Are you paying attention? Of course you are; the real question is: to what are you paying attention? Only a small percentage of what we see and hear makes it into our conscious awareness. This video demonstrates that perfectly.
Amazing isn't it? Because the details of the man asking for directions just didn't matter to the helpful woman he approached. They never made it into her conscious awareness. So she never noticed the changes to those details. The psychological term for this effect is
change blindness.
But what if the man asking for directions came out from behind the mirror with lime green hair or a painted blue face?
What if the changed details where important to the woman? Let's say she was offered $50 for every man she saw wearing a black sweatshirt. Do you think she would have noticed that the first man was wearing blue and the second black?
Lime green hair makes the change surprising while the $50 dollar reward makes the change relevant and important (i.e. Salient) to the observer. Both surprise and salience ensure the event will make it into conscious awareness.
It's not uncommon for marketing types to trumpet the "attention economy" or to complain about how hard it is to "break through the clutter." But the simple fact is that your prospects
are paying attention. They're simply paying attention to the salient and the surprising.
Are your ads salient? Is their delivery surprising? Or are you hoping that zippy-the-ad-guy will come up with something slick for your next spot? Maybe something that can't be ignored, like a guy in a gorilla suit!
I'm sure that'll work, but if you don't mind my asking,
are you paying attention?
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