Cat. Curiosity. You know how the saying goes.
Fortunately for the felines in the room, it’s a new dawn and time to embrace curiosity like an old friend.
If you’re a marketer, creative agency, corporate communicator or storyteller of any kind, you’ll already know that establishing curiosity is key to connecting with your audience on a deeper level.
It’s backed by science. The neurological response to intrigue and discovery naturally elicits an emotional reaction, paving the way for connection and new ways of thinking. Hello, creativity.
The University of California completed a 2014 study that suggests curiosity can prepare the brain for learning. The study demonstrated that when curiosity peaks, our wonderful, hungry brains adapt to ready themselves for information absorption, both within our direct environments and periphery.
It’s likely the same reason you clicked the headline of this blog.
We tend to experience ‘organic’ curiosity less and less as we get older, thanks to routine, lifestyle choices, and busy brains. As a creative agency, it’s our job to re-introduce curiosity to the audience experience.
Designing an audience journey that captures intrigue offers guests the tools to reconnect with their creative thinking. It primes them to absorb the information, process it, assign emotion to it, and crucially, remember it. The emotional journey through a brand’s messaging, brand experience, or content will define how the audience retains information, and engages and invests in the outcomes.
So, in a world where audiences are time-poor, saturated with endless news feeds, scrolling brand messages and 15-second ice bucket challenges, how do you re-introduce curiosity? Our work into understanding audiences (and what makes them tick) suggests three key ingredients* to baking curiosity back into your communications.
*You will not find these in your pantry cupboard.
Don’t give everything away at once
Experiences that ultimately end in a revelation can be significantly more impactful for your guests. Take your audience on a journey that poses questions, challenges the status quo or suggests new perspectives to actively open up their curiosity.
The impossible challenge
How would you fit a bowling ball through the eye of a needle? Presenting your audience with a problem to solve is a useful tactic. The reward center in the brain responds to challenge, and we often see audiences trialing different approaches to solving the problem. The common themes? Intrigue and curiosity.
FFFS! Fun for fun’s sake
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Having fun gets the energy up and lays the groundwork for curiosity to blossom. Humour and strategic ice breakers to open the experience will minimise some of the initial barriers to imagination and engagement.
Finding new ways to weave curiosity and creativity back into the audience journey is key to establishing an emotional connection with your audience.
Let us do the thinking for you.
Celebrating Creative Team of the Year for the third year in the CN Agency Awards.
