So you really think that people pay attention? Try this test to find out how good your „attention“ skills are.
Amazing, isn’t it? Now imagine people are looking for something specific online on your webiste. Will they notice the ads? I guess, they will. BUT: only if they are relevant or related to what they are looking for. Another reason why(contextual, behavioural, etc.) targetting is crucial when attention is scarce. And scarce it is pretty much all the time these days.
Wo ich sonst so bin...
This is based on a famous experiment – it’s best prefaced with the challenge that women are not as observant as men, I find, then people REALLY concentrate on counting.
Richard Wiseman (www.richardwiseman.com) has written a book called „Did you spot the gorilla?“ which explains the principles behind this test. (He’s a great speaker, by the way – highly recommended)
You’re right. A colleague of mine pointed me to the original video (with a gorilla). At least it could be the original – it doesn’t say anywhere.
You can find that here: http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html