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3.5 Minute Read

What Does The Attention Economy Mean For Public Affairs?

Each of us today lives in the attention economy—which is defined by an unlimited amount of information, chasing a finite amount of human attention. This mismatch has reshaped modern life—how we do our jobs, how we relate to each other, and even how our minds work. It has also fundamentally redefined the job of public affairs practitioners. In today's short read, we show you the nature of these changes, and discuss the implications for your work.

Two Principles For Navigating Public Affairs In The Attention Economy

Consider the following two principles as your compass for navigating the attention economy's treacherous waters:

🔱   Advocacy Is Now A 24/7 Exercise

First, approach every public affairs effort as a 24/7 exercise—because it is. Today, the moment the lobbyist leaves the meeting, your audience is swarmed by other messages competing for the decision-maker's attention. This is the fundamental feature of the digital world we now inhabit.

Yesterday's public affairs campaigns focused on supplementing direct lobbying with the key press article, the one op-ed, the fleeting social media post that momentarily caught the target's eyes. Today, that one piece of content is swept away from the decision-maker's screen within seconds, replaced by other messages not of your choosing.

Public affairs campaigns are now a battle for attention—grabbing attention, and holding attention for as long as possible. This reality has countless implications that are the focus of this newsletter each week including:

🔱  Precisely reaching the decision-maker

🔱  Locating and communicating to the influencers of the decision-maker

🔱  Creating numerous pieces of compelling content

🔱  Pushing other messengers off your audience's screen

But you cannot win the battle for attention, until you recognize that this is the battle you are in. Today's leading public affairs practitioners approach each campaign from this premise, and execute every one of their tactics within this framework.

🔱  Where The Most Advanced Ideas For Capturing Attention Come From

The second principle that we suggest for public affairs practitioners to navigate the attention economy is this: The most advanced ideas for capturing attention come first to the commercial sector, and are slow to come to political advocacy. Many times, they never come at all.

Silicon Valley ad tech today moves at light speed, particularly as AI has re-defined the technology innovation cycle. The commercial industry is almost always first to adopt these advancements. There are many reasons for this, but here are the primary ones:

🔱  Overall advertising budgets are much larger in the commercial sector. In a typical non-election year, up to 10 companies individually exceed all political ad spending combined in the U.S. This massive spending drives ad tech innovation far faster than anything that happens in the political sector.

🔱  The feedback loop is faster and more concrete in the commercial sector. If a big-box retailer's ads aren't working, they see the impact within the day in store traffic and online sales, and often make intra-day advertising changes accordingly. Compare that to a political feedback loop, which could be between two and six years for an electoral campaign where the largest political budgets are spent, or months for a public affairs issue. Further, when you lose a race or a congressional vote, it is much harder to unscramble the many potential reasons for the loss than it is to test a commercial advertising strategy that measures dollars in the door.

🔱  Ad tech knowledge is limited in public affairs. Public affairs practitioners typically do not have ad tech backgrounds. For many good reasons, they are former congressional staffers, administration officials, lobbyists, journalists, and other politically-grounded professionals. This creates a technical and cultural gulf between Silicon Valley ad tech innovation and adoption in political advocacy. We see the role of this newsletter as helping to close that gap.

Two Ways To Operationalize This Email

🔱 Drive alignment internally in your organization that the goal of each public affairs campaign is to win the battle for attention. Each tactic you deploy should be in furtherance of this goal.

🔱 Look to the commercial sector for the best ideas in ad tech. Curious about how a retailer just reached you with that well-targeted ad? Ask yourself how they did it, and what you might take from this approach into your own work.

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