Breaking the Six Second Rule

Have you got a minute? Or five? Probably not, you’re in a rush, right? Your life is busier than it’s ever been. Your most valuable asset is time, and you haven’t got any to waste. And yet the world is full of things, people and brands that are all trying to steal your attention. Don’t they realise how busy you are, and the fact that you can only concentrate on a single thing for six seconds? That’s 30% shorter than it was in the year 2000, by the way, and it’s getting shorter. 

You consume all your news from iPhone alerts, choose your partner in a swipe, order a taxi at the push of a button – you expect things to happen fast. This impatience means we have developed a hunger for content, perpetually scrolling an average of 5.1 miles a year. To fit in with this lifestyle, Facebook’s suggested solution to brands is to blurt out whatever they need to say in under 3 seconds. BUY IT NOW! TWO FOR A FIVER! LIKE ME! 

In a world with wavering brand loyalty and discount hunting, the job of creative could be just reduced to flash a logo and a special offer. This could be the end of brand building. If we want to keep that dream alive, we are going to have to get people to engage with a brand on a deeper level; to laugh, to cry, to be amazed, inspired, or just to feel something. This is the foundation of good brand work, not just shouting the loudest, but having something to say. 

And this is where the main problem arises: how can an advert, or piece of content, deliver any kind of reaction after just a few seconds? The honest answer is, it can’t.

But there is some good news for creatives like me. People are watching and engaging. A lot. Maybe not on TV (which is why traditional ad spending is dropping every year) but in newer and more exciting on-demand platforms. Over 1 billion hours of YouTube content is watched every single day - even Elon Musk (who some might regard as a pretty busy man), who famously divides his entire day into 5-minute slots to be efficient, dedicates two of those slots every day to watching YouTube videos.

This doesn’t mean we should just make really long ads and put them on YouTube. It’s unrealistic to try and get ads to compete with slow motion explosions, pranks and e-sports. We have to instead create content people want to watch, to deliver more meaningful interactions and connections with brand. Done right, this can be an incredibly powerful tool and help capture the hearts and minds of viewers, ultimately leading to stronger brands. 

Marcus Aitman is senior art director at Elvis