"The award is a special recognition of our work - especially because it comes from the ranks of those who are confronted with the great challenges of realising effective marketing communication on a daily basis," emphasises Prof Dr Tobias Langner, who heads the Chair of Marketing at the University of Wuppertal and conducted the study together with his colleagues Lennart Borgmann and Julian Felix Kopka.

The Wuppertal Living Room Study is the largest mobile eye-tracking field study in Germany to date. For it, 144 people were observed in their home environment in order to analyse how they consume media and advertising. The study examines the question of how advertising still attracts attention in an environment characterised by numerous media offerings. The researchers wanted to find out which tactics work particularly effectively in designing adverts to attract and retain attention.

Living room becomes a laboratory

"Attention is the super variable of consumer behaviour and a core competence of our department. Since the smartphone has become our constant companion, we are constantly online, distracted and filtering content at breakneck speed - advertising often gets the short end of the stick. Researching the underlying mechanisms and thus contributing to more effective and efficient advertising has fascinated us from the very beginning," explains Julian Felix Kopka.

The researchers made a virtue out of necessity: when the coronavirus pandemic made traditional laboratory experiments impossible, they visited the test subjects at home and examined their advertising behaviour where it takes place - in their living rooms. They took a close look: What advertising content do the study participants actually perceive and what do they get stuck on? Their test subjects wore glasses that documented their eye movements.

"Our study shows that around half of the attention is explained by pure design elements. An appeal to practitioners is therefore: use attention-grabbing tactics," says Lennart Borgmann. Large ad formats, a direct approach, animated scenes, foreign language elements and unknown people are particularly effective in attracting attention. These results were also clear: Media consumption today can take place anytime and anywhere, the smartphone dominates, traditional media such as TV are losing importance.

Celebrities, influencers, positive emotions, contrasts, beautiful backgrounds and competitions work to keep people's attention. At the same time, it is clear that overly intrusive design, such as bright colours or loud music, can be counterproductive and lead to advertising avoidance.