WSJ Advertising

Our industry prides itself on attention to detail – scrutinizing even the little things that matter.

And, while we’re ooh’ing and aah’ing, we’re missing the details that really matter: the billions of small moments that happen every day that are revolutionizing the way consumers behave and choose and live and, with it, the way we need to reach them.

Let’s say you have guests coming over any minute and you want to whip up a quick bowl of guacamole. Do you go to a bookshelf and look for a recipe somewhere in the stacks? Do you call your mom on the phone (she makes a mean guac, I am sure!)? Or, do you pull out your phone, hit a few buttons, and quickly pull up a how-to video?

Well, assuming you do the latter, you’re far from alone. Our research has found that 91% of smartphone users would do the same thing–look up information on their smartphone while right in the middle of a task. Getting guac tips from your phone may seem like a very small moment, but add all these small moments together and you’ve got a major shift, with profound implications for people who are trying to reach that harried cook and the billions more like her.

Our research has uncovered a fundamental change in the way people consume media: the old days of predictable, periodic media sessions have been replaced by numerous short bursts of digital activity throughout the day. The old model was a four-course meal in the same restaurant. Today’s is a series of constant bite sized snacks all over town.

Some of these hundreds of moments per day are when people are checking the time, texting with a spouse, or catching up with friends on social media. Seeing your friends’ photos, or messaging your partner to pick up milk on the way home from work may be very common moments, but they may not be when consumers are actually most receptive to brands’ messages.

But then there are those moments that really matter—the I want-to-know moments, I want-to-go moments, I want-to-do moments, and I want-to-buy moments. They matter to consumers and they matter to brands.

These moments, or “micro-moments, ” are when we act on a need—to learn something, do something, discover something, watch something or buy something. They are intent-rich moments where decisions are being made and preferences being shaped. We see them constantly, across billions of monthly searches, billions of hours of videos watched every month, billions of interactions with various sites and apps. These aren’t just people inattentively tapping things into their phone; they rather are the new battleground for hearts, minds and, with them, the dollars their attention brings along.