[Entretien] Marketers, beware of media disruption! Anthony Mahé, associate sociologist at the firm Eranos

Anthony Mahé is a sociologist whose work focuses on the economy of attention. This challenges marketers on the attention crisis and “media disruption”. His conviction: to rebalance the use of the media, in particular by integrating more paper into the equation.

What is attention ecology?

Anthony Mahé: The expression, attributed to Swiss researcher Yves Citton, underlines the need to perceive attention, not only as the object of a simple economic competition, but under the prism of a global ecological dimension. This implies that attention has a value that is not just financial.

What is the value of attention?

AM: Attention is a scarce resource. Unfortunately, with the advent of digital, many marketers have had, and sometimes still do, tend to overestimate attention span, to see it as unlimited. However, it is not the case. Attention is not only limited, but also weakened when over-requested. This is also why we are now facing an attention crisis.

What does this attention crisis consist of?

AM: The French sociologist Dominique Boullier distinguishes four levels of attention :

The alert, which captures information that arises; it is the notion of notification, flash, breaking news… It is that which digital uses – and sometimes abuses -.

Projection, which calls for concentration and abstraction, particularly mobilized when calculating, watching a documentary, entering into a reflection.

L’immersion, which corresponds to the attention paid when one is immersed, absorbed by a video game, a book, a film etc …

Faithfulness, which corresponds to long-term attention, that which builds a relationship over time. It is popular with brands in marketing, which structure and punctuate their relationship with consumers through several interactions: packaging, sending a catalog, etc.

The attention crisis arises from an imbalance between these four levels, in this case in favor of the alert. Today, in the digital world, the slightest information becomes an “alert”, thus saturating the attention of consumers.

What are the impacts of this imbalance?

A.M : There are three levels of impact: environmental, health and economic. The latter is easily thought of: the economic performance of a marketing campaign weakens as attention is lost. But the ecological and health impacts come less to mind, although primordial. Indeed, the multiplication of digital messages induces digital pollution (read on this subject our article on The choice of responsible communication, editor’s note). We talk about dematerialization, but in reality screens, computers, laptops require the extraction of minerals, the cooling of servers also mobilizes a lot of energy. Finally, the human impact must also be taken into account: the phenomenon of addiction to social networks and smartphones is very real.

How to rebalance the situation?

AM: By soliciting more equitably the four levels of attention that are alert, but also projection, immersion and fidelity. This requires brands to mobilize all the media available to them. It’s not about replacing digital with paper, but finding a balance. Take into consideration, in order to convey a message, digital, print, TV, radio etc … In the age of multi-channel, we must focus on multi-attentional communication.

The oldest instrument of communication is the church bell. This alert tool is regulated: each mayor decides with the priest the number of times it will ring and on what occasions. The digital bell is not regulated. It is therefore up to everyone to set their limits, review their thinking and actions. In the marketing world, it has become normal to consider a click-through rate of 3% and an open rate of 15%, where, in reality, 85% of people have not opened an email, and so much waste.

What is the place of paper communications?

AM: Advertising letters are an integral part of the attention ecosystem. They offer interesting features. Catalogs have in particular a strong power of immersion, and paper communications are interesting in the context of projection and loyalty. (read on this subject thearticle Paper Emotions 2, editor’s note). It is a shame to note that some brands take the decision to make a consumer mag to only offer a pdf version …

In addition, the paper recycling process makes it a medium to be taken into account with a view to minimizing the environmental impact.

Marketing managers sense the ecology of attention and believe that paper as a means of communication must be defended, but are struggling to reintegrate it into their plan. However, the quality of the attention and the customer relationship depends on it. The real challenge for brands is to make different media coexist in order to preserve the multiplicity and richness of the experiences offered.

For further : The objectives of sustainable communication

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