You're talking too much (and everyone's noticing)

Marketers love to talk about shrinking attention spans, we’ve all run the goldfish comparison into the freaking ground.

But according to Shutterstock’s 2025 Creative Impact Report, contrary to popular belief, the real problem isn’t attention. it’s believability. The study found that consumer trust drops after just three campaign messages. In other words, every extra message you add chips away at credibility. Campaigns built around a single, clear idea across multiple formats deliver a whopping 40% more ROI than single-format efforts.

So basically, the more you say, the less people believe you. Kind of like irl: no one likes a serial yapper, let alone believes everything that comes out of their mouths.

The myth of "more is more"

If marketing had a drinking game, “multi-channel” would be the first shot. Everyone’s obsessed with showing up everywhere, but in the process brands have started confusing channels with messages. Suddenly, what should be a simple “Buy this” becomes “Buy this because it’s affordable, sustainable, empowering, premium, community-driven, ethically sourced, AI-enhanced, and also fun!".

It’s like each stakeholder wants to tape their own tagline to the campaign before it leaves the meeting room. The result is message bloat, and it’s not just annoying, it’s expensive. Every extra “angle” eats away at coherence, which eats away at trust, which ultimately eats away at ROI.

Believability is the new performance metric

Shutterstock’s data puts numbers to something we’ve all felt: audiences aren’t sceptical because they’re cynical. They’re sceptical because brands won’t shut the hell up. Three messages is the threshold before the human brain goes: “Wait… what are you actually trying to tell me?” Beyond that, consumers perceive inconsistency as dishonesty.

Meanwhile, campaigns that stick to a single core idea but flex it across formats perform 40% better. Because consistency doesn’t mean repetition, it means reliability. You’re not boring them, you’re building recognition. That’s why Nike can run a thousand creative executions, and they all ladder back to the same heartbeat: Just Do It. It’s also why brands that constantly pivot their messaging, one week purpose, next week discounts, next week community, end up sounding like they’re lying.

One message, many outfits

Simplicity isn’t silence, but strategy.

You can tell one story in many ways, the trick is to keep the DNA intact. Think of your core message as the outfit, and your formats as the accessories. You don’t change the person, you just dress them for different occasions. For example:

• Core idea: “We save you time.”

• TikTok: A chaotic “before and after” showing hours saved.

• Billboard: “Time’s your most valuable currency.”

• Email: “Here’s how we gave 10,000 people their Saturdays back.”

Each one says the same thing, emotionally and logically. You’re not switching personalities like Kevin Wendell Crumb. You’re scaling personality.

Beware of campaign creep

Campaign creep is what happens when your big idea goes through too many rounds of feedback. Suddenly, the one thing your campaign stood for now stands for six things and a corporate initiative.

You know that feeling when you scroll a brand’s Instagram and can’t tell what they actually sell anymore? That’s campaign creep in full force. Every time you add another message, you’re telling your audience, “We don’t know how to tell our own story.” And if you can’t do that, why would anyone want to hear it?

So, here’s your anti-bloat checklist

Before you hit launch on your next campaign, ask yourself:

• Can your audience summarize it in one sentence?

• If someone swapped out your logo, would the message still feel like you?

• Does every channel echo the same emotional truth?

• Have you chosen one main character (your core idea), or are you juggling a cast of seven?

If the answer to any of those makes you sweat… I’m sorry to tell you that you’re probably over-messaging.

So, to conclude: have more than you show, say less than you know

The marketing landscape is loud, fragmented, and full of competing agendas. The brands who succeed aren’t shouting the loudest, but speaking the clearest.

-Sophie Randell, Writer