Advertising, Branding & the Attention Economy

Watch

• What Will Happen to Marketing in the Age of AI? | Jessica Apotheker | TED ↗TED
• The Art of Marketing — for Good | Raja Rajamannar | TED ↗TED
• The Marketing Strategy That Built RYAN Reynolds' $700 Million Fortune ↗The Sleeping Economist
• How Apple and Nike have branded your brain | Your Brain on Money | Big Think ↗Big Think
• How Red Bull Became a Billion Dollar Business (Without Owning a Factory) ↗DollarCraftWealth
• How Nike Turns Controversy Into Dollars ↗CNBC

Read

• Confessions of an Advertising Man ↗An indispensable primer from a titan of Madison Avenue, offering timeless wisdom on crafting campaigns that resonate and endure.David Ogilvy
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion ↗Unpacks the six universal principles of persuasion, providing a robust framework for understanding why people say 'yes' to marketing messages.Robert Cialdini
• No Logo ↗A trenchant critique of corporate branding and globalization, revealing the cultural and economic power wielded by global brands.Naomi Klein
• The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads ↗A compelling historical sweep of how industries have systematically captured and commodified human attention, from penny papers to digital platforms.Tim Wu
• Designing Organizations for an Information-Rich WorldThe seminal articulation of the attention economy, positing that in an information-rich world, the scarcity is attention, not information itself.Herbert A. Simon

Voices to follow

• Scott Galloway ↗His incisive critiques dissect the power dynamics of big tech and their profound impact on consumer attention and brand strategy.Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern School of Business; Author
• Rory Sutherland ↗A master of behavioural economics, he champions the counter-intuitive and often overlooked psychological levers that truly drive consumer choice.Vice Chairman, Ogilvy UK; Author
• Adam Alter ↗He meticulously explores the psychological underpinnings of addiction to technology, offering critical insights into the attention economy's darker facets.Professor of Marketing and Psychology, NYU Stern School of Business; Author
• Seth Godin ↗A prolific thought leader, he advocates for ethical, permission-based marketing and the creation of remarkable products that genuinely resonate with audiences.Bestselling Author; Marketing Guru

Glossary

• AdvertisingThe act of telling people about a product, service, or idea to make them interested in it and want to buy or use it. It's like shouting out loud about something you want others to know about. For example, a TV commercial showing a new snack is a form of advertising.
• Advertising CampaignA series of advertisements that share a single message and goal, spread across different media channels over a specific period. It's like a coordinated effort to promote something. For example, a company might run an advertising campaign for a new movie with posters, TV spots, and social media ads all at once.
• Attention EconomyThe idea that in today's world, people's attention is a limited and valuable resource, and companies compete fiercely to get and keep it. Every app, website, or ad is trying to grab your focus. For example, social media platforms constantly send notifications to get your attention back to their app.
• BrandA unique name, symbol, or design that identifies a seller's product or service and sets it apart from others. It's how a company or product is recognized and remembered. For example, the swoosh symbol and "Nike" name together form the Nike brand.
• Brand ImageThe overall impression or feeling that consumers have about a particular brand. It's how people perceive the brand based on all their experiences and interactions with it. For example, if people think of a certain car company as reliable and safe, that's part of its brand image.
• Call to Action (CTA)A prompt in an advertisement or piece of content that tells the audience exactly what they should do next. It's a direct instruction to encourage an immediate response. For example, "Click here to buy now!" or "Subscribe to our channel!" are common calls to action.
• InfluencerA person who has a significant following on social media or other platforms and can persuade their audience to try products or services. Brands often pay them to promote things. For example, a popular YouTuber reviewing a new gaming headset is acting as an influencer.
• LogoA symbol or design that identifies a company, organization, or product. It's a visual shortcut that helps people recognize a brand instantly. For example, the bitten apple is the iconic logo for Apple products.
• MarketingThe entire process of planning, creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers to satisfy their needs and wants. Advertising is just one part of marketing. For example, deciding the price of a new phone, where to sell it, and how to advertise it are all parts of marketing.
• SloganA short, memorable phrase or motto used in advertising or branding to represent a company or product. It's designed to be catchy and easy to remember. For example, "Just Do It" is a famous slogan for Nike.
• Target AudienceThe specific group of people that an advertisement or product is trying to reach because they are most likely to be interested in it. Advertisers carefully choose who they want to talk to. For example, an ad for a new video game would have teenagers and young adults as its target audience.

Threads 8

Where this connects to other fields, and why it's worth knowing.

• How Habits Form and Break Psychology

  The most addictive reward isn't a guaranteed one, it's a random one you can't predict. That's why a slot machine hooks people, and it's exactly why you keep pulling down to refresh your feed. Sometimes there's a jackpot of new likes, sometimes nothing, and your brain can't stop chasing the maybe.

• Credentialing & the Future of School Education

  A Hermes store keeps its bags rare on purpose; if everyone had one, nobody would want it. A top university runs the same play: it turns away thousands so a degree still feels special. So those famous rankings aren't really about better teaching, they're about protecting a luxury brand.

• Religion & the Sacred Religion

  Brands work hard to make their products feel almost holy, like special objects you don't casually bargain over. That's why a superfan will defend a logo the way a believer guards a relic, and feels weirdly offended when it goes on sale. A discount doesn't just lower a price; it breaks the spell of 'sacred.'

• Nutrition Health

  Food scientists dial sugar, fat, and salt to a precise 'bliss point,' the exact mix that lights up your brain without ever flipping the 'I'm full' switch. That's why a bag of chips is so hard to put down. Junk food is engineered to be as un-stoppable as a slot machine, on purpose.

• Secularization Religion

  You quit going to church, but you'll still cry at a concert, tattoo a band logo on your arm, and treat your morning smoothie like a holy ritual. Empty churches didn't kill our need for belonging and ritual, they just handed it to brands, fandoms, and wellness gurus. We didn't lose religion, we bought it back one purchase at a time.

• Waste, Reuse & Material Loops Environment

  An ad's whole job is to make you unhappy with the phone you already own so you buy a new one. But every 'must-have' it creates eventually becomes trash in a landfill. The ad you scroll past today is the first step in the journey of stuff toward the dump, dissatisfaction manufactured on purpose, sitting upstream of the garbage.

• Addiction and the Brain Psychology

  Slot machines hook people with random, unpredictable rewards, the same trick that keeps lab rats pressing a lever. Your feed, notifications, and game loot boxes run on that exact pattern. The attention economy is basically addiction science aimed at your phone.

• Meditation, Mindfulness & the Contemplative Mind Psychology

  NCCIH describes practices that return attention to a chosen focus; the FTC documents interfaces that divert attention or disguise advertising. Comparing them reveals different purposes for directing attention. It does not establish that meditation prevents persuasion, compulsive platform use or susceptibility to deceptive advertising.

  Sources: NCCIH — Meditation and mindfulness: effectiveness and safety ↗ · FTC — Bringing Dark Patterns to Light (2022) ↗