In an unexpected turn of events, CEO and speaker, Michael Schiessl was 'late' and was replaced by his virtual counterpart, a digital avatar dubbed ‘Mega Michael.’
 
After a cutting-edge presentation, the avatar engaged the audience in an interactive Q+A session. Mega Michael answered questions from the audience, armed with data from eye square's top-management knowledge treasure chest and synthesized using an LLM designed by eye square. There were a few blunders on easy questions like "How many employees do you have?"; they were offset by a slew of outstanding responses to other questions such as "What is eye square's MEGA strategy?", "What is meaningful attention?", and "Explain eye square’s neurosemiotic model." Few things could have better demonstrated the application of AI to market research and human experience than this proof of concept.
 
While Schiessl was not in danger of being replaced anytime soon, he speculated that the new developments might give him more free time to focus on more important things- such as a trip to the end of the world, as an example, or even furthering eye square's innovation-focused MEGA-strategy while enhancing the company's unique models and concepts, specifically adding an analysis of meaning (i.e. the fulfillment of desire) to the already widely adopted focus on attention in market research.
 
Perhaps everything at once.

Since the release of the documentary "The Social Dilemma" in 2020, there has been a rising understanding that not all social connection, particularly through digital media, is beneficial to human welfare and happiness. Lise Wiese, who is is in charge of examining the actual human consequences of media at eye square, even dubbed social media the "greatest digital age temptation." She mentioned a variety of studies and trends that demonstrate the pervasiveness and relevance of new media that are increasingly incorporated into daily life.
 
Smartphones are constant companions, frequently controlling rather than simply supporting human activity. Digital addiction is overtaking traditional addictions, with equivalent negative repercussions for individuals affected.
Phenomena, like "FOMO" ("fear of missing out"), "phubbing" (ignoring a person who was present in favor of paying digital "attention"), and "ghosting" (the abrupt end of all digital communication when dating online) are new entries in the human experience and language. All of this amounts to a massive waste of the valuable resource known as "attention." Reducing "meaningless attention" will be beneficial not just to users, who would otherwise waste their exclusive lifespan, but also to those involved in the development of digital technologies, media, and content. Meaningful attention is mostly associated with digital pursuits that support personal goals, information and communication, intentional steps, and a sense of control - whereas dark patterns seek to do the opposite, particularly taking control and forcing users to spend more time on a platform than they want or believe is useful for their lives.
 
Leaders in digital economy have begun to take note of and address this issue by developing solutions to encourage "time well spent" - another way of saying "meaningful attention." This entire subject matter necessitates a significant amount of study and investigation, as human attention, unlike "machine attention," is not limitless and cannot be replicated by copying. The task of making digital contact meaningful and, as a result, digital media helpful is immense and urgent. It will necessitate the best efforts of those involved in technology, advertising, media, and education. The emphasis must be on promoting a "complete human experience," with technology and concepts addressing the issue of "measuring meaning."

Graham Page's discussion focused on one essential component of making attention valuable: rewarding attention. While many techniques in media and advertising now emphasize "reach" as the ultimate aim, Page questioned if this was adequate. Views, recollection, eye tracking, facial expression, biometrics, and gaze prediction are among the methodologies fighting for authority in the field of attention assessment. Affectiva discovered that not all attention is created equal. Departing from the notion that emotion is fundamental in the process of viewing, paying attention, remembering, and acting, the company sets out to first assess inattention as a more reliable way of approaching attention. The distinction between concentration and distraction is subtle but significant, and it is sometimes generated by advertisements themselves, such as through a soundtrack or distracting graphics. Head pitch, calibration-less gaze, talking, tiredness, and facial occlusion are examples of distraction signals.
 
While it is unclear if something will occur when attention seems to be paid (prediction cannot assess reaction to novelty, and self-reporting cannot describe "real reality", labs are restricted in scope / scale, etc...), it is guaranteed that nothing will occur when attention is not paid. Eliminating unpleasant times is a vital first step. Page went into depth about how his company's technologies, such as SmartEye, assist customers understand the emotions that effect viewers and decide whether they engage or disengage with an ad.

Despite the fact that television has lost its near monopoly on people's visual attention and time when it comes to information and emotional enjoyment, linear television remains the most essential medium for implementing advertisements in a consistently high reach. However, not all reach is created equal. Exploring this fact, Olaf Schlesiger's presentation on the impact of context and creativity on advertisement effectiveness drew a lot of attention.
 
Following "Mapping the Impact" in 2021 and "Mapping the Moods" in 2022, another collaborative research effort involving Seven.Screenforce - "Mapping the Impact" - focuses on which ad receives the most attention at whichever time of day / circumstance of usage. The team concentrated on four time periods: 1. Busy Day (Monday-Friday, 2-6pm): The viewer is alone and unable to concentrate. 2. Work Is Done: (Mon-Fri, 6-8pm): Viewers gather to view "relaxed" entertainment. 3. Quality Time (after 8 p.m. on Thursdays and Sundays): Viewers watch blockbusters together. 4. Dreaming Away (Mon-Sun, at midnight): The television era is drawing to a close.
 
"Our test featured 64 commercials in all four scenarios," Schlesiger explained. "They were observed by a webcam and head, eye, and emotion tracking, resulting in a total of 8,304 advertising contacts." The evident conclusion: User behaviors and wants change depending on the context and must be considered when picking advertising for any of the four situations.
 
Subjects' level of activity was highest during the "busy day" phase, indicating that they were preoccupied with activities other than watching television; it was lowest during the second phase ("work is done"). Clear and succinct commercials with authoritative claims, according to Schlesiger, function best during the hectic day phase, while comedy and positivism are excellent after "work Is done." The moment has come for narrative, with advertisements that are a little longer and material that blends in with what is currently being viewed, in "quality time" with extremely high and positive activation. Quiet tones with a positive sensation are essential during the "dream away" phase. "Shoutouts are not permitted," Schlesiger stated.
 
To summarize, the audience received excellent tips for combining information and context for greater advertising impact:
 

1. Busy Day: Strong brands - obvious branding and images/sounds, realism, no aesthetic restrictions.
2. Work is completed: Happy days. Longer advertisements, good emotions, aesthetics, and comedy, no "pure branding," no over-stylized or extremely short spots. "It's interesting to see something beautiful."
3. Quality Time: Great Stories, as well as longer and more complicated commercials, polarization or likeability feasible, no short or "practical" spots, "something mesmerizing"
4. Daydreaming: Less is more, lengthier spots with great likeability and beauty. Nothing too loud or too short, and highly emotional content.

Kevin Sugrue presented his company's strategy for measuring attention to a Berlin audience via remote link from Singapore; in this study, eight hundred people were evaluated in four groups and subjected to one method in research with sixteen commercials employing diverse approaches - product feature, purpose-driven, narrative with and without product. Dynata discovered that both storytelling and product characteristics proved to be more effective in memory than basic purpose, which needs to be more frequently distributed. One explanation for this is that firms that use product features tend to be larger brands (with more previous/present consumers) that may rely on more robust brand recognition.
 
Advertisements that generate meaningful (successful) attention are highly memorable, compelling, unique, engaging (i.e. good sound, instructive, entertaining, pleasant), distinctive, confident, and trustworthy.
 
Sugrue advised the audience to remember MIAM, which stands for Memorable (create better-prompted memory), Influential (contribute towards wishes and objectives), Attributable (feature brand name/familiarity), and Measurable (productive outcomes).

"Mother Nature needs a Status Report" . This is how Philipp von Hilgers began his presentation on the environmental effect of the digital sector and the necessity for industry members to examine this matter in the future. Starting with major firms in 2024, European CO2-reporting obligations under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will cover the carbon footprint of the digital ecosystem, which is twice as huge as aviation but has gotten barely half the scrutiny. "This means that CO2 emissions, corresponding compensation and reduction needs will also affect our industry."
 
When a signal is delivered to the internet, it is distributed by a large number of servers. Ads account for 50% of digitally produced CO2 emissions, while consumer gadgets and media distribution account for 20% and 10%, respectively. "Two million digital ad impressions correspond to one metric ton of CO2," von Hilgers said, despite the fact that few in the digital economy are aware of this fact, which is well hidden behind bits and bytes - and the fact that the world's atmosphere already contains more than 37 billion tons of the gas (making up 0.044% of total atmosphere).
 
DoubleVerify intends to address the issue of measuring ad emission. The purpose is to detect and assist in the reduction of superfluous or inefficient performance, or as it may be put: meaningless attention.

Dr. Cristina de Balanzo's presentation focused on successfully integrating new values and content as established businesses. Many businesses are expanding their advertising reach to address concerns of social and environmental responsibility. Using a Colgate example, she highlighted how such messages must and can be incorporated by being authentic and not ramming the concerns down the throats of people. "Brands are trying to be more human and real, when before they spent a lot to show something unreal”, de Balanzo stated. "For Colgate, it is no longer about showing perfect people with perfectly white teeth like they used to do."
 
Her talk demonstrated how incorporating minorities and people with special needs may be done successfully by focusing on what works best at the time. Even a 15 or 30-second ad may be edited such that everything is valuable and effective, as seen by the commercial being edited in two ways.
 
Walnut makes viewers' emotions visible by combining neuro, data, and behavioral science. "Your brain is designed to feel, not think," said de Balanzo, emphasizing a crucial lesson. She gave the audience the "3Ps of the brain" to work with Predictive (from experience), plastic (changes in plasticity), and permeable (absorbent) are all characteristics of the human brain. What happens outside is just as vital as what happens inside. While brains first react adversely to characters with special needs, this quickly changes as minds grow acquainted with fresh concepts and pictures, leading to positive feelings and new associations with a brand. This method assisted Colgate in gaining more people-centric insights and developing effective marketing concepts with impactful advertisements. As a result, brand health improved, and commercial impact increased by 43%.

YouGov-owned Link Marketing's Dr. Steffen Schmidt presented new insights on the usage of AI for branding and improved pricing. Because of generative AI like ChatGPT, interest in AI has grown. However, there is something like an AI 'Hype Cycle', which means that interest increases and falls. Link measures and improves brands' implicit pricing power while also better understanding implicit brand power.
 
Analytical, causal AI discovers non-linearities and other counter-intuitive aspects of pricing and brand strength. AI may be used to create a variety of ad elements, such as using generative AI prompts for graphics, such as Midvisual, or using NeuroFlash for claims. Survey and implicit data for advertising are input into analytical AI, and the AI-generated ad concepts are assessed using predictive AI in an InContext context. They are then given a salient association score, which is transformed into brand power. As a result of brand power, customers' reward centers are triggered, which results into pricing power and money.
 
Link's technique blends human and artificial intelligence given that AI must continually be instructed and the appropriate data must be selected for programming. The benefit is that non-linear causation, which is genuinely important, may be traced. This means that income can be raised in many circumstances. For certain companies and items, this means decreasing the process, while for others, it means raising it. The ever-evolving AI algorithms will become indispensable in locating these sweet spots.

Coming soon!

Dr. Julia Nitschke, who concluded the thrilling conference, delivered this highlight: she demonstrated how eye square is pursuing its own philosophy of understanding human experience by incorporating AI-Experience into its broad range of research. The question that will eventually shape many decisions along the path of AI development and integration is 'how do humans interact with AI?' To begin addressing this issue, eye square performed in-depth interviews - free associations and detailed descriptions of experiences and feelings. Four hundred people took part, the majority of whom had never or had only used ChatGPT a few times. They were then polled, and the information was processed using a combination of HI and AI. The phenomenon: Aside from the obvious doubt about what AI is and where it may be used, the results revealed a combination of fear, resistance, and rejection vs excitement, wonder, and enthusiasm, a fear of manipulation and loss of control, and the prospect of AI as facilitator and simplifier. The majority of the difficulties focused on various forms of power (submission vs. autarchy) and identity (fusion vs. separation). The mixed views and feelings were, of course, unsurprising and reflect a society struggling with a seismic shift.
 
eye square then continued to characterize the experiences based on varying degrees of stimulation and psychological structure, using a crisis experience model created during COVID.
 
The many modes of experience (not phases or stages, as changes can occur in both directions) are as follows: 1. Turmoil - characterized by strong energy and low order. This defines a widespread subjective experience characterized by high arousal and stimulation, inner estrangement, and a (perceived) risk of losing self-control. 2. paralysis - with low energy and low order, i.e. still substantial diffusion and alienation with concurrent suppression and weariness of the perceptual and affective systems; a "passive peace" 3. Integration - the meeting of great energy and high order. This is a more organized experience and identity-formation event that combines experience and reason. 4. Hyper Strength - low energy with high order - identity formation while disconnected from the topic at hand.
 
The survey found that the second biggest group of users and non-users were still in upheaval. People predisposed to paralysis led in effects often associated with paralysis, although the other groups did not always lead in their items. Interestingly, more than half of the individuals were already in integration mode, which might be attributable to the mode's perceived social acceptability. Obviously, most issues about AI experience remain unanswered, and the future remains uncertain. However, eye square and its AI-X tribe have taken a bold step toward assessing all types of AI encounters.

Nuria Sichalla, Senior Research Consultant at eye square, investigated the disparities in user attention on TikTok and Instagram. Eye square discovered fascinating insights about the sorts of attention that both platforms produce in a study conducted in the United States with 154 TikTok reel and Instagram story users. The major criterion for the study was play time while testing product and picture focused commercials. Although TikTok users spend less time there, ad recall and recognition rates are considerably greater than on Instagram. "It appears that not all attention is equal. "In this case, the concept of meaningful attention for both the user and the advertiser comes into play," Sichalla explained. "For measuring this InContext testing is vital."
 
Some of the discoveries made by neurosemiotic analysis, which combines all three systems of human experience: TikTok, despite or perhaps because of its speed, provides more visual anchors for brand placement than what is displayed in the creative. Users' visual alignment is better straight away, and they are less distracted, which facilitates future information processing. Instagram is unique: While the theme is the focal point, there are no additional anchoring. Instagram's serial scrolling architecture is perceived as more mature, distant, and predictable. Overall, TikTok provides a more enjoyable experience that has been regarded as interesting, unexpected, amusing, and thought-provoking. This is reflected in a higher number of "happiness seconds" (System 1) - 0.17 seconds against 0.04 seconds for Instagram. TikTok achieves 75% attention per second of viewability (System 0) and 62% message comprehension (System 2), both of which are excellent results. Ad recall and recognition mirror similar findings, with TikTok and Instagram scoring 30% and 66%, respectively. Not surprise, TikTok has a large edge in recommendation and buy intent (66% to 48%). Even while TikTok is unlikely to appeal to the entire population, it must be regarded as a formidable promotional force.