Latest / The CMO Podcast with Fexingo: Marketing Leadership, Budgets, and Executive Strategy / How CMOs Are Competing for Attention in the Age of Digital Detox
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I want to talk about something that feels almost counterintuitive for a marketing podcast — the fact that a growing number of consumers are actively trying to spend less time on their devices. Luna: You mean the digital detox movement? I've seen the headlines, but I wasn't sure if it was actually showing up in the data or just media hype. Lucas: It's real, and it's accelerating. A study from early 2026 showed that among 18 to 24 year olds, daily social media engagement dropped by 12 percent year-over-year. That's not a blip. And it's not just social — overall app usage on smartphones is plateauing for the first time in a decade. Luna: So if your entire marketing strategy is built on more impressions, more frequency, more retargeting — you're basically swimming against a current that's pulling the other way. Lucas: Exactly. And the smart CMOs are already pivoting. They're realising that attention isn't just scarce — it's becoming a luxury good. People are actively paying for services that help them disconnect, like subscription-based dumb phones or app blockers. That changes the calculus on what 'reach' even means. Luna: I remember reading about a brand that launched a 'digital detox' campaign last year — they actually encouraged customers to put their phones down and go outside. It felt risky, like you're telling people not to engage with your ad. But I think it was Patagonia, right? Lucas: Patagonia has been doing this for years, but they're not the only ones. There's a newer angle, though, that I find really interesting — brands are starting to invest in audio-first experiences. Podcasts, obviously, but also radio, even things like branded playlists on Spotify that are designed to be ambient, not interruptive. Luna: Because audio doesn't require the same kind of screen engagement. You can listen while you're driving, running, cooking — it fits into the 'off-screen' lifestyle. Lucas: Right. And the data backs it up. A study from Q1 2026 found that podcast ad recall was 30 percent higher than social video ad recall among adults who reported trying to limit screen time. That's a massive gap. Luna: So the CMO playbook is shifting away from 'more touchpoints' toward 'fewer, more meaningful touchpoints'? That sounds like a return to some old-school brand-building principles. Lucas: It almost is. But with a twist. Some brands are experimenting with what they call 'low-fi digital' — stripped-down versions of their apps or websites that load fast, have no notifications, and offer a limited set of features. The idea is to respect the user's time and mental energy. Luna: Who's doing that well? I can think of a few meditation apps, but for a mainstream brand? Lucas: Duolingo actually launched a 'lite' mode last year that cuts out gamification and streaks. It's intended for users who felt pressured by the app's design. And their engagement among those users actually went up — because the anxiety of losing a streak was gone. Luna: Fascinating. So the paradox is that by trying to get people to spend less time in your app, you might earn more long-term loyalty. Lucas: That's the thesis. But there's a bigger structural challenge here, which is that the entire ad industry is built on volume. Programmatic, open exchanges, retargeting — it all assumes infinite supply of attention. If that supply contracts, CMOs have to get much smarter about where they place their bets. Luna: And that's where we see some return to old media. I've heard that print magazines are seeing a tiny revival among luxury and outdoor brands, because a reader sitting down with a magazine is paying full attention. Lucas: There's a great case study on that. A premium denim brand — I won't name them because they're private — ran a full-page ad in a quarterly print magazine last fall. They tracked unaided brand awareness before and after. It went up by 30 percent in that magazine's readership. That's a better lift than they get from most digital campaigns. Luna: But print doesn't scale. How do you run a national campaign with print when the audience is so fragmented? Lucas: You don't run it like a traditional media buy. You treat it as a halo — a signal of quality. Some CMOs are using print or audio or even out-of-home as a 'credibility layer' that makes their digital ads work better. It's a kind of media synergy, but with a much higher bar for what counts as a quality environment. Luna: So the conversation is moving from 'how do we reach as many people as possible' to 'how do we reach the right people in a context where they're actually receptive'. Lucas: And that's harder to measure. It requires different metrics — not just CPM or cost per click, but things like 'cost per minute of attention' or 'brand recall lift in a controlled study'. I've seen agencies pitch these metrics for years, but now CMOs are actually demanding them. Luna: What about the risk of backlash? If a brand comes across as lecturing people about screen time, that could backfire. Lucas: Huge risk. There's already a term for it — 'anti-attention backlash'. Consumers are sensitive to hypocrisy. If a brand runs a digital detox campaign but is still tracking your every move online, it feels hollow. The brands that are winning are the ones that actually change their own behavior — like reducing email frequency, or making their app less addictive by design. Luna: Which brings us back to the core challenge: this isn't just a media strategy shift. It's a product and brand strategy shift. And that means the CMO has to be in the room when product decisions are made. Lucas: Absolutely. The CMOs who are ahead of this trend are the ones who are working with product teams to build 'attention-aware' features — things like session limits, notification bundling, or default privacy settings that reduce data collection. It's a whole new competency. Luna: And it's still early. Most brands are still in the 'awareness' phase. They know digital detox is a thing, but they haven't figured out how to respond. Lucas: That's where we are. And to be honest, if today's conversation helped you think about this in a new way — maybe gave you an angle you hadn't considered — then it's worth the price of a coffee. If that feels right, you can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just a way to keep this show ad-free and focused on what matters. Luna: Yeah, I like that. It's a small gesture that makes a big difference for us. And we really appreciate everyone who's already supported the show. Lucas: Alright, back to the trend. I want to talk about one more data point that I think is the most important for CMOs to internalise. A survey from last month asked consumers who are actively reducing screen time what they'd like brands to do differently. The number one answer? 'Stop interrupting me.' Number two? 'Give me something worth my time.' Luna: That's a brutal but clear mandate. So the winning strategy is: earn attention, don't buy it. Lucas: Exactly. And that means investing in content, in experiences, in utility — things that people seek out, not things that interrupt them. It's a higher bar, but it's also more defensible. If you build a brand that people actually want to spend time with, you're not competing on CPM anymore. Luna: And that's the kind of competitive advantage that lasts beyond the next algorithm update. Lucas: Right. So the question every CMO should be asking themselves right now is: if your target customer decided to cut their screen time in half tomorrow, would your brand still be able to reach them? If the answer is no, you've got work to do. Luna: That's a great way to frame it. I'll be thinking about that one.