Earning Attention: vision and sound in advertising

Agenda

9.30am: Welcome

Introduction from Zoe Harkness, Head of Training, Thinkbox

9.40am: Theories of attention

Polly Dalton, Professor of Psychology at Royal Holloway, will explain academic theories such as Perceptual Load and Inattentional Blindness and explain how people focus their attention.

9.55: The mechanics of attention

Paul Zenon, author, Gold Star Member of the Inner Magic Circle and regular guest on Channel 4's Countdown, will focus on the roles of both audio and visual communication, looking at the mechanics of focussing people’s attention.

10.10am: Competing for attention (part 1)

Dr Ali Goode, award-winning cognitive scientist, will reveal the results from a large-scale academic study, exploring how TV ads compete for attention and highlighting the roles audio and visual signals play in gaining and keeping attention.

10.35am: Break

Time for a break for teas and coffees

10.55am: Competing for attention (part 2)

Dr Ali Goode continues his presentation.

11.20am: Panel session

A distinguished panel will discuss what we’ve learned and debate the use of attention metrics. With Professor Polly Dalton, Mark Barber MBE, Planning Director, Radiocentre, and Geoff de Burca, Chief Strategy Officer, EssenceMediacom, and chaired by Matt Hill, Research and Planning Director, Thinkbox.

12.15pm: Ends

Our speakers

Polly Dalton

Professor of Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London

At Royal Holloway, University of London, Polly is also Director of the Attention Lab and Head of Audience Insights for StoryFutures – a research centre focusing on the creative, business and audience impact of immersive storytelling. Polly’s research addresses the psychological mechanisms of human attention, awareness and experience in multisensory contexts, with a wide range of theoretical and applied impacts in sectors including aviation safety, road transport, education and immersive storytelling.

Paul Zenon

Paul has been at the forefront of the entertainment industry for almost four decades, appearing in around forty countries, hosting corporate and private events and performing in theatre tours, comedy clubs, festival and fringe shows, as well as featuring in several hundred TV programmes as presenter, performer, actor and pundit.

In addition to being the UK pioneer of the Street Magic genre, Paul has been a regular guest in Dictionary Corner on Channel 4's Countdown for many years, making around 150 appearances. Paul is a Gold Star Member of the Inner Magic Circle, the highest degree attainable, and is the recipient of numerous awards in the fields of both Magic and Comedy.

Dr Ali Goode

Cognitive Scientist, Gorilla In the Room

Dr Ali Goode started his career as an academic Cognitive Scientist working in memory, attention and consciousness, and completed a PhD in advertising and implicit memory. He started working in media research 20 years ago, applying cognitive science to ad effectiveness across different media, and is currently pioneering the understanding of ad and brand effectiveness in the metaverse. He has been a judge for the IPA Effectiveness Awards and is the only person to win the MRS Advertising and Media Award three times.

Mark Barber MBE

Planning Director, Radiocentre

Mark is responsible for developing Radiocentre’s research and content strategy, and is the architect behind the award-winning Multiplier series of radio effectiveness studies, Radiogauge (which over the last 15 years has created the biggest/most comprehensive radio advertising effectiveness dataset in the world), and Ebiquity’s widely-referenced Re-evaluating Media reports. He is also co-author of the book An advertiser’s guide to better radio advertising.

In 2015 Mark received an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honour’s list for services to commercial radio. Before joining Radiocentre, Mark spent 18 years as a strategic media planner on blue-chip clients across several agencies, most recently as Communications Planning Director at Universal McCann.