We, as brands, are all fighting for market share. We all have loyalists.
And most of us are trying to stay profitable without completely losing our minds in the process.
Keeping up with platforms, formats, and algorithms is exhausting. It’s also a necessary evil. Pretending otherwise is optimistic, at best.
But lately, what’s become clear to me isn’t that marketing is ceasing to “work”—it’s that iconic interruption stopped working the way it used to.
People are no longer passive receivers of marketing. They’re active gatekeepers of their attention.
Now when I say interruption hasn’t been working, I don’t mean ads don’t convert.
I mean people no longer grant brands ambient attention.
Every message now has to pass an internal filter:
“Is this relevant?”
“Do I trust this?”
“Does this make my decision easier?”
If the answer isn’t immediately clear, it’s not rejected—it’s completely skipped. Y’all, this happens so fast it’s scary. (Pay attention next time you’re scrolling through… anything).
And skipped is worse than ignored.
SO IN TODAY’S EMAIL, we’re gettin’ workshoppy. I’m going to share with you data-backed examples of what’s actually “stopping the scroll” or “turning heads” → because you live in a vacuum just as I do. You overthink marketing. (Hey that’s okay).
I’m just your newsletter bestie trying to help you through it, kk? :) Here we go:
When it comes to social media...
- Familiarity beats novelty (by A LOT). Ads featuring brand cues within the first two seconds outperform those WITHOUT by up to 40% in recall and attention. English: Logos, colors, faces, or formats people already recognize reduce cognitive load.
- Face + eye contact still work; but not super polished ones. Featuring REAL people sees higher thumb-stop rates and longer view time. Overproduction in video content is skipped faster than low-fi human content. Think about that!
- Immediate context is now wayyyyy more important than hooks. TikTok internal research showed ads that clearly state what the product is and who it’s for in the first 3 seconds outperform abstract “hook first” ads on both watch time and creative. NO ONE HAS TIME FOR ‘WAIT FOR IT.’ Especially when we’re up against our app-blocker time limits lololol
When it comes to email marketing…
Old model: email worked because people scanned everything. Subject lines were hooks. Volume WON.
New model: the inbox is now a complete and total triage system. Every email hits a faster filter than social:
- Do I recognize the sender?
- Do I know why I’m on this list?
- Is this worth my energy right now?
If the answer isn’t immediate, the email is achieved, swiped or left to ROT.
What’s working in email now is:
- Familiar sender and a very consistent POV (De Soi does suuuuuch a good job at this)
- Predictable value (not a total surprise) – like I know I will get a GOOOOD health hack by opening Primally Pure’s emails
- Tone recognition (that “Oh, it’s THEM) feeling
- Emails tha reduce thinking, not add to them (this is done with a lot of negative space designed into the email, just saying)
Finally, out of home (are you doing this??? If so, email me. I wanna see).
Talkin’ billboards, street signs, bus stop, etc.
What a funny beast OOH is. You have no sound, no caption, no explanations. Just a FEW quick seconds to think “do I recognize this, or not?”
Old model: say more. Be clever. PACK IT IN.
New model: OOH works when it confirms, not explains.
- One singular idea, rooted in emotion
- STRONG brand cues
- Framiliar visual langage
- Messages that echo what people already know
The throughline
Across every channel, the rule is now the same:
If people have to work to understand you, they won’t.
Whether it’s:
- A social ad
- An email subject line
- A text message
- Or a billboard on the highway
The winning brands are doing less introducing and more reinforcing.
For sh*ts and giggles, here are a few emails that DID have me opening, scrolling, clicking and BUYING:
