As a follow up to yesterday's post, let's dig a bit deeper to fully understand why the proliferation of recognition for the power of Surprise, straight from the mouths of three brilliant Web 2.0 gurus, Max Levchin (co-founder of PayPal and current CEO of social network widget factory SLIDE), Chris Anderson (author of the book and creator of the concept The Long Tail) and Seth Godin (well, you know who).
Levchin believes that the future of advertising relies less on how many people see/hear an ad, but how "engaged" consumers are with them. As he says:
"The metrics for success
are going to shift away from
who can provide the most reach
toward who is paid the most attention."
Meanwhile, Anderson's next great debatable theory (as discussed here a few weeks ago) is the rise of giving things away, to be solidified in his next book "Free." As Brandweek puts it in a short piece on the author/thinker:
"Free's argument is that
in the digital age,
it's more important to get attention than immediate payoff."
The last word goes to Godin, who in commenting on Anderson's theory said that:
"Attention is a valuable asset
that used to be a commodity."
Who is paid the most attention will rely heavily on how one generates the most attention...the all-important catalyst best left in the capable hands of Surprise marketers. Generating attention is our raison d'etre.
Yeah, I know there ain't too many of us around.
Yet.