Attention Amplifiers: Cara Pantano, Yahoo Inc 

Meeting the attention adopters that have helped drive innovation for their organisations.

Changing a global industry is no mean feat and it requires an incredible amount of grit. At Amplified, we believe it takes an open minded, innovative and driven person to not only recognise the size of the opportunity but also take ownership of driving their business forward through innovation and desire to find a better way.

Amplified wants to connect with the best, brightest and bravest of attention adopters. Those who have tackled the challenge head on and single-handedly brought attention measurement to the forefront of their companies strategies.

As part of our Attention Amplifiers series we will be showcasing the unique perspective and hunger for innovation from across the industry, featuring stories from some truly inspiring people who have driven their organisation’s forward through the adoption of attention.

In this edition we’ll be hearing from Yahoo Inc’s, Cara Pantano, who will be detailing her unique experiences and outcomes from working with attention measurement at one of the world’s leading platforms.

Tell us a bit about yourself, and the role you have at your organisation

As Director of Partner Research & Sales Insights, I am responsible for being at the forefront of industry trends and bringing thought leadership research to the marketplace to inform strategic decision making for Yahoo’s stakeholders and B2B clients.

What challenge were you faced with that brought attention to the fore?

One of our key agency partners was already deeply invested in attention and using attention metrics for their media planning. We decided to collaborate to really break apart attention by producing a Thought Leadership piece on how nuanced attention really is.

With attention being relatively new, was there resistance, or hesitancy, in adoption that you had to overcome? What were some of the challenges you faced along the way?

Yes, there was a learning curve for sure! Not only for myself in understanding the nuances of attention as a metric but then also educating clients on the topic. The key attention players all have their own definitions of attention as well as methodologies in how they measure attention so that makes it tricky. As someone who presents research often, I couldn’t just jump into the insights. I first had to level set with the audience on how the data was collected (in this case via facial recognition & modeling) and educate them on types of attention (passive vs. active). While this was a challenge, it also gave Yahoo an opportunity to become a thought leader & educator in the space.

What did your first project focussing on attention entail and what were you looking to achieve?

For our first research project with Amplified Intelligence called “Attention in Context”, we wanted to gain a deep understanding of the role that platform, ad format, brand, category, audience and relevance play in driving active attention on mobile native as well as provide benchmarks across Yahoo’s owned & operated domains. To do this we ran two tests in tandem. The first that captured the human gaze on ads running organically on mobile and the second captured the human gaze of respondents in a controlled test that injected test brands’ ads into Yahoo domains. This resulted in 128,000 ads analysed, 1,228 brands captured in the wild across a total of 4,400 respondents. With specific results across 14 brands spanning 10 industry verticals across 4 countries (US, UK, Canada & Australia). The scale and size of the research produced global benchmarks of ads ran on Yahoo’s O&O that was used to help position Yahoo’s offerings as high quality environments with high performing formats /creatives.

Why did you choose to partner with Amplified Intelligence?

The Amplified Intelligence team are geniuses at what they do! We actually ran two bespoke projects on attention and each time they were more than just a vendor – they took on the role of consultants and advisors – ideating with us on how to craft a unique perspective on attention as well as creating bespoke solutions for our project.

What insights did attention provide you with that other measurements or metrics weren’t able to?

Amplified Intelligence taught us that there isn’t one factor that is responsible for attention but instead the elements of campaign interplay with one another. Karen Nelson-Field calls this the “Hierarchy of attention” – where each channel, and domain within, has its own attention elasticity. This means a top performing format on one channel won’t necessarily be the top performer on another. Understanding how nuanced attention is essential in optimising against it.

What are some of the outcomes that attention helped produce for your business?

When we released our findings, the excitement in the industry was palpable! Both attention studies we released were covered up in multiple industry trades (Video Week, MediaPost, MarTech Series, Campaign and more!) and our clients found their specific findings very actionable that informed future campaign planning.

Two standout pieces of client feedback for me were;

“Our experience with Yahoo, PHD Media Australia and Amplified Intelligence throughout the Omnichannel Attention study was both enlightening and transformative. We ventured into new horizons of analytics and measurement, it felt like we were uncovering hidden gems of insights into creative strategy and channel fit. The outcomes have encouraged us to engage and develop actionable strategies for optimisation. We felt like partners throughout this journey, and we are eager to continue working closely with Yahoo, OMG, PHD Media Australia and Amplified Intelligence to unlock further potential together.”
Head of Product & Marketing, Leading Auto Brand

“Measurement and campaign tracking are essential for every campaign we run with Velocity Frequent Flyer. By integrating this study into our BVOD campaign within the Yahoo DSP, we were able to obtain insights beyond standard media metrics. The research results revealed key insights into consumer behaviour and brand metrics, which were crucial in understanding the success of the channel.”
Andie Potter,
Group Digital Director, PHD Australia

What advice would you give to others looking to kickstart their attention journey?

The number one insight I learned was no amount of attention can make up for mediocre creativity or lack of branding! It seems obvious but I think in a world where everyone is focused on performance, branding & creative get lost in the shuffle. So start with strong creative and then you can optimise towards attention through the other key elements (platform/channel, ad format, audience, etc).