Storylines

Competing in the attention economy

Smarter ways to compete in the attention economy

When psychologist, economist and Nobel Laureate Herbert A. Simon wrote in the 1960s, "attention was the 'bottleneck of human thought', that limits both what we can perceive in stimulating environments and what we can do", he couldn't have predicted that 60 years later we'd live in a world where the success of our economy and business is driven by our ability to gain attention. Put simply, attention is a resource, and each person only has so much attention to give. As with all resources, we now place a value on attention and trade it like any other commodity…hence, attention economy.

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Create the stories you want

It has always been that in the media, the loudest voices get all the media exposure. With the proliferation of media sources, it has become much easier for less informed voices to tell your stories. The only way to combat this is to tell your own stories.

PUBLIC EDUCATION OF COVID-19

A more informed public

In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare wrote, ‘I say there is no darkness but ignorance’. As ignorance leads to darkness, so knowledge leads to light. An informed public is more likely to make decisions that benefit a cohesive, progressive society.

Managing the narrative

Get out in front of the story

Margaret Thatcher once said, "Don't follow the crowd; let the crowd follow you." No matter what you think of her politics, her advice is correct. You practise this in your organisation every day, but do you have the same approach to media engagement?

Stunning stats with powerful images

Let the facts tell the story

It's easy to argue over a point of view. It's much harder to argue against the facts.

Let's say you want to influence the public option on gun control in America. If you say guns are dangerous and ownership of firearms is unjustifiable, those with opposing views can easily argue about freedom and safety. Still, when you frame the discussion with irrefutable facts like the following, you have a greater chance of challenging entrenched beliefs:

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7 Aug - 21 Aug

One size does not fit all

The traditional approach to online PR resources for journalists is binary. You can have a media release and maybe a media kit. Anything else, and you’re going to have to call us. That doesn’t work as well for journalists or media representatives as it once did.