The Science of Attention:
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- Oct 14
- 4 min read
Why Great Marketing Breaks the Rules
Have you ever noticed how easily you tune out the world around you? You might not hear the hum of your fridge, the ticking of a clock, or even the background music in a café — until it suddenly stops. That’s not ignorance; that’s your brain being efficient.
Our brains are designed to filter out the familiar and focus on what’s new, different, or potentially important. It’s a survival mechanism that allows us to concentrate on things that could affect our wellbeing, or in the case of marketing, things that might genuinely interest us.
Habituation: The Brain’s Filter for Repetition
This built-in neurological process is known as habituation — a natural response that helps us tune out repeated stimuli and pay attention to what matters.
In simple terms, when the brain is exposed to the same message, sound, or image repeatedly, it begins to ignore it.
This is why so many marketing messages fail to land. The brain decides they’re not worth noticing. The more often we see the same style, the same tone, the same “safe” messaging, the faster our attention drifts elsewhere.
Semantic Satiation: When Words Lose Their Meaning
There’s another fascinating twist to this called semantic satiation — when a word or phrase is repeated so often that it temporarily loses its meaning.
Think of hearing the same slogan, tag line, or corporate phrase over and over. Eventually, it starts to sound like noise.
But not all words are equal.
Fear slows habituation. Emotive words — especially those with dramatic connotations like “Warning,” “Danger,” or “Urgent” — resist this effect because they’re loaded with emotional associations. They jolt our brain into paying attention.
So, while repetition can dull a message, emotion can keep it alive.
The Exposure Effect: Balancing Familiar and Fresh
Interestingly, there’s also something called the exposure effect — our tendency to develop a preference for things that feel familiar.
This means the best marketing finds the sweet spot between new and known — where something is fresh enough to grab the brain’s attention, yet familiar enough to feel safe and likeable.
If something is too familiar, our brain tunes it out as background noise.
If it’s too unfamiliar, we may resist it because it feels uncertain or uncomfortable.
The magic happens in the middle — when your design, message, or product feels both new enough to engage our brain and old enough for us to like it.
Too much repetition and your brand becomes wallpaper.
Too much difference and people may not connect with it.
The magic happens where the two meet — where your message feels both trusted and intriguing.
Why Great Marketing Feels Uncomfortable
Truly effective marketing doesn’t play it safe.
It provokes, surprises, or delights in unexpected ways. It pushes just far enough beyond the familiar to break through our mental filters.
In short:
Great marketing is uncomfortable. It springs a dormant brain into a neurological frenzy.
As Steven Bartlett writes in Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life, “Make people feel something either way.”That emotional connection — whether excitement, curiosity, nostalgia, or even slight discomfort — is what makes your message unforgettable.
To cut through, your stories need to be unrepetitive, unfiltered, and unconventional.
Avoid “wallpaper” — that predictable, polished sameness that our brains instantly tune out.
You Must Risk Pissing People Off
Here’s the hard truth: if you’re building a brand that matters, you will risk pissing people off.
That doesn’t mean being offensive — it means being real enough to provoke emotion.When you stand for something genuine, some people will love it, some will hate it, and some won’t care at all. Only the first two matter — because indifference is the most dangerous and least profitable response in marketing.
“Hate” is often just a sign that you’re saying something that cuts through — something that challenges comfort zones, questions assumptions, or sparks thought. It means your message is strong enough to be felt.
Not every successful brand offends or provokes. Some build empires on trust, consistency, or calm reliability. But what they all share is the courage to stand for something, even when it won’t please everyone.
A brand that never offends, never excites.A brand that never risks, never resonates.
So don’t be afraid to take a stance, show emotion, or express your personality boldly.
It’s better to evoke a real reaction from some than polite disinterest from everyone.
You don’t have to offend — but you do have to risk not pleasing everyone.Because brands that avoid all emotional reaction risk becoming invisible.
The Takeaway: Speak to the Brain, Not Just the Buyer
Understanding the science of attention is one of the most powerful tools a business can have.Every design, word, and image should work together to bypass habituation — to make people stop, feel, and think.
Knowing how to communicate in a way that cuts through the noise and beats our brain’s filtering system can mean the difference between a campaign that gets ignored and one that gets remembered.
At Ignite Design, we help brands tell their stories in bold, strategic ways — blending creativity with neuroscience to create designs that don’t just look good, but demand attention.
Inspired by concepts from Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life.
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