Your brain is insanely powerful, processing a whopping 11 million bits of info per second.
But our conscious mind can only handle a measly 40-50 bits/sec. Thanks to your brain trying to be efficient through selective attention.
It’s when your brain zeroes in on just a few key inputs and filtering out anything that isn’t relevant to what you’re looking for.
It's like when you turn down your car's music so you can read street signs better.
Helpful for your survival, but bad for marketers trying to keep their job.
Going past the conscious mind
In 1997, the term "Banner Blindness" was born.
The idea that people ignore anything on a web page that looks like an ad.
Because we've all been trained to focus on what matters: navigation bars, search boxes, headlines, and text about the specific subject.
But everything else? Just ignore it.
It actually doesn't matter if it's real content or an ad. Our brains have learned to tune out anything that resembles one.
But here’s how some marketers get you to pay attention…
They do it in a subtle way to zoom past your conscious mind and sneak into your subconscious.
When they’re able to do this, you let your guard down and are willing to hear what they have to say.
This is when they start rubbing their hands together and smile ear to ear, knowing they’re about to get you.
Native ads
People are seeing 100x more content than they were 50 years ago.
Advertisers today face an endless stream of content, and if they want their ads to stand a chance, they need to compete with the entertainment they're trying to interrupt.
Their solution?
Make every ad look just like the content you’re watching.
You all know the typical ‘meme’ format. Headline text at the top with a video or image under it.
It’s what most 18-24 year olds are used to seeing on social. It doesn’t matter if the platform is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, or Tik Tok.
They all look the same.
Every time someone sees this format, they at least stop and read to see if it’ll make them laugh, or at least respect the cleverness of the joke.
So if brands want to promote their products on social, the worst thing they can do is post something that looks like a TV commercial or banner ad.
Take a look at this ad I created for one of the biggest online fashion brands, FashionNova.
The photo shows off the dress, but we don’t address it head-on.
The focus is on the joke, which is telling a story that’s more interesting than a dress. Even if we put the headline “Going to a wedding in FashionNova,” it would have come off as an ad and quickly got scrolled past.
But creating a story with this type of headline:
Feels native to the platform (Instagram).
Gets people interested in watching the video to see how this girl is going to steal attention from the bride.
Gets people commenting “If another girl looked this good at my wedding I would kick her out 😭”
That's how you beat banner blindness in the modern marketing world.
So don’t be boring, put the focus on a bigger story, rather than your product.