael

Editor of What the Future (Host)

Matt Klein

Advisor, speaker, writer at Zine

Cheryl Miller Houser

Documentary filmmaker at Creative Breed

Understand the new attention economy in our live webinar, where we explore how brands can move beyond the "tyranny of the dashboard" to build deep emotional resonance and authentic communities.

Watch now to hear from cultural theorist Matt Klein and documentary filmmaker Cheryl Miller Houser, in a new conversation format with host and What the Future Editor Matt Carmichael.

Key highlights and takeaways:

Human connection and emotional resonance:

Cheryl Miller Houser emphasized the need for brands to connect with audiences on an emotional level, highlighting that authenticity and emotional engagement are essential as consumers shift to private and small-group platforms.

"Brands can't buy attention or influence anymore. They can't buy access like they used to be able to. So they have to move people and then have people within communities or have people direct message something to their friends and family. And that's how a brand will get attention and connection."

Crafting meaningful brand relationships (The "Dinner Party" approach)

Matt Klein discussed how brands must act like good guests at a dinner party by understanding the context, adding cultural value, and engaging sincerely rather than relying on outdated, loud broadcasting methods that disrupt the user experience.

"We're so used to saying, look at me, or look at me, look at me. Look at me versus I see you. And I think the difference between those two is the complete difference of what success is today in a media environment."

AI disruption and the strategic value of unique, owned data

Matt Carmichael posits that as AI generates endless personalized content and email filters become more aggressive, breaking through the noise will require proprietary, trustworthy data and insights that Large Language Models (LLMs) cannot easily scrape from the public internet.

"AI tools are already at a point where they can generate endless, seemingly personalized content tailored just for you that's going to be happening at scale any moment now... So there's a plausible future where the only way to break through and get people's attention, or at least show up in their daily AI summary, is by having something unique owned and something the LLMs won't find on the internet."

Empathy and Cultural Relevance over functional product marketing

Cheryl Miller House explained that TMT brands must move beyond simply listing functional product benefits. Acknowledging consumer realities through empathetic storytelling is vital, as B2B and B2C purchasing decisions are primarily driven by emotion, not just logic.

"People don't make decisions including buying decisions, including B2B and B2C based on rational thinking. We make decisions including purchasing decisions, primarily based on emotion."

Escaping the "Tyranny of the Dashboard" and redefining metrics

Matt Klein urged executives to shift their focus from "cheap attention" (empty clicks) to meaningful resonance and depth to build sustainable platforms.

"I think larger what we're dealing with is this idea of the tyranny of the dashboard. If we're beholden to making numbers go up, you begin to outsource decisions to anti-human behaviors."

Get the full takeaways and full transcript ➜

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