You Can Pay for Attention, or You Can Earn It

Last night, I was feeling under the weather, lying on the couch and watching a college football game on television when this advertisement comes on:

It's clever, right? JC Penney realizes something every SEO, social media marketer and viral content builder has known since they got into web marketing: People don't like being interrupted by marketing. So they provide content instead, hoping to earn a positive reaction and, in the future, a positive association with the male customer base watching Friday night sports.

Penney likely spent ~$20,000 for 30 seconds of interruption 7 times (that I counted) during the 2 hours I'm on the couch drinking hot tea.

I just hope they're spending $140,000 per channel per night on inbound, too, because when their customers want mens clothes, they do this:

and see this:

via @betsypavlica

and participate in this:

via Metafilter

and consume content like this:

via Primer

I enjoyed the JC Penney ad. It made me think about advertising, about what consumers want out of marketing and about where the future of attention and influence are headed. In my opinion, the time for interrpution is over. That's why I love being an inbound guy. Our time's just beginning :-)