The Power of Attention and How to Use It Responsibly

Image credit: Markus Spiske via Unsplash

You know that saying, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”? Well, every time I’m hanging a picture at home and catch my reflection in a mirror, I can’t help but go, “Allo there, Mister NAIL Williams!” in a Cockney accent, gesturing with the hammer. Terrible jokes aside, the metaphorical hammer I’ve been wielding these days is the concept of attention. I’ve been thinking about it incessantly and seeing its traces wherever I look. As I’ve given more attention to…attention, my understanding has evolved in ways I find meaningful and worth sharing. So without further ado, borrowing words from a famous singing Hammer: “Stop! Attention Time!” 

First, let’s dig into three areas where attention plays a crucial role, and then I’ll attempt to put it all together. 

1. Attention in Advertising 

When you look at how brand advertising works, attention emerges as a fundamental building block. We have to gain access to attention (via paid or earned methods), get attention, and then hold it long enough to create a useful memory. Media and creatives must work hand in boxing gloves to land an effective punch, something Dr. Karen Nelson-Field and Orlando Wood have eloquently articulated across multiple Cannes sessions on this very topic (see “The Triple Opportunity of Attention” from 2023). 

Nelson-Field emphasises that not all attention environments are equal, making it crucial to align your goals and creativity with your chosen platform. Yes, strong creativity can sustain above-average attention, but you’ll always be fighting the attention elasticity of the environment. There are exceptions, but those are usually just that—extreme outliers. Looking at you, Hilton. 

Let’s say you’ve got some quality high-attention media. Then what? Orlando Wood says “Advertising needs to entertain for commercial gain.” According to Wood, not just any entertainment will do, either. The content must demonstrate right-brained features: narrative, metaphor, dialogue, characters, humour, nuance. These are what help elicit an emotional response, hold attention long enough to make memories, and encode the desired connections in our audience’s brains. This is how the best advertising feels like magic but works like science. 

2. Attention in Creativity 

Attention is at the heart of how advertising works and also how it’s created. Time management is the go-to name for this topic, but I’ve come to realise that “attention management” might be more accurate. In order for creatives to connect strategic dots and, just as crucially, connect with the audience, we must focus our attention on the problem at hand.

We must think deeply and consistently. We must rustle up our attention and direct it toward a creative solution like a cowboy corralling a herd of caffeinated cats across the prairie. No simple task. Especially when the pings, dings, and whooshes of everyday work-life and life-life have trained us to jump frantically from task to task, chasing dopamine and subconsciously trying to outrun our mortality. These habits have also untrained us from being able to focus for any meaningful amount of time. 

The solution? It’s neither earth-shattering nor provocative. There are no real life-hacks or shortcuts in this arena. You have to prioritise your tasks and come to terms with not being able to do everything. Then when you do commit to creation, you must sit in the discomfort and bone-deep resistance as you just get on with it. As Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art writes, “Put your ass where your heart wants to be.” Ass and attention are one and the same here. Also, please do not quote that last sentence out of context. 

3. Attention in Real Life-Life 

Last, we zoom out wide into space. I can see my life from here! From this illuminating vantage we can see that our entire existences are built on attention. Think about it: whatever we pay attention to in a given moment is the present. And when you string together all those moments, that’s a life. 

The poet J.D. McClatchy wrote: “Love is the quality of attention we pay to things.” So when I’m at the playground with my daughter but I’m looking at my phone or have one earbud in listening to a podcast, what does that mean? I love my daughter more than anything, but my actions betray me. Attention does not lie. It creates and it diminishes. 

Calling back to the Pressfield quote, we must put our attention where our love wants to be. Personally, I want a life composed more of the people and things I love, and less of the things that annoy and distract me. At the very least, acknowledging that life is the sum of your attention may make you think twice before mindlessly scrolling through your feed. Which may very well contain this article. Oops. 

Neato, but what does it all mean? 

I used to see attention as a flashlight, useful for navigating the murky onslaught of the world and our own minds. Now, I think it’s more like a ray of sunlight. It can help things grow and flourish, like an idea. Its absence can also make things wither and disappear, like a human relationship. Attention is a powerful force that demands responsibility and bears consequences. 

As advertisers, let’s respect our audience’s attention; treat it as the privilege it is. As creators, let’s direct our attention with potency and purpose.

And as humans, let’s channel our attention into acts of creation, nurturing, and genuine connection. 

This shift, I believe, will uplift us all. 

Thanks for tuning in, I hope your attention was well spent.