The recent advancements in technological capabilities, consumer habits, and media distribution are gradually but surely paving the way for a fundamental shift in how we design and broadcast advertising campaigns. As a result, the traditional 'unique insights' and 'Unique Selling Proposition' (USP) model is becoming obsolete for everyone.

The technological possibilities for targeting and message distribution have ushered us into the era of what we call 'Atomic Advertising'. This is an era where advertising messages are potentially delivered, sequenced, and repeated uniquely to each individual, thereby building a personal perception of each brand, value proposition, or offering. It's an opportunity to present messages and arguments specifically tailored to persuade individuals, unlike the historical 'mass approach' to advertising.

There's a backdrop of several trends contributing to the establishment of this 'Atomic Advertising' logic.

↳ Enhanced Targeting Capabilities and Continual Audience Fragmentation

Mass advertising is a thing of the past. Audiences are increasingly segmented and targeted, even on so-called 'traditional' media, which is now undergoing digital transformation.

Thus, what might have been seen as a weakness is now a strength, especially when we realize that the most targeted messages are the most transformative. Make no mistake, with the digitization of traditional media, this approach doesn't merely apply to digital channels.

↳ Target x Context = Distribution x Creation

We no longer interrupt programming; we become a part of it. All studies confirm the results we get with our clients: the more tailored the advertising message is to the target and its distribution context, the higher the attention and advertising responsiveness.

↳ 6 sec is the new 30 sec

In mid-2017, the CEO of comScore, a leader in audience measurement, set the stage: 'Millennials have a maximum attention span for advertising of 5 seconds.'

Faced with declining interest and attention span for advertising, coupled with media's economic desire to shorten 'advertising interruptions' (less annoying for their audiences and more advertisers in the same timeframe), standards for formats, both online and offline, are shrinking.

Shortening messages leads to greater contact repetition with the same budget. Repetition, in turn, induces fatigue among targets for messages they already have little interest in and attention for.

Creativity will be more crucial in a shorter timeframe. But what to do with this repetition?

↳ 'Atomic Advertising', the Art of Useful and Creative Repetition

An individual might be especially receptive to a product's price, another to its longevity, a third to its aesthetics, and a fourth to its environmental friendliness. Some individuals are convinced by several arguments but not in the same priority order. The goal of 'Atomic Advertising' becomes not only delivering the right message to the right person but also managing the repetition of those contacts. Each person builds their own mental image of an offer, a value proposition by accumulating messages. The focus is no longer the traditional repetition of the same messages but rather, the repetition of different messages, potentially unique to each individual. The accumulation of messages allows for the creation of more comprehensive and particularly convincing mental constructs, thus maximizing changes in attitudes and behaviors.

↳ 'Atomic Advertising', the Art of Useful and Creative Repetition

Setting up this kind of framework, however, requires:

• Analyzing different angles of messaging approaches and classifying them beforehand;

• Having access to the necessary technologies for distribution and performance measurement to make the system self-learning and, potentially, in the long run, self-distributing;

• Investing in the production and quality of messages;

• Building a strong brand identity and foundation to facilitate attribution despite variety in repetition. Indeed, one might think that with the customization of scenarios and messages, the brand disappears in favor of the context and expectations of targets. On the contrary, this approach requires a solid definition of the brand's identity, convictions, and character traits so it can be represented in all forms, across all offline and online channels. The brand must be agile and robust to become 'Atomic'.

  
  

"We've chosen the term 'Atomic Advertising' here, drawing an analogy to 'Atomic Design'. It's a digital design methodology where a page on a site or application is composed of a set of modules and elements, which can be independent and reused on other pages and combined with others to create unique templates. Here, the campaign is comprised of a set of different messages tailored to each target audience."

Damien Schoennahl