Be in The Know
OpenAI may be preparing to add Shopify to ChatGPT.
Some wiggle room: Most consumers will pay 25% more for their favorite brands.
Threads launches its test of ads with a small group of advertisers, including Wendy’s.
Perplexity wants to buy Chrome if Google has to sell it.
The story behind that Bon Iver canned salmon.
How to Advertise to Distracted Consumers
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Can you feel it? It’s getting even harder to capture attention and get noticed.
But a new study published in MIS Quarterly flips old assumptions on their head: distracted consumers might actually be ideal ad targets.
Researchers found that in dynamic, real-life environments—like playing a game while watching TV—people’s mental engagement can spill over, making them more likely to notice and recall pop-up ads.
This goes against traditional dual-task interference (DTI) theory, which says multitasking reduces attention. Thanks to a phenomenon called automaticity, the brain can process both a task and an interruption almost as one event.
Based on the findings, here’s how you can activate this insight:
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Use low-distance environments. Deliver ads when all stimuli (content and ad) are close together, like on a single screen.
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Tailor ads to the environment. Match the ad content to what the consumer is engaging with (like football-themed ads during a game).
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Choose the right timing. Insert ads during less intense moments, like a replay or downtime.
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Leverage repetition carefully. Show ads more than once to tap into automaticity, but avoid overdoing it.
Dig into the research at Harvard Business Review.
Q for You
Tools
Pinterest Skill Badge
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Upskilling or applying to jobs at the moment?
Well, you can now earn a new platinum badge for Performance Essentials skills through Pinterest Academy, which is Pinterest’s free learning platform.
Complete ten courses focused on maximizing lower-funnel campaign results, boosting conversions, and driving success on Pinterest.
Then, pass a 20-question quiz to claim your badge. And show it off on LinkedIn, duh.
Campaign
AI for Lunch
Sigh. You can now use AI to write lunchbox notes for your kids, courtesy of Welch’s Fruit Snacks.
The brand is launching the Lunchbox Notes Translator, developed by Makers with AI, to transform candid sentiments like “you make me tired” into more uplifting lunchbox notes, like “I love how independent you are.”
It’s medium funny and admittedly timely, but when we input “Please don’t use ChatGPT to cheat on your homework,” it returned:
“Your brain is the real magic—let it solve the puzzle before you ask for help!”
Isn’t AI supposed to free us up to have more energy for things like… writing our kids love notes?
