Your ATTN Please || Wednesday, 1 October

Back in the day (ok, like when we were kids), everyone gathered 'round to watch the 6 o'clock news.

Friday night meant meeting up for drinks at your favourite spot. Rituals were predictable. Collective. Maybe even a bit boring. But now, we're experiencing a ritual breakdown. Attention is splintered. And we’ve got influencers introducing us to a never-ending rotation of products we “need” for our meal prep/ skincare/ workout routine. Age-old rituals seem to be a thing of the past. So, how’s a brand meant to “stick”? Well, I have 1 word for you: micro-rituals.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

Want to hang out tomorrow night?

You're invited to Lectures After Dark, hosted by The Attention Seeker team. This event's all about getting a bunch of marketers in a room, listening to a thought-provoking talk, and having a casual chat with some cool people. If you're in Auckland, we'd love to see you there.

2 Oct | 6-7:30pm | $25

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

Bad Bunny gets Super Bowl gig, Liquid Death collabs with Amazon & Older media’s more profitable

Bad Bunny to headline Super Bowl LX halftime show "for my people, my culture and our history".

Now who saw THIS coming? I've been following the halftime show rumours for weeks and the convo usually included Taylor Swift, Adele, Miley Cyrus... but Bad Bunny is a very welcome surprise. The announcement came in the form of a video shared by the Puerto Rican rapper and across various socials, where the camera pans out from Mr Bunny (real name Benito Ocasio), revealing him to be sitting on a goal post crossbar on a sunny beach.

It'll be the 2nd year in a row that the chosen halftime show performer is politically divisive, this next performance likely to be more overt than Kendrick Lamar's, who earlier this year rapped a line believed to be aimed at US President Donald Trump: "The revolution about to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy". Bad Bunny has been more open in his criticism of the Trump administration and has refused to tour in the US out of concern for ICE raids targeting his largely Latin American audience. His performance in February will mark his first mainland performance in a long, long time - game on, I s'pose!

Liquid Death and Amazon create "Smarter Water" to help you drink your way through studies.

There's viral theories out there suggesting water molecules can retain thoughts and words. So, in a unique (and hilarious) partnership, Liquid Death and Amazon have tapped into these claims by producing "Certified Smarter Water" so you can "start drinking your way through college".

In what looks to be a swipe at Coca-Cola's smartwater, Amazon is now selling cases of Liquid Death that have apparently had textbooks read to them by Alexa devices. Seriously. What's more, even if your drink isn't "certified" smarter, you can fix that by asking your Alexa to "make my Liquid Death smarter". So get to hydrating y'all - there's mountain-fresh brain juice to be had.

Sorry socials, turns out high-attention media is more profitable.

What a twist - and a solid kick in the nuts to anyone telling you online advertising is the only way forward. A new study from Newsworks, using combined data from multiple research bodies, found that media campaigns using "high-attention" platforms such as TV, radio and magazines delivered better business outcomes than "low-attention" campaigns seen in billboards, posters and social media.

Despite these findings, ad investment has shifted heavily towards low-attention media in recent years. While it made up 32% of overall spending a decade ago, it makes up 70% today. As effectiveness expert Peter Field put it: "This doesn’t make commercial sense and it needs to be fixed — fast.” Welp, get on it marketers - the radio waves and printing press are calling!

-Devin Pike, Copywriter

Hey, do you like YAP?

If so, why not share it with a friend? The more we grow this thing, the more resources we can put into making it awesome for you. Even if every subscriber invites just 1 person to YAP, we’ll meet our growth goal for 2025. So, you in?

DEEP DIVE

Reinventing the micro-ritual

For as long as we have consumed, we have consumed through ritual.

The morning coffee. The Friday night drink. The Sunday grocery shop. The nightly skincare routine. These are more than habits—they’re small ceremonies that structure daily life.

And of course, in the marketing world, ritual has always been more valuable than gold. Because if you can insert yourself into a ritual, you don’t just win attention one time. You win it over and over and over again.

But uhhhh, Houston, we may have a problem here: the rituals are breaking down.

Y’all know by now that the attention economy has shattered into fragments (and if you didn’t, climb out from that rock you’ve been living under why don’t ya). 

Instead of the evening news, we scroll X (or maybe somewhere less white-supremacist-y). Instead of a fixed “morning routine,” we swipe through dozens of influencer “get ready with me” videos, each promising their own curated order of vitamins, serums, and drinks. The rituals that once felt stable and collective are dissolving into micro-moments scattered across infinite feeds.

And in that chaos, marketing’s old playbook doesn’t work.

The brand that once owned a ritual, Starbucks with morning coffee, Guinness with the Friday pint, etc., now competes not just with other brands, but with an endless churn of influencers inventing their own mini-rituals to monetise.

If you thought the fractured attention economy was brutal, add influencers-as-infrastructure on top of it and suddenly the ritual space feels even more crowded.

So, the question becomes: how do brands reinvent ritual marketing for this fractured moment?

The power of the micro-ritual

Let’s start small. A micro-ritual is the tiniest repeatable action that anchors daily life. This might be stirring sugar into coffee, lighting a candle before bed, shaking your protein powder, opening a newsletter on the commute. They’re not big, collective ceremonies. They’re the little rhythms that make up a life.

In a fractured economy where everything else feels fleeting and chaotic, micro-rituals are one of the few places where attention still compounds. They’re stable. They’re subtle. They’re repeatable. They’re comforting.

And because they’re repeated, they have the power to turn brands into habits—if you can wiggle your way in there. Habits are the holy grail of marketing. A viral post wins you a day. A micro-ritual wins you a year, sh*t, maybe even a lifetime.

But how the HELL do you reinvent something as ancient as ritual?

The reinvention isn’t about inventing rituals from scratch—that risks gimmickry. It’s also just not possible. It’s about noticing, naming, and amplifying rituals that people are already performing with your products. How?

1. Contextualise. Rituals live in specific spaces. Coffee belongs to the kitchen counter. Lip balm belongs to the bag you always carry. Newsletters belong to the morning commute. Podcasts to a walk. Brands need to design themselves into these environments instead of trying to hijack attention out of context.

2. Customise. Today’s rituals are personal, not universal. One person’s skincare is a seven-step process; another’s is two steps max. Most (sane people) sit somewhere in between. Brands can win by offering modular products that flex with different routines, rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all ritual.

3. Cultivate community. Rituals become stronger when shared. Think “matcha mornings” on TikTok, or the collective energy of Dry January. Brands don’t have to invent these moments. They just have to amplify and facilitate them, giving people tools to connect their private rituals to a wider community.

4. Cross-platform resonance. Micro-rituals happen offline, but they do need digital lives. Lighting a candle becomes Instagrammable. Pouring a coffee can be a Reel. The ritual is embodied in real life but narrated and shared online. That dual existence is what makes it culturally scalable.

Of course, there’s a risk here. Not everything is a ritual, and pretending it is can backfire.

Nobody needs “the ritual of opening a cereal box” or “the ritual of logging into an app.” That’s just the empty use of a big word to justify boring consumption.

The best rituals come from actual behaviour. People really do light candles before bed. They really do keep their water bottle within arm’s reach. They really do open the same newsletter on the same train every morning. Brands that respect these organic patterns, and lean into them without overclaiming, are the ones that will stick.

Now, I’m aware it’s impossible to talk about ritual without mentioning influencers.

Right now, they dominate the category. A single TikTok creator can turn “skin cycling” or “bed rotting” into mainstream routines almost overnight. Their rituals spread faster than any brand campaign could dream of.

That doesn’t mean brands are out of the game. It just means the playing field is different. Ritual marketing today often means partnering with influencers who can seed rituals authentically, or learning from how they frame and package rituals so that they spread.

The space is harder to navigate… but not impossible.

Because we’re living in a fractured attention economy, time is sliced into micro-moments. Feeds churn endlessly, and influence feels like quicksand. And yet, rituals remain one of the last reliable anchors of human behaviour.

If you understand this, and can weave yourself into micro-rituals with authenticity, context, and respect, you’ll win more than your audience attention. You will win belonging, and become part of the rhythm of life itself.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

TREND PLUG

My toxic trait is thinking I deserve a little treat every time I leave the house

This trend’s all about indulgence.

The audio comes from @prettylittlefawn sipping an affogato in Florence (it should have been me dammit). But here’s the magic: it works because everyone has that thing they can’t resist justifying as “a little treat.” Relatable? Absolutely. Especially when the “little treat” is anything from a $7 matcha to ANOTHER impulse ASOS order (guilty of both, here).

With a classy string + piano soundtrack, this trend is polished, quick-hitting, and instantly recognisable.

How you can jump on the trend:

The format usually shows someone framing their “toxic trait” with text over clips of the treat itself. Its versatility means it can work for outfit photos, POV food shots, or a quick office lip sync.

 A few ideas to get you started:

• Use relatable humour: “My toxic trait is thinking I deserve a little treat every time a company tiktok goes viral”

• Showcase your product as the “little treat”: Perfect for showing off new lifestyle products and for food & beverage brands

• Show off your team culture: Show your team indulging in those “treat moments” (post-meeting bubble tea run, Friday bagels, etc.) 

-Nico Mendoza, Intern

FOR THE GROUP CHAT

😲Yap’s funniest home videos: I just know this ruined his whole day
❤How wholesome: spread kindness
😊Soooo satisfying: ASMR Soap Cutting
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Parmesan Chicken

ASK THE EDITOR

I've started creating content for my coaching business but I'm not getting much engagement yet. What should I do? - Caroline

Hey Caroline!

First of all, I'd encourage you to spend some time on social media, paying attention to what stops your scroll. Analyse the hooks that grab you, then think about how you can use those as inspiration for your own content.

Second, think about how relatable your content is. I know you're targeting a specific audience. But if you want to grow your following, your content can't be too niche. So if you find your content isn't accessible to the average person, ask yourself how you can speak to a broader audience.

Lastly, you need to make more content. Posting more often will not only make you more visible on the platform. It will also give you more data, which will help you improve your content faster.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

WHAT DO YA THINK?

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