The 2.5 Second Rule of Advertising

The 2.5 second rule, and the fact that the rule is violated 85% of the time, changes how I think about the content we used to put out at Chubbies.

***Update after reading comments: this is not about gaming the hook to get just past 2.5 seconds. We can all do that. This is about real creativity that earns real, active attention. This is also about channel selection. Some channels (TV, YT, gasp physical magazines) drive way more active attention than others. The tension: they report horribly according to the attribution-du-jour of purchases driven on a last-click basis in the last 7 days.

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** Three things I learned about the 2.5 second rule

1. There is a direct relationship between active attention seconds on your brand’s content and the number of days your brand stays in memory, according Karen Nelson-Field PhD, one of the leading academics and researchers on human attention and the impact on brand building

2. 2.5 seconds of active attention is the threshold that starts to make a difference to the length of time a brand stays in a person’s memory.
 
3. Nearly 85% of ads don’t reach the 2.5 second attention-memory threshold, according to Nelson-Field’s research. Yes. 85%.


Three ways you can update your thinking on the topic

1. “Ads under this threshold can basically only drive a click. This is the essential difference between brand-building ads and direct-response ads,” according to Tom Roach.

2. The 85% number makes sense, because “[Brand ads are] an uninvited guest in the living room of a prospect with the magical power to make you disappear instantly,” according to John O’Toole

3. “If the biggest percentage of your ad budget sits below the attention-memory threshold because it’s being spent on lower attention platforms and formats, the money you spend won’t be growing market share,” according to Nelson-Field


Three things you can do about this right now. **

1. Since we've all been so focused on optimizing the hell out of how we get the click or the short term conversion, we need to reacquaint ourselves with what it takes to earn active attention time consistent with the 2.5 second rule. Walk a day in the shoes of, well, yourself. What brand content are you spending more than 2.5 seconds on?

2. Think about measuring attention volume rather than reach volume, impression volume, click or even purchase conversion volume. What percentage of your dollars are successfully meeting or surpassing the 2.5 second threshold? If it’s not the majority, this might be something requiring your…attention.

3. Take a day with your team. Remove all meetings. From a blank slate, think about what it means to do things that get earn those 2.5 seconds (and beyond). This is where creativity can run free. This is the opportunity for your brand to get remembered, to get noticed. We’ve all heard of share of social and share of search, but what does it mean to drive outsized Share of Attention? Are you owning Share of Memory?
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Thanks for reading. If this post was helpful, here are 4 things you can do right now to 

• Get more strategic + tactical nuggets on brand building, 

• Tactics on connecting brand building to financial impact, 

• And specific things you can do to build strong emotional connections with your audience: 

1) Subscribe to the Brand Builders podcast on YouTube or Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. 
2) Apply to join our brand builders slack community (suuuuper small group exclusively for brand founders and operators), 
3) Follow Tom and Preston on Linkedin for regular posts on this stuff
4) And heck, share this with someone